You are interested in learning Wing Chun and need to find a school. Maybe you just got done watching the Ip Man movies or maybe you are a fan of Bruce Lee. This will be the only guide you need to pick the right school for you. You won’t need to ask an online group where you will get 20 different responses and you don’t need to ask a friend since shockingly their answer will likely be the same school they go to. Let me walk you through how to do this the right way and save you the devastation of wasting years and money at the wrong school.
Where to Learn Wing Chun Near Me?
The most obvious factor is the school has to be within driving distance if you plan to train over an extended period of time consistently unless you plan to enroll in an online program or watching a YouTube video on how to learn Wing Chun at home for free.
The first step will be compiling a list of every Wing Chun school within driving distance. Yes, you should include schools that are somewhat further than you would like to drive and you will see why by the end of this article.
This is all about search strategy. Start with the online business directory for your region, Yelp.com is a popular example. Select your city and simply search for “Wing Chun” and add all the schools to your list. Next, do a search engine search with your City Name and and Wing Chun. For example, you can type into Google.com the search term, “vancouver wing chun”. Add these schools to your list as well. Other places you might find more school to add to your list will be Social Media like Facebook pages and groups or recommendations from friends. Various websites will compile lists of Wing Chun schools around the world as well.
It’s possible you won’t have any Wing Chun schools within driving distance from you. At that point, your options could include DVD training (see our Amazon store), online Wing Chun Schools/remote learning, traveling to a school like for a summer for example, or learning on your own and supplementing the combat aspect with other styles local to you like kickboxing or 5 animal kung-fu.
How to find the best Wing Chun Lineage?
This question is the easiest way to start a never-ending online debate. If you ask a student or teacher, they will obviously tell you theirs is the best lineage with the following reasons:
- Our Wing Chun lineage is has the most effective Wing Chun techniques
- Our lineage is the original, traditional, and truest form of Wing Chun
- Our lineage is the most practical for real life situations
- Our lineage is the true Ip Man form
Honestly, what I think happens is people go to the school that is the most practical for them to attend where they backwards rationalize and get indoctrinated why their lineage is clearly the best one to learn that just also happens to be 15 minutes from where they live.
The truth is it really depends on what you are planning to do Wing Chun and why you want to learn it. Is it for health, combat sports, self-defense, hobby or a combination of all of the above? For most people, the likely answer will be the school that is closest to your home. For me personally, I wanted to follow the path of Bruce Lee. If not for Bruce Lee, I would be totally directionless. Thus, my bias is towards the Ip Man lineage like millions of others. Now, it’s time for complicated part. Wing Chun is like a family tree. Ip Man has lines under him with people he personally trained and their are lines totally separate from Ip Man like Yuen Kay Shan for example. There are many lines that branch from Ip Man, some are modified and some are less so. Many will make claims to teach the original Ip Man version of Wing Chun. For me personally, I have trained and been certified under 3 masters, all from the Ip Ching/Ip Chun lineage who are both sons of Ip Man. It makes intuitive sense that Ip Man would pass his version of Wing Chun to his own sons. I’m sure there are other students of Ip Man that teach an accurate version, through there would be no way for me to verify that without at least seeing all the hand forms and weapon forms from that lineage. The hand forms could look similar, but the butterfly sword form could be completely different for example.
The easiest way to tell the lineage of a school is just to ask them. If they say Ip Man Lineage, ask them which Ip Man lineage. If you are lucky enough to have multiple sifus in your area that are Ip Man lineage or even Ip Ching/Ip Chun lineage, an easy way to tell the authenticity is to look at the forms. Ip Man has black and white videos of his first 2 hand forms online at places like YouTube. If even the first form is some butchered, modified version of what you see, then you can imagine how different the other forms are going to be as well. There are other Ip Ching/Ip Chun masters with DVDs you can watch in our Amazon storefront and be able to compare with schools in your area. You may end up having to settle for what you have in your area and you can supplement your training with an online Wing Chun school or DVDs.
What are good pointers to look for in a good Wing Chun School?
This goes back to what I said before, what are your goals? For example, if you plan to use it in combat sports, maybe a school that spars gear on/gear off and cross trains against other styles would suit your needs. Do you want a black belt? Some schools do not use a belt system. How many years does an average student attending classes 3 days a week take to learn all 6 forms in the school? What are the qualifications to advance in the system? How much does it cost? Does the school include all the essentials of Wing Chun including 3 hand forms, the wooden dummy form, butterfly sword form, dragon pole form, and chi sau? Can the school certify you in the Ving Tsun Athletic Association? Are you allowed to teach after completing your training?
This is going to take some research. Other than asking the school, you should take a trial class if they offer that. If not, it may be worth paying for a month of class just to see what it is like. Better a month lost than 3 years into it realizing you made a grave error.
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