Hi Fellow Wing Chun’er!

It’s Rob from WingChunLife.com and I want to bring up a question many martial artists have…

Can you learn Wing Chun online?

Some related questions would be:

— What are the options available today?
— Is this an effective method of learning?
— How do you get the most out of it?
— What are the drawbacks?
— Will you really learn and be able to use it?
— Could you learn it well, all online, and get some kind of certification?

There’s a lot to cover so I’ve broken this down into a couple of parts.

[Read Part 2 Here https://wingchunlife.com/learn-wing-chun]

First, let’s take a look at…

What’s Possible Today: Learning Wing Chun at Home, Online…

 

There is no doubt that the Internet has opened many doors. It’s made it convenient and affordable for almost any sifu or grandmaster to deliver Wing Chun lessons all over the world at relatively affordable prices.

In fact, I remember in the early 2000s when most of the world was on dial up, or had no Internet connection at all, grandmaster William Cheung offered a service to teach Wing Chun by mail, including critiques, using VHS video tape.

It’s safe to say that he and other sifus like him were pioneers. But my goodness, how things have changed!

Instead of mailing video cassettes all over the world, you can simply turn on your Internet connected computer and stream lessons by the Arizona Wing Chun Association, or Wing Chun Online (either the net group from the UK, or the com group from the U.S.)…

Some of the newer Internet based learning tools are mobile Wing Chun apps. Next, you can play around with the interesting but clunky Wing Chun Interactive tutorials. Or, spend hours watching amateur home-made videos on YouTube or Vimeo…

Then, there’s our service, Wing Chun Life’s Video MASTERY.

Video MASTERY brings together many different Wing Chun schools, sifus, grandmasters, publishers, and lineages under one roof.

This gives you the most choice and control in your kung fu evolution, and just as important, it exposes you to the broadest view of the worldwide Wing Chun landscape.

A quick example: You will enjoy training lessons by sifus Sergio Iadoarola, Chuck O’Neil, Wayne Belonoha, Alan Orr, Robert Chu, James Sinclair, Tony Massengill, Keith Kernspecht , and dozens more…

 

** Current subscribers of Wing Chun Life News claim a 15% discount on any video lesson published by Everything Wing Chun or Wing Chun University **

Where is all of this heading?

Based on my research on what’s going on in the world of online education and distance learning (inside and outside of the Wing Chun world), I don’t believe learning Wing Chun online will disappear any time soon.

 

I feel the opposite is true. More people will take advantage of it as it gets more affordable.

Plus, for students who do not have a Wing Chun school nearby, or their schedule doesn’t work with the school’s hours of operation, self-directed learning may be their best and only choice.

Likewise, more and more savvy Wing Chun sifus and entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the opportunities the Internet offers today.

I imagine seeing more videos, more tutorials, more streaming options, live video training, more mobile apps, more ebooks… heck, with 3D printing you might soon be able to email a copy yourself directly into a live seminar at the Shaolin Temple 😉

What are the technological or service drawbacks?

 

Compared to mailing VHS video tapes all over the world, today’s “drawbacks” are minimal, but worth mentioning.

1) The problem with free videos on YouTube or Vimeo: The obvious problem is that most are homemade and amateur. The production quality is often low.

They’re not well outlined or demonstrated. And you can’t be sure if what you’re watching is any good. However, sometimes you get lucky and find a legitimate video, by a respected sifu, that’s been uploaded to the Internet.

2) The drawbacks with Membership style plans: They often depend on streaming video. Streaming quality depends on your Internet connection and can be glitchy or slow. If you don’t have a connection or lose it, you’re out of luck.

Also you have to pay a never ending membership fee. Even if they’re inexpensive, they add up.

The worst part is, if you cancel your membership, maybe because you have financial difficulties, you lose access to all the lessons, even if you’ve paid for years.

3) Drawbacks to direct buying plans. The main drawback to buying online Wing Chun video courses is downloading the video to your computer or device. If you have a slow Internet connection it will take longer.

But the benefit is once the video(s) is on your system, it plays back like a high quality DVD. Plus, once you buy it, you own it for life.

Another small drawback with the ‘direct buying’ format is that you’re often required to download a separate and proprietary media player to watch your video lessons.

You can’t just watch the video off your computer or device, you must watch it through the media player (i.e. similar to what happens with Amazon or iTunes videos).

But the players are often provided free. And once downloaded and installed, they work fine, and you’re often able to watch your videos across all your devices.

Video MASTERY uses a ‘direct buying’ hybrid plan that combines a few interesting benefits.

For instance, some of the videos are available for download AND streaming (without monthly membership fees). You learn how you want to learn.

And under the publisher, Wing Chun University, the complete Wing Chun courses produced by sifus Wayne Belonaha and sifu Fernandez include direct email and voice communication with the sifus!

In other words, you get online training and you can reach out directly to the sifus with your questions!

An option like Video MASTERY is hard to beat, until someone discovers how to build a Star Trek Transporter.

 

The rest of this series is coming soon. And it will cover…

— How effective is it to Learn Wing Chun Online?
— How do you get the most out of it?
— What are the drawbacks?
— If You Use Martial Arts Videos to Learn Wing Chun, Will You Be Dangerous in Real Life?
— Could you learn it well, all online, get some kind of certification, and maybe start teaching others?

Look for it on the site WingChunLife.com or for an announcement by email.

Train smart and hard,

Rob
P.S. Current subscribers to Wing Chun Life News claim your 15% discount on any training video or video training course published by Everything Wing Chun (EWC) or Wing Chun University (WCU)…

[If you’d like to receive periodic promotions that help you save money, join below –]

 

[Read Part 2 Here https://wingchunlife.com/learn-wing-chun]