Ving Tsun Kicking Methods

8/8/2019 Ving Tsun Kicking Methods

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VING TSUN KICKING METHODS

by

Clive Potter

In my time I have seen many different ideas of how the Ving Tsun kick should be executed. Hereis the explanation as per the Wong Shun Leung method.

Angle of Attack

In some styles of Ving Tsun, I haveseen the kick practised as in Fig. 1.They lift the leg and then kickforward nearly if not parallel to thefloor. (A to centre and then centreto B). This method is not direct asthe path of the foot does not go

straight to the target, but goes upand then forward. This method alsocreates another problem in thestability of the kick. According toNewtons Third Law of Motion, forevery force there is an equal andopposite force otherwise known asrecoil. When executing any strike,be it with the foot or hand, it isimportant to understand whatdirection the equal and oppositeforce is travelling. Dos it give usmore stability or create lessstability. With the Ving Tsun punchis rises as it goes forward, creatingan equal and opposite force thatdrives down and roots our stancemore into the floor. Quite a fewstyles of Kung Fu employ thismethod of structure like Tai Chi,Southern Dragon, Five AnimalStyle to name a few I have incontact with. Five Animal Style callit the ground force. However,executing the Ving Tsun kick as inthe method shown in Fig. 1 createdan equal and opposite force that

travels backward into the air in thedirection of C therefore applying aforce on the kicker that would makethem travel backward from thetarget. The result of this is thekicker becomes unstable in thestance and some of the force theywish to apply to the power of thekick is absorbed into the recoil as


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the kicker is pushed away from thetarget.

In Fig. 2 the kick is executed with the leg kept at the same length (r1, r2, r3 in Fig. 2) the kneedoes not bend at all. This method I have also seen in some methods of Ving Tsun. Though thiscreates a more stable stance as the equal and opposite force travels more into the ground than in

the Fig. 1 method, the actual strike does not penetrate the target with the force it could do, as thedirection of the kick on impact is more upwards and therefore has the effect of stroking thetarget.

Fig. 3 is the method used in the Wong Shun Leung method of Ving Tsun. The foot travels in astraight line from the floor to the target. This is the most direct, most efficient and therefore fastestmethod. The path of the foot describes what in trigonomical terms is the chord of a circle.Whereas a tangent is a straight line that touches the circumference of a circle just once, a chordof a circle is a line that cuts a circle in two places. The difference therefore between Fig. 2 andFig. 3 is that the kicking leg, being the radius of the circle, has to bend in Fig. 3 so the radius isshortened and then lengthened again as impact with the target is about to occur (r1, r2, r3 in Fig.3). This causes the foot to travel in a straight line from where it is on the floor to the target. Withthis method, physics helps ground the stance as the equal and opposite force is now being

directed into the floor in the direction of C in Fig. 3. The harder the kicker kicks the target, themore the equal and opposite force drives his stance into the floor creating a stronger and morestable stance on impact.

Wong Shun Leung always demonstrated these various methods of kicking at any of his seminarsthat involved him explain Ving Tsun kicking methods. He would kick a wall as in the methodshown in Fig. 1 which would drive him back from the wall as he kicked. He would then kick usingthe method shown in Fig. 3 striking the wall very hard, but his stance could be seen to remainstable and strong as impact occurred. The photo shown above of Wong Shun Leung is that ofhim demonstrating the various kicking methods at his seminar in the UK in St. Albans at myschool in 1990.

Feet PositionWe also need to study the angle of

the foot and leg as it moves andkicks from its position on the floordirectly to the target.

Fig. A shows the stance in theposition for moving forward andlooks at the kick foot angles fromthis position. The body is facingforward and the feet are turned in alittle and parallel.

When kicking many people,especially if they feel too close to

the target, they tend to twist thefoot much too early to the position itshould be when it is in contact withthe target. In fact, they do this rightat the beginning of the kick as inFig. B2. This immediately opens upthe groin and makes it vulnerable toany incoming force such as anopponents kick.


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Feet PositionsFigures 1 and 2 show kicking fromtwo popular positions of stance, thestance when stationary and thestance when moving. Both Figure 1and 2 are based on the scenario

that the opponent is in range or iscoming forward with a kick sostepping first to bridge is notnecessary. Figure 1 shows twoalternatives of standing stationarywith the feet positioned as R1 andL1 where R1 is pointing at thetarget and would be the kicking legor as R2 and L2 where L2 points atthe target and would be the kickingleg. (In all these three diagrams, Ris for the right foot and L is for theleft foot.) In Figure 1 R1 is thekicking leg and is driven by L1pushing forward to generate theforce and therefore negates theneed for shifting the body weight toL1 before kicking as the forwardforce then compensates for gravitytrying to upset the stance on theside that the foot has left theground. This means that if theattacker is initially standing outsidekicking range, he needs to maketwo actions. (1. to step forward tobridge the gap and 2. to then kick.)As we drive forward with L1, we

only need one action to kicktherefore we are able to stop theattackers step rather than his kick.If we shift our weight before wekick, then we are also creating twomoves and will consequently bekicking the attackers kick instead ofhis step. Of course, if the attackeris within range then driving forwardwith L1 to kick with R1 is thequickest way to kick as shifting ourweight tells the opponent what weare going to do before we do it as

they are able to see our shouldersmove to the side a little. When thekick is completed and the footplaced on the floor L1 must moveto L3 to re-configure the stancesstability.

In Figure 2 the concepts are justthe same, but we are already in astance moving forward and we kick


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with R1 by driving forward with L1.Again, when R1 has reached R2and is placed on the floor, L1moves to L2 to re-configure thestance.

In Figure 3 the situation is that of one where we are doing the attacking from a distance more

than one step away from the opponent. Of course, if we just step forward in a straight line andkick, we would be clashing with the opponents force coming towards us. Thus we have to find aclear line in my creating an angle using dummy footwork. Many years ago I used to try and attack

with a kick straight down the centre from a distance of more than one step by reaching a longway with the kick. Of course, this over reaching made my stance very unstable. I remember

Wong Shun Leung talking to me and Anthony Kan in Anthonys back garden explaining to us thatwe should not kick until we are first in range to kick. He then showed us the footwork as in Figure3 which creates an angle for entry than does not clash with the centreline. His favourite techniquewhen doing this was to attack with a kick and a man sau all at once. If the opponent tried to blockthe kick, the man sau would strike. If they tried to block the man sau, then the kick would strike. If

the angle of moving from L1 to L2 is as narrow as possible, hopefully it will trick the opponent(especially if they are a karate, Tae Kwon Do or from another style works more in straight lines)into thinking we are moving in, in a straight line. By the time they realise we are not, it is too late

for them. Attack Angles

Of course if we attack as in the lastparagraph, the opponent is not

always going to stand there and letus kick them! Here illustrated is oneexample of a scenario and how wemight deal with it using Ving Tsundummy footwork. If we attempt tomove into kicking range via use ofan angle as described in the above

paragraph and therefore move from1 to 2 in the Attacking Angles

illustration, the opponent may moveor kick from A to B to intercept us.As he does this we immediatelychange our direction onto 2 to 3

and move in again driving off fromthe back leg in direction of 3 to 4attacking perhaps with our handsas we have shut down the kicking

distance.

Naturally, there are many, many

more scenarios of kicking and kicksfrom different angles and positions.Mostly I treat kicks with the samephilosophy and approach as I dothe hand actions, for example likepunching, I will kick from wherevermy foot is to the target. I have used

the footwork of the AttackingAngles illustration to find a clearway in to attack with the hands.


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Another way for entry is to attackdirectly up the centreline until weobtain contact with the opponentand to then deal with changing

angles to attack depending on the

feel of direction of the opponentsforces. Like everything in Ving Tsun

we must choose the method thatworks best for us and develop that

for efficiency.

Ving Tsun Kicking Methods

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