Everyone sees Wing Chun’s “handling of force” a bit differently. Some prefer to take all attackers head-on, while others prefer to give up that force and attack from the side. Which one is right?
That depends on the lineage, of course, since training styles differ quite a bit. In general, though, we should always go back to the concept when questions like this arise.
Wing Chun’s premise is that force-vs-force comes with a price tag. If your force can overpower the attacker’s force, there is really nothing wrong with that. After all, everyone has an attribute to make use of, and if you are naturally strong, then overpowering your opponent with sheer force is acceptable.
On the flip side, if you are “not” physically stronger than your opponent, then you obviously have to approach the attack in a different way, e.g. side-stepping. The real key here is understanding the differences and knowing that at some point in time, what we currently perceive as being the “best” way for here and now, will at some point in the future change.
For example, if you are in your teens, 20′s, 30′s, etc., and you have excellent strength and flexibility, what you do “now” will change quite a bit from what you are able to do when you reach your 40′s, 50′s, and beyond. In that case, your entire outlook on Wing Chun can drastically change, and for some, it becomes a disheartening experience.
If your current training “relies” on your strength, I would suggest that you take a look at that and think in the “long term” of things. Strength is fleeting, and in reality, we will never know every single opponent we might run into. If our training relies on our strength, “what if” we run into someone stronger? If our training relies on flexibility, “what if” we run into someone who is more flexible?
When our skill sets rely on a physical attribute (or collection of attributes), then at some point or another it is bound to break down. Maybe you are sick when you get attacked, or maybe you run into multiple attackers. “Age” is an inevitability for all of us, and it is easy to forget that while we are still young and in the prime of our lives.
The better option is in learning to “give way” with force, which allows us to utilize the attacker’s actions back against him/her. If we focus on driving in with brute strength, our own Chi-sau training shows us that this leads to futility. It is extremely easy to “borrow” an attacker’s movements, and while Wing Chun is known for this, there “are” other martial arts that work a semblance of this concept. They are by no means at the same level of this type of training that a Wing Chun/ Ving Tsun/ Wing Tsun practitioner is, but that does not mean they do not train it (nor does it mean they cannot use what they have learned).
In the end, “head-on” vs. “side-step” should always be thought of as a tactic vs. a primary method of training. Sometimes it is perfectly acceptable to just “wade in” and go head-to-head. Other times, it is more appropriate to side-step, give way to the force coming in, and use those actions to your advantage.
