I was just looking at entries under “learn Kung Fu” and I saw a few things that caught my eye… 1) One person said, “people who want to learn how to beat someone up should be shot” and 2) Another said…”I trained longfist kung fu for four years. To be honest, it was one of my least favorite of the martial arts that I trained… There wasn’t enough contact – it wasn’t something I felt I could use in a fight, as we didn’t do enough sparring and fight training”.
1) The first person was absolutely right. Kung Fu and any REAL martial art is exactly that… art. No one should be learning with the intent of hurting anyone. My Sifu always told me, “I hope you’ll never have to use what I’m teaching you. If you do, it should only be if you or your family’s lives are in danger.” He also told me that I won’t feel that I need to fight because of the confidence I gained. He was right.
2) I think one thing that should be understood is that saying “Kung Fu” is almost as general as saying “Martial Arts”. There are so many different styles. I have seen some styles of Kung Fu that look so incredibly different from what I’ve learned. If he felt there wasn’t enough application, it might not only have been the style of Kung Fu but the style of teaching. Our Sifu had us spar often. He also often came at us almost completely unexpected to keep us ready, aware and prepared for anything.