Hi guys,
I'm yan12 from the US (interested in kung fu and YMAA for about 5 years) and I'm new in this forum, although I've read posts for a number of years. I'm very attached to the sparring side of kung fu, but have been pretty disappointed at the small number of good sparring demonstrations by kung fu exponents. They look a lot like kickboxing tournaments - everyone keeping their fists close in like boxers, not keeping stances, and just randomly roundkicking and snap punching. Now, I've never seen any unrestricted YMAA sparring, but from what I've seen, I'm convinced it's effective and uses more application than the average school.
However, I've found some intriguing sparring vids from NY Wutan, which was started by Master Marlon Ma of Liu Yun Qiao fame (the same lineage as Adam Hsu). They keep their stances well while moving dynamically and use their techniques heavily in a free flowing fight.
Here's the first, between two intermediate praying mantis students:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... NCoto&NR=1
And here's the second, between a master and an advanced student:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZMLMGoAVMU
I notice that they use a lot of tripping techniques (mantis influence) and liberally apply Ba Bu Gan Chan to attack ankles (I am well aware that they are not using any padding, which creates a safety issue, but also invites freer application of techniques). One practitioner mentioned that when in doubt in sparring, "one should attack." What do you all think of Wutan's sparring and methodology? Does YMAA sparring ever look like this, and if not, why not?
Thanks for your thoughts,
yan12