Hop Gar - Street Applicable

Lots of people don't think kung fu styles are valid anymore. This is patently false. People from our school have used Hop Gar in the street (police, bouncers, soldiers and civilians) and in the ring. The problem with most kung fu styles is that it takes a while to apply them effectively. This is no different from western boxing. When you start, you aren't the best and should not expect to be. If you see a beginning boxer fight, he will not be the best. He will try to apply what he knows and see what happens. The thing that is the difference is the amount of sparring that boxers typically do. Almost every workout for a boxer contains some sort of sparring. Generally, kung fu stylists do less of this or do it in a way that just does not make sense. This is why many of the schools have now gone to teaching Sanda as a system of fighting even though they may practice a perfectly valid form of kung fu already. Much of the difficulty lies in meeting out what is useful in kung fu through vast amounts of, often times, painful trial and error. Many people do not have the desire to go through what it takes to find what works in their art. This is fine if all you are looking for in your kung fu is a workout, but if you want to have a practical form of self defense and not have to learn Sanda (kick boxing with throws - you can look to the recent Fight Quest to see Sanda in Deng Feng China as taught by a couple of Shaolin schools) you have to go through the crucible. If not, you will not know how to use your art. Many people will also say that their art is too deadly to spar. To this I say RIDICULOUS! I have not met one yet. People need to sharpen themselves on other people to know the truth.