Hitting people in the groin and poking people in the eye are often cited as staple Wing Chun Kuen moves when in a tight spot on the ground. Any forum thread that deals with being attacked on the ground will have a decent percentage of people advocating groin strikes and eye pokes as the the “go to” move at the very thought of a confrontation. After all who can deny the obvious pain from either attack and the obvious benefits of effectively striking either the eyes or the groin in a self defence scenario?
However if we look into this a little and analyse these strikes like we do with moves from the forms and the application drills we endlessly perform to the smallest detail it becomes a little less obvious.
Groin Strikes
Firstly hitting someone is the groin is the “go to” school yard attack of an infant. So are we to believe that after years or maybe decades of training the Wing Chun fighters first attack is the same as a 5 year old running on instinct? Can that really be the case? Why are we doing the forms if thats all it takes when the going gets tough? What we were all the hours of drills for? Is the groin strike to be preformed closed fist or open palm? I’ve heard people say “oh id just improvise.” So that leads us to logically assume that the Wing Chun fighter should just improvise a move they hardly ever practice in a moment of serious consequences ? Really?
Eyes
Stood up or on the ground there is no guarantee that a person is physically able to reach the eyes. What is the correct foot positioning for eye strikes?What if they attack your eyes at the same time? What if you carnt get out of the situation and you have given your attacker the idea of eye attacks?
This is a live clip from a chi sao open day with a bigger guy taking a smaller guy to the ground. The smaller guy attempts groan and eye strikes to little effect.