“Big brother” Edgar Zimmermann shows a student the details of the martial art Wing Tsun at his school. PHOTO REINIER VAN WILLIGEN (Article from De Twentsche Courant Tubantia published on 25/10/1997 Hengelo & 1/11/1997 Enschede.)
From September 1994 to July 2000, Kung Fu classes were taught in Enschede/Twente under the name “WingTsun.” In July 2000, the name was changed to “WingTczun” for legal reasons.
Edgar Zimmermann (27) introduces Eastern martial arts (Wing Tsun) to Twente
By Martin Ruesink
HENGELO/ENSCHEDE
Only the shuffling of quick and light feet plus the sound of fingerless gloves brushing against each other break the silence. Ten couples in sweatpants and T-shirts are quietly working through their exercises tonight. Like a kind of ritual snake dance, four arms snake over and past each other. Each pair of hands is searching for the shortest route to the opponent. There’s no shouting or groaning in the former canteen of the ice rink in Enschede. They leave fabulous jumps, followed by devastating kicks, to Louis van Gaal and the followers of the late Bruce Lee. Students at the Twente Wing Tsun school prefer to keep their feet on the ground.
“The most effective self-defense,” promises the brochure on the counter of the Chinese restaurant. The logo depicted, a triangle with a fist and the letters WT, exudes simplicity and strength. The equilateral triangle symbolizes the shortest path taken by two arms, each from a shoulder, to the same third point: the attacker.
“As an advanced WT student, you become every attacker’s nightmare in seconds. Because you use multiple attacks simultaneously and at different levels, you leave your attacker no time or space for their own actions,” the brochure reads.
Edgar Zimmermann encountered Wing Tsun about ten years ago as a seventeen-year-old boy. The Chinese martial art, developed by women approximately 250 years ago, gained significant popularity in Germany in the late 1980s. Zimmermann became so proficient in the art that he wanted to establish his own Wing Tsun school. “But that turned out to be virtually impossible in Germany because it was simply full. Each school had been granted exclusive rights in its service area by the WT organization. Wing Tsun wasn’t that popular in other countries yet, so I could start there. The Netherlands seemed nice. So I moved here from the Stuttgart area. Three years ago, I started this school in Enschede with a colleague from Croatia.”
Zimmermann is the owner now. Every week, he welcomes about forty men and women to the school at the Westerval, who can choose their preferred training time from Monday to Friday. “Sometimes twenty come at once, sometimes just a few,” smiles Zimmermann, who has also been teaching WingTsun in Hengelo for a few weeks now. This takes place every Friday evening from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM at Sportstudio Hengelo at Lansinkesweg.
Don’t think, but act on your instincts. Always be one step ahead of your opponent, approach him when he expects you to step back. Harnessing your attacker’s strength and energy. Yielding like a poplar in the wind. That, in short, is the philosophy of Wing Tsun, Chinese for beautiful spring. “A fight should never last longer than half a minute, otherwise your chances of survival are significantly reduced. You can strike with your arms and legs about six times per second, which means you’ve used a lot of energy after thirty seconds,” says Zimmermann.
He calls himself Si Hing, or big brother. Edgar Zimmermann smiles when you ask him if the house rules are really as strict as the official WT regulations suggest. Excessive exuberance, joking, or joviality towards the teacher is not tolerated. Students, according to the rules, must be modest and eager to learn. “It’s not so bad here,” Zimmermann assures. After all, he’s not a Sifu (father), but he feels comfortable in the role of big brother. Even in Wing Tsun, one form of self-defense is still the best, especially when your opponent is armed and you are not. “Run away quickly.” That has nothing to do with cowardice, but with wisdom. But of course, there are situations where you simply can’t run away, and then you have to be able to defend yourself.
Anyone interested in an introductory Wing Tsun class can contact Edgar Zimmermann at +31 6 54344765 (current phone number).
This page is also available in Dutch.
