AWCF Evolving

Wing Chun may not be your day job, but if you are anything like us, it gets you up in the morning, keeps you busy on the bus, and rounds out a perfect evening. I also know I am not the only one that puts in as much effort into maintaining and administering Wing Chun activities as I do participating in them, without any profit. The amount of collective effort put into making Wing Chun happen around this country just for the love of it, is one of the significant reasons that our community is so great.

The main aim of the AWCF is to support and unify the various Wing Chun schools, clubs and groups around Australia where all that effort is happening. As the community grows, the way the AWCF operates has to grow as well. As a result there is a need for a number of improvements in the not so distant future.

One is the nature of membership. As it currently stands we have members and associates. Members are schools, clubs, and groups, and the members of those groups are associate members. But this is a fairly primitive categorisation of our environment. Associate members (i.e. any individual within a member school or club) require certain kinds of support as well, such as having access to the higher grading system, training events, and community interaction. However, some instructors, administrators, and students all require different kinds of support, and some Wing Chun schools are structured quite differently, such as franchises and solo operators. A bit more flexibility can make for a lot of value, so there is a lot of focus there.

The AWCF would also like to support schools and individual instructors with a process, or pathway for gaining experience as a professional without creating a drab “licensing” system that enforces mindless conformity or paperwork. Please note, we don’t want to tell you how to teach your art! But the AWCF can offer support on professional and administration topics ranging from simple things such as first aid certificates, business administration, recruiting opportunities, or even specialised support for sports participation.

Furthermore, the nature by which we implement these services needs to be manageable by the volunteer staff who make up the AWCF each year, so changes that we implement need to be about managing things efficiently, reliably, and still flexible enough to grow with the community.

I am really excited to be privy to these things as they evolve and you can bet I am learning a lot. As the committee works hard to develop and implement these improvements throughout the coming year I will, of course, do my best to keep you all posted and informed!