Use your guard to protect the straight path. Own it, protect it. That is where you live--don't stray too far from home.
By occupying the shortest distance between you and your opponent, you force your opponent to take a longer path (by comparison) to reach you. Distance equals time. The longer the time the attack takes to reach you, the longer you have to identify the movement and allow your reflexes to work for you.

4) Watch your opponent's elbow.

Quite simply, if the arm moves so does the elbow. Therefore, the opponent's striking arm cannot reach you without its elbow coming with it. The elbow is farther away than the fist and is easier to read (it is a longer focal range and doesn't strain the eye like watching the fist would, for example).
In additon, because it is farther away, the elbow moves slower than the fist and is easier to read. With a linear attack, the elbow moves approximately two and one half times slower than the fist. With a circular attack, the elbow moves approximately four times slower.
Again, distance equals time. The longer you can follow the path of the strike (by detecting it sooner), the longer time you have to let your reflexes work for you.
As far as the legs/kicks are concerned, the knee is to the leg as the elbow is to the arm.

"What I witnessed as the advanced students fought in the ring looked like nothing I had practiced in the studio. Where were all those techniques I had learned?"

5) Fight on the "blindside."

In the Traditional Wing Chun system, the outside of the opponent's lead arm is called the "blindside." This is where we want to position ourselves. In doing so, this allows us to stay the maximum distance away from the opponent's opposite arm. As a result, we only have to deal with one arm at a time.
Again (I know...), distance equals time. If you achieve the blindside position and the the opponent tries to reach you with the rear hand, it takes a longer time to reach you and you have more time to react. Also, quite often, the opponent crosses their arms (while trying to reach with the rear hand) and are susceptible to being trapped.
You want to have the free use of both arms, while limiting the opponent to one. Avoid positioning yourself "toe to toe" (directly in front) with the opponent--you will be threatened equally by both arms (and both legs!).

6) Train your eyes to see "everything."

The simplest way to see "everything," is to look at one thing. If you try to literally watch everything, chances are you will end up seeing nothing (granted, you may get lucky...). So where do we look? As stated before, we start with the elbow--the lead elbow/the nearest threat. By focusing on the nearest threat (distance = time) we will

 

Watch your opponent's elbow: As William Cheung (white uniform) and Eric Oram square off, Cheung watches his opponent's lead elbow to detect movement (1). Oram attacks with a hook punch to the head; Cheung immediately identifies it and defends with a lop sao block to the inside of the arm and a simultaneous straight punch to the head (2). Cheung switches his arms and attacks again, still watching Oram's free elbow (3).

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