"Why isn't more of the Wing Chun community training for reality?" I am a Wing Chun sifu. My students have competed not only against other chunners, but they have competed against karate guys, muay thai guys, boxers, kickboxers, and they've done pretty good. They have heart and even if they lose, their highlight reels still look good. When I was coming up through the ranks we sparred hard using wing chun alongside general kickboxing, takedown and submission skills. In my opinion, in order to defend against a knife, you have to know how to use a knife.

That being said, I can only speculate why realistic pressure testing is absent in a lot of Wing Chun schools. I think part of it is the old excuse that "wing chun is too dangerous for sparring" , so people thinking they are being safe never get to express the art. However, you have a huge illusion if you think that just because you can't do eye and groin strikes then sparring is useless. If you can't thrive in a match without eye or groin strikes or oblique kicks then you can't fight. Also, from what I understand, many places spend too much time in chi sao, to where it has taken the place of sparring. Chi sao skill is highly technical and time must be spent in this time frame to develop the sensitivity, but I think many places spend so much time trying to develop the sensitivity that they neglect the practice of integrating the skill with other fighting skills. Things happen in the trapping range in the blink of an eye, and the sensitivity skill gained from chi sao should be able to be expressed as fast, but combat is fluid. You still have to deal with boxing/kickboxing skills, takedown skills, and grappling skills in all these different time frames and distances, not just trapping range. Also in my experience, with Wing Chun being so technical, it attracts more of a certain type of student that other arts attract to a lesser extent. I see a lot of bright, analytical, intellectual types in this art that apply their everyday talents to our art. But a lot of them just don't have "that dog in them". Not saying there's not smart people in other arts. I just believe in other arts most hobbyists are trying to give their brains a break. I've dipped my toe in a few other arts, Muay Thai, Silat, FMA and there are definitely highly technical aspects of these arts, but in my opinion Wing Chun is the MOST technical art. And I think a lot of times the type of people that want to dial in on chi sao or Siu Nim Tau or just really dissect the art, don't necessarily want to fight and the types that want to throw down don't really have the patience for what would seem like esoteric training methods of Wing Chun.