At New York Martial Arts Academy we place enormous emphasis on footwork. Sifu Ted Wong also placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of footwork.
Footwork allows us to do 3 things: makes us hit harder, puts us in a position to hit, and gets us out of danger. Footwork makes us hit harder by allowing us to throw our body weight behind our punches and kicks. It puts us in a position to hit by allowing to move and zone to the areas where the opening may be available. And lastly it gets us out of danger by allowing us to move and evade any incoming attacks.
These 3 reasons are give clear evidence as to why footwork is so very important in combat. Like Bruce Lee said, "The essence of fighting is the art of moving."