In attendance: Bob Shin (instructing), Adam B., Joe C., David D., Maria H., Adam L., Derek L., Tom M., and Aaron T. We had an observer today: Jonathan H.We’re still working on the salutation. Strangely enough, the class seems to find the five step procedure incredibly challenging. Luckily the observer didn’t laugh or walk out of the room while we fumbled through the salute.We reviewed 3/9 left hand and I recommended that everyone practice the right and left hand templates together at home, whereupon everyone apparently decided that they wanted to practice the templates together in class.The second part of class was spent reviewing transition drill 1. Officially, we reviewed the first 5 isolations, though some of the class went on to try to review the entire drill.For the final 20 minutes or so, we practiced isolations 1, 2, 3 and 5 with footwork. Our goal should be to execute the isolations at almost running speed.We ended class with some light free flow. This class I realized that I’ve let discipline get somewhat lax recently. Starting in August, we’re going to tighten things up a bit. Consider yourselves warned!p.s. We were also reprimanded by the KM manager for leaving lots of wood chips on the mats after last week’s class. We decided that it was probably Tom’s “shedding stick” that was to blame. The “shedding stick” was disciplined after class as pictured above.
Month: July 2006
Class Notes – July 20, 2006
In attendance: Bob Shin (instructing), Joe C., Keith H., Tom M., Aaron T., David D., Derek L., and Adam B.Before class, Derek retrieved my trainer from behind the Bench of Doom. He’s getting really good at that.We spent this class working on the C (Cortes) template 1. We reviewed both the feeder and receiver templates, and then paired off to practice them against each other.The last part of class was spent in light sparring with padded sticks. As always, we emphasized avoiding the double kill. I was pleased to see a lot of good techniques being used.
Charm City Kenpo Seminar – July 18, 2006
I had the opportunity to give a Sayoc Kali seminar at Charm City Kenpo Karate in Cockeysville, MD. There were five participants and I was assisted by Joe C.
The seminar ran for two hours. We covered the first 5 targets of 3/9 and introduced tapping. It would be great if we could set up a regular training group or seminar schedule there. Thanks to Sensei Walsh for inviting me to teach.
Class Notes – July 13, 2006
In attendance: Bob Shin (instructing), Adam B., Joe C., David D., Adam L., Tom M., Pat R., Aaron T., and Chris V. We also had an observer today.We started off class reviewing the salutation. Umm … We will probably need to keep working on that in future classes.We started class by reviewing the first three moves of transition drill 1. We limited ourselves to the first three moves to be sure that everyone had the details down right – clearing under the elbow and picking the wrist grab correctly.We then practiced the isolations for these three moves with footwork. We took our entries from two steps away, using angling/gliding movements. This was the first time some had seen the actual isolations from the drill.We ended class with defeating reflexive counters (grabs). Good stuff all around.p.s. The Bench of Doom claimed yet another victim. This time it was one of my training blades, which the observer decided to place on the bench for “safekeeping.” Unfortunately, Derek wasn’t in class tonight, so the trainer will have to wait to be rescued until next week.
Class Notes – July 6, 2006
In attendance: Lem T. (instructing), Joe C., David D., Keith H., Adam L., Tom M., and Pat R.While I was away, Lem ran the class. These are his notes …I tried introducing the salutation with everyone. We tried doing it a few times. Then we reviewed over the 3 of 10 smoking knife template and 2 of 12 smoking knife template. We went over 3 of 9 with tapping and played a little game with it. (I had them do 3 of 9 with tapping and reset and switch feeders after the first hit. Second game we did push-up crawls and did 5 spins around the stick and do crab crawls back, and then have them perform 3 of 9 with tapping.) Basically, 3 of 9 tapping with variations. Then we ended the class with Joe reviewing the stick template.Sounds like a great class! Training modifiers like this are an important part of our training.
Sama Sama 2006 (June 30 – July 3, 2006)
I just got back from Sama Sama, Sayoc Kali’s annual gathering. This year was 3 days of non-stop training in Kissimmee, FL. Lem T., Miguel A., and Jay M. (who recently moved to Tennessee) were there along with over a hundred other Sayoc Kali instructors and students from all over the US and Europe.
Lem, Miguel, and Jay all tested for rank but, more importantly, they represented. I was happy to recommend them for promotion, and I was proud to see them acquit themselves so well in the face of intense sun, heat, and tough testing.
Next year, I hope that we’ll have an even bigger turnout from Maryland. It’s never to early to block out that first weekend in July … p.s. Happy Independence Day!