A great seminar

On Saturday, I was fortunate to be part of a seminar at my American Kenpo school held by Grand Master Tatum.  I didn’t realize how far I had to go until I went to this seminar.  I believe that I polish basics ad nauseum.  I like it and don’t really see it as a chore.  But if I could use one word to describe Grand Master Tatum it would be crippling.  The amount of precision and focused power he uses in each strike is simply awesome.  To say the least I was impressed.  I truly enjoyed the technical side of the seminar.  Grand Master Tatum brought a gentleman with him to dummy up some techniques (or be the uki in traditional Japanese styles).  You could see the transfer of force so completely.  The precise power about knocked this man over each time.  It was all he could do to stand up.  Impressive.

 We worked on three techniques on Saturday. (I will say again that I don’t like the crazy names for techniques)

Bow of Compulsion - A technique to work on how things go wrong.  This is a defense against a defended push or grab where your hand is trapped against an opponent’s chest.  We worked on driving against your own hand to loosen up the opponents grip.  I liked this application.  It appeals to my intermittent thuggish approach to martial arts.

Snapping Twig - this is hyper-extension block/ trap of a straight push.  The key to the technique is getting the trap right and rolling the arm correctly.  Then the technique is simply a beating (well a beating that flows from one strike to the next, but still a beating).  Kenpo is a series of strikes that flow naturally into each other - why so many strikes one after another.  It is simply a tool box, if you find a hammer doesn’t fit the job, switch to the mider saw.  But before you can use the mider saw you have to know it is in the tool box and how to use it.

Falcons of Force-  This technique is a multiple attacker technique that has the benefit of multiple stance changes.  It is a nice technique to work on stance transitions as well as working on the mental flexibility to train against multiple opponents.  We worked this technique for a good amount of time.  I had not learned this before and it was a good environment to learn new things.  It is nice to learn from different people now and then, sometimes different people share new perspectives on the same ideas.  It gives you a fuller understanding of the material when you have multiple viewpoints to consider.

 I would go to more if given the chance.