Paul Oddi

EFC, NAPMA, MAIA and other so called ‘Professional Martial Arts Associations

Date: July 2, 2009  Author: admin Comments Off

by Sifu/Kru Paul Oddi

A great number of martial arts schools and clubs seem to be extolling the fact they are members of organizations such as the NAPMA (National Association of Professional Martial Artists), award winning members of The Educational Funding Company (EFC), members of the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA), or other professional sounding groups, as if they signify high standard of quality of instruction and results.

These so called “professional” associations are nothing more than industry related billing and marketing companies who provide a wide range of billing, marketing and advertising support services to martial arts schools to help them increase enrolment. The only standard of quality required to join is that you pay them monthly membership (service) fees. Anyone can join them. As for the awards which they present, they are usually related to the successful implementation of their services and the resulting increases in enrolment.

Don’t misunderstand me in thinking that some associations can’t have benefits to both clubs and their students, just don’t be fooled into thinking that being members of these associations should be used as a way of evaluating a school or the quality of students they produce.

Common myth about training in martial arts (or what you will not find at Point Blank)

Date: July 2, 2009  Author: admin Comments Off

Common myth about training in martial arts (or what you will not find at Point Blank)

Myth 1: Hundreds of years ago, some martial arts Master had it “all figured out!” 

Allow me, if you will, to paint a little picture for you: You wake up one morning and before making breakfast, you realize that you need to go to the bathroom. So, out the door you go, across the lawn and into the outhouse. On your way back to the house you stop off at the woodpile to grab a couple of logs so that you can add fuel to the wood stove so that you can fry your eggs. Unfortunately, before reaching the house, the wood which you are carrying obstructs your view and you fall, opening a deep cut on your leg. The cut is bleeding quite badly so you wrap a cloth around it, hop onto your horse and head off to the doctor. Upon arriving at the medical clinic, the doctor appears quite concerned about the cut. Rather than risking infection he decides to treat the wound with leeches. 

Should I stop here? Are there still places in our country where we must use an outhouse and cook on a wood stove? Of course there are. Do we still use horses for transportation? In some situations, yes. How about using leeches in medicine? I was surprised to find that the answer is yes, in some situations we do use them. I don’t however think that there would be anyone reading this on their computer that could not see that technology and education have allowed us to move beyond these methods. 

How does this relate to martial arts, and specifically, your martial arts training? I am always astounded to hear about martial arts instructors who teach their students that some martial arts master had “it all figured out” a hundred or more years ago. How could it possibly be true that in every area of our life we have made advances, except in the area of martial arts training? The word “traditional” when combined with martial arts conjures up images for some people of “ancient secrets” passed down from the masters. Would you feel the same way if you brought your TV in for repair and the technician told you the he was going to use “traditional” methods for repairing it? How about if you went to the dentist and he told you that he had been treating his patients with “traditional” methods of dentistry? 

Do we, at Point Blank, teach “traditional” martial arts? In some ways, yes, and in others ways, ABSOLUTELY NOT! What I do value and pass on to my students are the traditions of honour, integrity, loyalty and spirit that some of our martial arts ancestors trained with. And when I do have students who are interested in the historical training methods of the martial arts past, I will share them. What I don’t believe in doing is teaching a student that the physical skills and training methods of the past are in some ways superior to current martial arts skills and that if they stick around long enough, they will “learn the secret.” 

Even now, the skills taught at Point Blank have evolved beyond what we taught just a few months ago and are light years beyond what I was taught when I first began my own training over 10 years ago. Next year I expect they will progress in the same way. Why? Because my staff and I are constantly learning, researching, training and testing our curriculum so that our students get the very best training possible. Point Blank students can rest assured that they are on the “cutting edge” of martial arts technology! 

Myth 2: You must teach your classes by having your students line up and grunt acknowledgments in unison. 

This myth long associated with the more traditional martial arts stems from teaching methods derived from military. What most traditional Japanese martial arts consider to be Budo training methods, are nothing but. During the era of Samurai and warrior class of Japan, men and women trained in a very efficient, aggressive, and by today’s standards, what would be considered “informal” way. When World War II broke out, Japan no longer had an exclusive military class. What they were in need of was a large military force. In order to create such a force, soldiers would have to be drawn from all segments of society. The Samurai, who never needed to be yielded at or prodded to train for combat, were replaced by merchants, farmers and tradesmen. Budo (the warrior way) was replaced by drill sergeants, straight lines of soldiers repeating the same moves in unison, yelling, titles of rank and a military style of teaching designed for people who were thought of as too inept to learn the traditional way. It is time to throw all this away! There are better ways to teach! 

Myth 3: You must not give your students too much information, too fast, because “if you sell all the merchandise on your shelves, no one will come back to the store.” 

This is perhaps the stupidest myth associated with “martial” arts. It may apply to a teacher of forms and techniques, but should never be a concern to a Fighter. If it is, then you lack the most valuable commodity a martial artist can have: Imagination. How can you run out of an art that has no limitations? If you believe this asinine myth, quit teaching the martial arts now. You are in the wrong occupation! 

Myth 4: You must teach a lot of information at once or your students will get bored. 

This myth is true if you are teaching a crop of students who measure their progress by the accumulation of techniques and the size of their note books. 

“I was taught movements and concepts from Rickson Gracie in the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu two years ago that I am just beginning to apply and use now. Imagine if I logged those movements in my notebook and then said to Rickson ‘OK, I know these now… show me more’. I am sure he would just laugh. However, with arts such as Kali and Jun Fan students learn a double stick pattern, or trapping combination, and then quickly request more variations and techniques to add to their notebook. The attitude of ‘I have 27 double stick patterns and you only have 12′ becomes common. The thought ‘can I apply any of this?’ does not seem to even occur.” Matt Thornton. 

When teaching people who are interested in learning how to really defend themselves, it is not necessary to teach a million techniques. Teaching the fundamentals well, and showing drills for their application, will always be greeted with enthusiasm. The seminars of Rickson Gracie prove this point. 

Myth 5: You must not associate with your students in an informal way or they will lose their respect for you. 

The kind of students who would lose interest in training because they realize that their instructor is a mortal human being, are not the kind of students we want at Point Blank. We believe that you must know your students well in order to motivate them well, which is why you will frequently see our staff organizing and participating in social events such as picnics, baseball games, movie nights, etc. 

Myth 6: You should refer to people differently depending on whether they are “senior” or “junior” in your art. 

Are you the kind of student who is impressed or motivated by titles such as Master, Soke, Kyoshi, etc., or by your instructor’s claims of being a “23 degree Black Belt?” If so, you are typically not the kind of student who is attracted to Point Blank. Myth #6 demonstrates the dramatic difference between the beggar’s humility and warrior’s humility. The beggar will bow down and scrape the floor for any man he deems to be greater than him; but at the same time he will demand that any man he deems to be lesser, bow down and scrape the floor for him. The warrior bows down before no man, and allows no man to bow down before him. At Point Blank we strive for the humility of a warrior and shun the humility of a beggar. 

Myth 7: In the martial arts, men’s and women’s classes must be separated. 

There is nothing farther away from the truth than this! For most women, the primary goal for training in the martial arts is not competition, but self-defense. They want to be able to stop or divert a potential aggressor (usually a man) in a “street-fighting” situation. For women, solely training with other women might be a nice social or athletic event and gives good fitness conditioning too, but from the point of view of self-defense against an aggressor – man, it is useless. Why? Simply because men are usually larger than women and they don’t fight the same way as women do. So, to develop skills useful in real “street-fighting” situations, women have to train in similar conditions – with men, at least part of the time. There is also an important factor of psychological conditioning. Women training with men are not going to panic or be impressed by the larger size and aggressiveness of the male aggressor as they have been exposed to it many times before! 

Myth 8: Women should not grapple, especially not with men. 

Well, this is more question of a personal choice. In martial arts there are as many men as women who enjoy the long-range combat (punching, kicking…) but who don’t like to be in close (clinching or grappling) range with their opponents. That’s fine. But there is one thing which makes it different for women. As said before, most women do martial arts in order to gain some experience in self-defense. Attacked by a man, there is much higher probability for a woman to be taken to the ground than there is for a man. That’s a simple question of size and strength. And in that situation, it is of crucial importance for a woman to know how to defend herself. When fighting with a larger and stronger male on the ground, the use of proper technique is her only chance to escape or even save her life. The technique does not come by itself, it must be learned during the realistic training. So, grappling with larger male partners has its important place in women’s MA training. Many women realize that and would like to learn some basic ground fighting. However, there is something else to stop them. The society. The common view of any closer contact between two opposite sexes as something which should not be encouraged. Well, grappling is a close contact, there is no doubt about that! Any woman (and, by the way, any man, too) can feel uncomfortable in such a close range the first few times. But, as she (or he) progresses, she finds very quickly that in martial arts people are not divided to men and women. All of them consider themselves “only” as human beings on their way to find and improve themselves. The martial arts way is the way of respect for each other. 

Typical experiences at ordinary martial arts schools:The typical class in most Martial Arts schools might consist of the student practicing a prearranged “dance” by themselves, in the air (katas, forms). This is what we call training a “dead” pattern. It might then progress on to one and two step sparring against a cooperative opponent. What this means is that your partner will pretend to attack you with a prearranged move and you will then respond with a prearranged move. Keep in mind that in a street fight your attacker will never attack you with a prearranged move. And he most definitely will not act as a “dummy” for you, holding his arm motionless in the air, so that you can look good. Finally, after a while, advanced students might be allowed to engage in “free sparring” against another opponent. Unfortunately, even this “free” sparring almost always involves a very restrictive set of rules. In short, it is all as far away from a street fight as one can get.

What is a Belt Factory?

Date: July 2, 2009  Author: admin Comments Off

by Sifu/Kru Paul Oddi

A ‘Belt Factory’ or a ‘McDojo’, are the terms given to schools that are more interested in collecting fees and getting rich, then producing quality students who are truly able apply their skills. The students in these schools seem to move through their respective ranking systems very quickly and the school produce an exceptionally high number of black belts in a short period of time.

Many people when they start out know very little about martial arts or the difference between training methods. When they look around at schools they can easily be taken in by a place that look a lot like the things you see on TV, you tend to believe that they really do know what they are doing.

‘Belt Factory’ schools will sometimes make statements such as “You look like you’re in pretty good shape (Your son/daughter is very good for their age), I can promise you (your child) will have your (their) black belt within 2 years.” Or they offer membership agreements that are for a “1 year or until your [insert colour] belt”. It can be pretty exciting things to hear that you can learn and advance so quickly, and I have no doubt you will find yourself, and/or your child, moving through the belt ranks as promised.

I can’t help but wonder how many students don’t make it to the indicated belt within that first year? I bet they are ready to sell you the next ‘until’ membership before you even reach the end of the first. The truth is that there is no set amount of time for studying martial arts, which can be legitimately applied to everyone. Everyone is different.

A common complaint I here from parents who have come from other schools is that they saw students moving up in rank despite obvious shortcomings in their skills and/or training, including their own children. Rather than ensuring that the student has the skills they should at their level, they are being continually promoted because the school does not want to lose that student and their membership fee.

I have seen many high-ranking students from ‘Belt Factory’ schools that can’t properly throw simple punches such as a jab or cross. Positive reinforcement and encouragement is great for a person’s self-esteem, but giving the student a false sense of security concerning their skills and their ability to defend themselves is both stupid and dangerous.

Parents and students should be cautious of such schools when they are looking for a martial arts program. These schools do a great disservice to their students, and the reputation of all martial arts schools.

The Shortcomings of Traditional Martial Arts Training

Date: July 2, 2009  Author: admin Comments Off

Mere repetition of rhythmic, calculated movements robs combat movement of its “aliveness” and “isness” – its reality.
- Bruce Lee

Anyone who has ever been in a fight, a real fight where both people are trying to hurt each other and their adrenaline is pumping, knows that it’s completely unpredictable. There is absolutely no way to know what your opponent is thinking much less anticipate his or her next move. The nature of a physical confrontation has countless variables, meaning that no two confrontations will happen the same way. Fighting is “alive”, free from patterns or restrictive techniques. In true or real fighting, anything goes. So, if fighting does not play according to rules, regulations, or a fixed way of acting, fighting sports aside, than why train in a martial arts systems that have a specific “way” or a set pattern of pretending to defend yourself.

In martial arts, or fighting, timing is everything. You cannot understand timing through a fixed series of punches, kicks and blocks, better known as forms or katas. You can practice fighting techniques for 15 years and show this technique to other people over and over again, but without a sense of timing and distance you can never hope to be able to execute these techniques. Take a baseball player for example. Imagine being shown how to swing a bat properly with all the right mechanics, but never having a pitch thrown to you to swing at. Do you think without the practice of swinging at real pitches that you would ever gain a sense of when to swing? Can this concept be truly understood without experimentation? I don’t think so. So the baseball player learns timing in his batting game by using a batting cage with real pitches. This is aliveness training for a baseball player. Doing the real thing versus pretending or imagining doing the real thing. A baseball player does not wait until the big game to swing at an actual ball pitched to him. The same is true for a martial artist wanting to develop a sense of timing and spacing between his or her opponent.

A martial artist must learn any techniques through the same process of experimentation. Techniques must be practiced against resisting opponents to gain a sense of how techniques work when it counts, and not waiting until the big game. Aliveness training is the only way to accomplish this. To be alive is to move. It is not fixed positions. It is not pretending to be in different scenarios. Without timing, energy, motion, contact and consequences, the martial artist will never truly understand how techniques will help him or her when it counts.

How do you discover what is a practical technique and what is a flowery technique rooted in tradition and style? The answer is – aliveness training. Aliveness training is movement. Aliveness training is not a static fixed or ‘dead’ pattern drill. Aliveness training is as simple as performing ‘Isolation’ drills where both “athletes” are working towards certain objective (attempting to pass the guard for example), or sparring with resistance and realism. Aliveness training is the only way to progress to a greater sense of timing. Aliveness training is accomplished by performing drills and sparring in all ranges of combat, in an isolated environment or where anything goes. Regardless of which range you isolate or if you train all ranges simultaneously you must do so through aliveness. Only through aliveness training can you ever hope to discover what you are capable of doing in a self-defence situation or in the ring.

Traditional martial arts training ‘will not’ prepare you for the reality of combat and self-defence.

The Importance of Footwork

Date: July 2, 2009  Author: admin Comments Off

by Sensei John O’Brien (American Martial Arts Center)
with additions by Paul Oddi

It is said that Bruce Lee used to watch hours of film footage of boxing “greats” like Mohammed Ali. He focused on how he moved and maneuvered. Footwork is one of the most important attributes of a martial artist. Your footwork gets you into offensive range and gets you back out to defensive range. It enables you to move in all directions. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu recognized the importance of maneuvering, as to “leave an outlet free”, not just in the defensive sense, but also in the offensive sense.

A good time to practice footwork is when you are doing your shadow boxing. You can practice moving forward, back, and side to side. Always move the foot nearest to the direction that you are going first. If you are moving forward, move your front foot first, followed by your back foot. When moving backward, move the back foot first then the front foot. When moving left, move your left first followed by your right.

A fighter’s backward movement should be kept to a minimum. Moving backwards creates momentum for your opponent. It is better to move side to side or in a circle. A good practice session could be one round of two three-minute durations doing forward and backward movement. The second round work side-to-side, left and right. A third round could be combining front, back, and side-to-side. The advanced practitioners could do a round of pivot drills on ninety-degree segments going clockwise and counter clockwise. Footwork can also be practiced with your punching and kicking techniques. Always remember to never cross your feet, stay in a good balanced stance, and stay on your side to present a smaller target to your opponent. Never stand on a squared stance such as a horse stance, you are presenting too much of a target. The late great Bruce Lee called this a dead-man’s stance for good reason. If you work hard on your stance and footwork, you can expect an improvement in your sparring. This applies to Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and Boxing

You have to put in the work; there are no shortcuts.

Why Martial Arts is Good For Kids

Date: January 2, 2009  Author: admin Comments Off

by Paul Oddi

With recent government reports from source such as Health Canada and the Canadian Fitness and the Lifestyle Research Institute showing an over 50% increase in childhood obesity across Canada, it is more important than ever to get children involved in physical activities, and Martial Arts is a great way to accomplish this.

Martial arts can greatly benefit a child in all aspects of their life. It provides a positive outlet for a child’s energy, promotes cardio-vascular endurance, increases flexibility and coordination, and contributes to the strengthening of muscles, which in turn builds strong bones.

Martial Arts also have psychological benefits that help children in their emotional and character development. As a child’s skills develop they begin to feel more self-confidence in their own abilities that in turn helps to build their self-esteem, which carries over into the other aspects of the child’s life, such as school and other sports. The same applies to the respect and discipline shown in the martial arts training environment, which often translates to improvements in behaviour at home and at school. But the benefits of martial arts do not, and should not, stop at improving a child overall fitness, attitudes, and behaviour.

I’m often surprised that with so many martial arts schools out there put so much emphasis on belt achievement and so little emphasis on the ‘core’ benefit of Safety, or rather ‘Child Safety’. The origins of martial arts are rooted in improving ones ability to protect oneself. It is so often forgotten that martial arts should be providing your child with the tools to appropriately respond to dangerous situations. With issues such as Internet Safety, Child Abduction, and bullying in the schools being of concern to every parent it’s more important than ever before that Child Safety be an active and important part of any Martial Arts program. Learning skills such as danger awareness and avoidance principles, verbal and physical skills to deal with self-defence situations will help to educate the child and keep them safe.

Don’t just sign your child up for a structured babysitting service, or a ‘belt factory’ that is more concerned with fee collection and belt promotions. When involving your child in Martial Arts be sure that your child receives all the benefits Martial Arts has to offer, as they will help your child excel and grow as a person.

IMB Instructors Conference Review

Date: January 21, 2006  Author: admin Comments Off

By Paul Oddi

There are few opportunities for a group of individuals to come together as a community in the pursuit developing their skills both as a martial artist and a person. The IMB Instructors’ Conference is such a place. Attendees came from all parts of the United States, and countries around the world in this pursuit. Groups had come from as far off as Germany, the UK, Italy and even some guy from Canada for 6 days of personal growth.

Sunday (Day One)

Morning and Afternoon: Cacoy Canete

Our first sessions were in Doce Pares Eskrima with living legend Grandmaster Cacoy Canete, the youngest of the famous Canete family of Eskrimadors. The martial arts of Kali/Eskrima has itself come close to extinction and would likely be a long lost art if were not for the hard work of individuals such as he.

Grandmaster Cacoy demonstrated his proficiency of his movement that has come from a lifetime of training. Everything from striking, blocking, disarms and throwing were all covered. Even with both the morning and afternoon sessions dedicated to Doce Pares Eskrima we could only hope to learn a very small fraction of the lifetime of knowledge that he possesses. The equivalent of an ice cube taken from an iceberg.

We got to hear a great many stories of his life as an Eskrimador. I myself am quite frightened to stop training in Eskrima. For according to Grand Master Cacoy history seems to show that those who do are certain to pass away within a year of stopping. Kidding aside, it was the opportunity of a lifetime for us all to have the chance to train with individual such as Grandmaster Cacoy Canete.

Monday (Day Two)

Morning: JKD Richard Bustillo

Part of the attraction of JKD is the fact that it is an ever growing, evolving and expanding interpretation of ones own martial art. This in turn can mean a great number of ways to continually develop our core skills.

Having attended several of Guru Richard’s seminars in the past, I am always amazed that each is different from the last. Guru Richard took us through several series’ of trapping drills that began with simple single traps and then gradually build into more complicated compound trapping. These drills continued to build into a progressively complex series of offensive and defensive attacks. It obviously due to his easy going style of instruction that even those attendees who were new to trapping found that they were able to progress through the drill

Listening to Guru Richard speak during his session and throughout the week we got the chance to see that his true focus is not just building our individuals skills as martial artists, but that he is truly concerned with helping us become better people and building a community. It is his dedication to the spirit of community that brings so many of us here to the IMB Instructors’ Conference

Afternoon: Edge Weapon, Johan Skalburg

Johan Skalburg, from Germany, along with a few of his students gave us a demonstration of edge weapon defence and a few disarm techniques.

The demonstrating began with simple but effective knife defences, that were very unlike those complicated and unrealistic defence and disarms that can be typical of such sessions. Evasive footwork drills were also used to help us develop our skills in blade avoidance.

Johan also took the time to show how these same simple techniques can be expanded to build our hand eye coordination, but also make for impressive demonstrations to outside audiences.

I have often felt that you should not only judge an instructor by their own skills, but those of the students they produce. This being said, the proficiency demonstrated by Johan’s own students speak volumes about his teaching ability.

Evening: Jujitsu, Fabio Venelli

Since Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s explosive performance in the first few UFC competitions it has been one of the largest growing martial arts in the world.

Fabio Vanelli a long time part of the IMB Academy took us through series of drills designed to improve our manoeuvring, and body positioning. One such drill involved rolling on ones shoulders from one side of a standing person’s leg to the other using their inside thigh as a leverage point. This was done by hooking ones foot on the inside thigh of the other leg and pulling our bodies around, and then back again. A task that only gets easier with extensive practice.

Being that position is a key component to controlling an opponent Fabio spent quite a bit of time working with us on the proper techniques for breaking and passing a persons guard, as well as taking proper top position for control.

You often hear that 95% of all fights go to the ground. Even if this number is a complete fallacy created by individuals trying to push their style of martial arts, there can be no argument that developing combative skills at all ranges is of benefit.

Tuesday (Day Three)

Morning: Steve Kotar Kettle Bells

Some attendees may have been initially disappointed, while others relieved, in the change from our original morning session that was to be a visit to the Los Angeles County Central Jail. In the end I believe everyone was more than satisfied with the alternate session of Russian kettlebell training provided by Steve Kotar.

Kettlebells are a traditional Russian cast iron weight that looks like a cannonball with a handle. Unlike traditional weight training, which are primarily designed to develop attractive bodies and isolate muscles, kettlebells are designed to develop functional strength and provide a full body workout

Steve having himself trained for many years as a martial artist has designed a kettlebell exercise program for the development of functional strength specific to the motions and actions in martial arts. Steve demonstrated a few of these and explained the benefits of this kind of training.

This session likely resulted in a great deal of muscle soreness. I myself have already purchased a few kettlebells for my students and have begun making it a regular part of our curriculum.

Afternoon: Weapon, Ted Tabura

For any of us who have long had an association with IMB we have long been aware that our skills are often developed with a strong combative foundation, which unlike more ‘traditional’ martial arts do not always have the ‘flash’ and ‘showiness’ that is often seen in movies.

Guru Richard explained how although the true nature of self-defence lies with functionality that it’s nice to have a little balance. Especially when you want to take advantage of the outside opportunities offered in popular media, television and movies.

Sensei Tabura first demonstrated some of their more dynamic kata techniques. This involved two individuals performing a specific sequence of move and counters, very similar to flow drills performed in Eskrima but with more exaggeration in the motions. We were then instructed in a katana sequence similar to those see in the recent film “The Last Samurai”, with only one incident of a sword flying free from someone’s hand high into the air. (Cheers Gav!)

Many of those in attendance may concentrate more on the combative aspects of their own training, but it is obvious that they all have an appreciation for the artistic side of the classical martial arts styles as demonstrated and taught by Sensei Tabura.

Evening: Boxing, Brian Viloria

It is unlikely that anyone outside the boxing community has had such an opportunity to meet and be instructed by a single former Olympic boxer, let alone two former Olympic boxers. However, the IMB Instructor Conference once again presented us with another unique opportunity.

The two instructors in question were Brian “Hawaiian Punch.” Viloria, who competed for the U.S. in the 2000 Olympics as a light flyweight; a 2-time Junior Olympic champion (1995, 96); who turned professional in 2001, and Samuel Stewart who represented the African Boxing Team in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and in the 1988 Seoul Olympics produces Liberia’s best ever finish.

Brian began with an amazing skipping demonstration that astounded a great many attendees. Our attempts to emulate these manoeuvres resulted in several of us getting caught in our own ropes, with the exception of a junior attendee who easily accomplished one of the most difficult ones.

So often it is these key differences that are the mark of a highly skilled and well trained boxer vs. that of a beginner. Both Brian and Samuel spent the session working the finer points of our boxing stance, footwork and punching combinations. The subtle, yet significant, changes they made to our mechanics made a world of difference to our applied stability, speed and power. I know I won’t forget their invaluable advice.

Wednesday (Day Four)

Morning and Afternoon Presnetations: Judo/Wrestling “Judo” Gene Labelle & Sombo, Gokor Chivichiyan

Also referred to as the ‘Grandfather’ of Judo, Gene Labelle is a martial arts renaissance man in his own right. He has enjoyed a long career as a Professional wrestler, martial artist, stunt man and actor.

From his opening commentaries to his closing statements, Gene Labelle had an easygoing comedic style in his instruction that made for the liveliest of our weeks session.

Gokor Chivichiyan, a protégé of Gene Labelle and amazing combatant in his own right, provided a demonstration of techniques that combine the throwing and grappling aspects of Sambo. Gokor also made himself available between sessions to work directly with students between the morning and afternoon sessions to help them work on the techniques.

We were also given a brief demonstration of Gene Labelle’s recently developed Judo Club techniques, which are particularly useful to those attendees in law enforcement.

In what has long been a standing tradition during a Gene Labelle seminar someone invariably asks to have the ‘honour’ of being choked out by him. This ‘honour’ was impressed upon three students over the course of the day, myself included. This was met with great enthusiasm and amusement of the other attendees who watched as the ‘honourees’ flopped unconscious to the floor.

Evening Presentation: Bouncer, Mo Teaugue

One of the first items that had drawn the attention of many attendees, myself included, was the item entitled ‘Bouncer, Mo Teague’. Having worked as a bouncer in the past I was certainly interested in seeing this presentation. But the first question that came into my mind and that of others was who is ‘Mo Teague’? By the end of the presentation I and everyone else would have an answer to this… Mo Teague is likely ‘One of the Toughest guys you’ve never heard of.’ He would likely humbly disagree with me calling him this, but I suspect many of my fellow attendees would find it an appropriate statement.

Mo is a former member of the British SAS, and Gulf War veteran has worked for a number of years as a bouncer in some less than friendly environments. His military career and ‘fists on’ experiences have provided him with a great insight into the nature of confrontation and the reality of street fights.

We began with what he called a ‘light’ warm-up. This ‘light’ warm-up consisted of several very intense drills which obviously had its roots in his SAS military training. After only 2 minutes many found themselves gasping for air. A certain resistance and control drill brought back my own memories of ‘escorting’ overindulgent patrons from a bar. A crowd control and protection scenario drill demonstrated the importance of teamwork and trust when working with others.

During this session a female attendee volunteered for a demonstration of the feeling of being hit during an altercation. Mo performed the demonstration as he would with any volunteer regardless of sex. At the end of the session she thanked him for showing her respect by treating her equally to male counterparts, something that other trainers often do with female volunteers.

Mo also provided a frank and open discussion about his own life working in the military, and his life afterwards, which did on occasion fall on the wrong side of the law. This genuine, straightforward approach and non-patronizing style showed attendees that, unlike other ‘reality based’ training sessions, he was not trying to peddle his brand of reality training and techniques but provide us with honest useful information.

Thursday (Day Five)

Ground weaponry Dan Inosanto

There is no doubt that Guru Dan Inosanto’s reputation as a world-class martial artist precedes him. At the age of 69 he moves with the grace and agility of a man 45 years his junior. This was evident by the smoothness and precision with which he executed the ground weaponry techniques and disarms which he demonstrated to us all.

The ease with which he explained and performed the most complicated techniques both astounded and confused many of those who watched. Guru Richard put it best by stating that training with Dan Inosanto is truly “training at a whole other level”. This became self-evident to everyone, as some of the most experienced among us had to work very hard to emulate and perform the same techniques. By the end of his session I suspect each of us felt that we had ourselves been lifted, by his example, to a whole other level.

Even though most people are well aware of Guru’s Dan great skill as a martial artist they are not aware of the true depth of his knowledge as a martial arts ‘historian’. Guru Dan’s continual pursuit as a researcher into a great many realms of martial arts training has lead him into the rich history of the arts themselves. Some of us who stayed after the session caught a small glimpse of his extensive research in the histories of the martial arts. He detailed a few little known historical tidbits such as the Spaniards, who came to the Philippines, having with them a number of Italians as part of their crews. That he was in fact himself is a descendant of such crewmembers, and that his own last name ‘Inosanto’ is in fact Italian.

Guru Dan is truly a unique individual with whom we should count ourselves lucky to have had the opportunity to meet and learn from him.

Kali, Ben & Linsey Largusa

Ben Largusa and his son Linsey introduced discussed the traditions of how the art of Kali/Eskrima is passed on to others. Typically this has been a very closely controlled process in which the art is passed on solely to select individuals who the instructor feel demonstrate the honourable ideals of the art itself. The student would continue this tradition, as they in turn passed on their knowledge to others. A part of martial arts which in the case of ‘McDojo’ and ‘Belt Factory’ schools has long since been forgotten.

Our first drill involved developing a circular footwork that maintains an individual’s offensive and defensive positioning with an opponent. This drill involved moving to the inside and then outside ranges while circling around the opponent for the next striking and defensive opportunity.

A flow drill that Linsey next demonstrated was one that I found particularly interesting. Unlike other flow drills that require both individuals use a pre-defined series of angles and block specific to the Kali/Eskrima system in which they were trained, two individuals from two completely different systems could perform this drill. This allows for people from different background to freely express their system without being beheld to that of the other person.

Many students could see a great improvement in their footwork and the flow with which they executed these drills.

Muay Thai, Walter Michaelowski

Once again we are presented with a chance to train with another world-class athlete and former champion in this instance Walter ‘The Sleeper’ Michaelowski. Walter has had a long running association with the IMB Academy, himself being a former assistant instructor retired with a record of 32–5-0 and include two United World Muay Thai Middleweight titles, three UWMTA Junior Middleweight titles and an International Muay Thai Council Middleweight North American Championship title.

Having burnt myself out early in the day I was sidelined as an active spectator during the bulk of Walter’s session. But those who did participate were presented with an array of offensive and defensive techniques that Walter had himself used on numerous occasions in the ring.

Walter began his session with some rope and cardio work. He then moved on to loosen everyone up with a series of right and left kicks to Thai pads. Walter provided an escalation series of strikes that would attack both the high/low and inside/outside lines of the opponent.

Walter then went through defensive tactics to the most common strike used by opponents in Muay Thai, followed up with some light sparring to put them all into play. The session then ended off with another set of left and right kicks to Thai pads.

For all those who have had previous experience in Muay Thai; the usefulness of what was presented during this session are pretty self-evident. Even more credence is added to them by the fact that they are backed up by Walter’s own fight experiences.

Even with both the morning and afternoon sessions dedicated to Doce Pares Eskrima we could only hope to learn a very small fraction of the lifetime of knowledge that he possesses. The equivalent of an ice cube taken from an iceberg.

Judo, Phil Porter

Unfortunately, I only had the opportunity to attend the first hour of this particular seminar, but in that short time you got the sense from Mr. Porter of the level of discipline and presence of a man who’s had been honed in a lifetime of military service.

I wish I had had the opportunity to stay for the remainder of the day, as I am sure the session provided detailed insight into the techniques and application of his art.

Unfortunately, my own week at the IMB Instructors Conference ended here having to miss the evenings closing banquet. None the less I had an amazing time throughout the week.

In the end it isn’t the quality of the sessions or the skills of the instructors that lie at the heart and soul of this conference. It is the newly formed friendships, the comradery, and long lasting memories that are what truly makes the IMB Instructors Conference the community it is.