Mid-August was a great time for growth for members of our club, and participants of Seminars that our organization held throughout North America.
First off, Sibok Rocco Ambrose had a good turn out and seminar in Winnipeg, Canada thanks to host and Instructor-in-Training Brett MacNeil.
Then, Sigung/Coach Ron Ogi had another great seminar at Portland Small Circle Jujitsu. Students got to experience how to flow from trapping to joint locks, and on the final day got a taste of how principles of trapping can help one in their grappling/ground work training.
Student, Mark Snow, saw this seminar as a great beginning for what would be a long training week for him and others at Sijo's Intensive seminar in Auburn, WA.
Sijo's seminar went REALLY well! Some of the Instructors (Sigung/Coach Ogi, Sibok Rocco, Sifu Ken DeMile, Sifu Pete Jay, Sifu Lonnie, and myself), and Instructors-in-Training (Anthony Morgan & John Mackenzie) got an opportunity to touch hands, and train with one another. Later, we would assist Sijo in interacting with the participants of the seminar who came from Canada, San Diego, New York, London, and from the Pacific Northwest, as well as our own club. These participants really got a great overview of what we have to offer, and how they can apply the principles and techniques into their own repetoire of self-defense; some coming in with backgrounds as Jeet Kune Do instructors, the Police force with Defensive Tactics experience, and Traditional Wing Chun.
Being exposed to everything from footwork, to Closing the Gap, to Chi Sao, to Trapping
and to the Floating Punch, all participants really enjoyed the level of detail offered with the training. They also enjoyed how this level of detail in instruction helped make this seminar more than just mimicry and sweat inducing; instead becoming training with purpose to help start the participants on their journey to make the information, principles and techniques, truly "their own" - fitting their body type, personal tendencies, and physical abilities. Thus, allowing everyone to have the opportunity to go home and both remember what they did, and how to improve on it, and again, make it part of their own repetoire.
It was a great experience, and many voiced how inspiring it was to see the other "family members" of our organization, and interact with them as well as touch and feel the energy of Sijo DeMile himself! It was great to see old friends, as well as meet and make new friends. Hopefully, someday we'll all get a chance to interact with each other again.
