October Ron Ogi Seminar

In 2-weeks, Coach Ron Ogi will be running his Lock-Flow seminar at the Fitness Dojo in Auburn, WA.

Seminar will be from Noon - 4pm on both Saturday the 29th, & Sunday the 30th.

Cost is $80 for the 2-day event, or $45 for one day.

Contact us for more information.

The Passing of a Great & a Legend

It is with our deepest regret to announce that Professor Wally Jay, founder of Small Circle Jujitsu, has passed away this past weekend. He was 93. Prof. Jay was a Amazing Martial Artist, not just in his abilities with the stuff he taught, but in his example of what a Martial Artist's character should be. This is proof in the fact that many Martial Artists befriended and admired him, and they were not all Jujitsu practitioners either. He was well known for his kindness, and generosity, and overall good nature. You ask many of what they thought of Prof. Jay, and though you will hear how great he was as an artist, the first thing you usually hear is the way he touched peoples lives. What an awesome example to live up to!

Professor Wally Jay's connection to us is 3 fold. First Prof. Jay was friends with our teacher Sijo DeMile's teacher, Bruce Lee.

Second, Professor Jay became friends with my senior & friend, Sigung/Coach Ron Ogi in Hawaii back in the 80's. Coach Ogi was teaching Prof. Jay's nephew at the time, and through the nephew, Professor Jay became highly impressed with Coach Ogi. From there he invited Coach Ogi to seminars, and to accompany him to other events, and the two developed a close bond that would evolve into a strong friendship. Coach Ogi became Prof. Jay's student and one of his highest skilled instructors in Small Circle.

Finally, through Coach Ogi, Sijo DeMile became friends with Professor Wally Jay. Both Sijo & Coach would accompany Prof. Jay to several of Professor's legendary Camp Danzan Ryu events, as well as participate in the Birthday Conventions that Coach Ogi organized and hosted in Prof. Jay's honor. Learning the Floating Punch from Sijo DeMile, Professor also became Sijo's most legendary students. And through the mutual sharing of techniques and information, they too developed a close relationship.

Our condolences goes out to the students, family and friends of Prof. Jay. May his legacy of sharing and being kind to others, developing friendships outside of styles, as well as his example of Martial Arts character live on!

Condolences

We at the Structural Self-defense Club, would like to send out our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Bruce Lee Student, Ted Wong, whom past away on November 24th after his battle with cancer.

Though we have not trained directly with Mr. Wong, to know that a fellow Bruce Lee student (his last to be exact), has passed away reminds us of the importance of interacting positively with others throughout life.

One of the best life lessons I learned from Ron Ogi, was that of the importance of showing love to others, and being a postive influence because, "no one will remember you for what you accomplished. They will remember you for how you cared for them."

As illustrated in several martial arts forums, Ted's legacy of being a nice guy was vast. He touched the hearts of many he taught, and interacted with, and he will be duely missed.

To the Wong family, and the students of Ted Wong, our thoughts, prayers, and energy are directed towards you at this time.

What I've learned from my teachers, and my training

Not one thing is more important than another if it's part of the whole of who you are...

...the same goes for the following. They are not in any particular order, or order of importance.

- Breathing is essential. You don't breath, you die. If you're dead, you're not growing, evolving, or becoming better because you're not living. So Breath to live, & breath to grow

- Breathing connects the mind and body to work as one, so that the body can do what the mind intends...whatever you put your mind to within your abilities, you can do, & achieve.

- "Work with what you got, not with what you wish you had!" - Sijo DeMile

- Consciously breathing allows you to relax more, thus allowing you to be more aware of what's going on with you, and the world around you, by connecting your mind's focus to you, and thus inabling you to focus around you; increasing your awareness.

- When I was a kid, whatever followed "Once upon a time..." either grabbed my attention or didn't. The way you set-up, the way you start, sets the tone for everything else that follows, and how it unfolds. Before you act, make sure you're happy with the results that will logically follow how you start.

- Focus can make everything come into alignment so that the effort you put out doesn't have to be difficult or dramatic; making it all come together almost effortlessly.

- It doesn't matter what you know, or what you can do. If you don't believe in YOU, then it is all YOU-sless.

- Lingering on things too long makes you stuck in time, unevolving, incapable of adapting; Frozen. It's easier to hit, or be hit, if the target or you is "frozen". Keep moving

- Maintaining the core of who you are, your structure, doesn't mean you can't be adaptive, or learn to go with the flow. So long as you don't sacrifice the core of who you are, or "structure", you won't lose yourself when you go with the flow.

- For every situation, there's always more than one way to respond, in fact there's always at least 2 ways. So before you settle for one way to react, don't settle because it's the first thing you came up with and therefore you're easily comfortable with it; you may find a more productive, efficient, or practical alternative that isn't something you're comfortable with, but well worth the effort to make that reaction a habit. Don't forget, to explore all options, and really give each option a shot at being experienced

- Sometimes to improve your chances of getting the results you want, you can't wait for things to come to you, you gotta throw yourself out there.

- If they give, you accept. If they take, you deliver.

- "Energy is Universal". - Ron Ogi

- Don't limit yourself, use all of you.

- Meeting strength & aggressive attitude with equal energy is foolish. Compliment that energy, or attitude by redirecting, or moving out of it's way.

- Listen to your gut, your instincts. If it has to do with your safety, you are most likely right.

- Just because it feels like it's strong because you feel yourself using all of your effort, doesn't mean you'll get the maximum results. Sometimes less is more, creating maximum results, with minimal effort.

- The more attention I've given, the more rewards I've received in return.

-Every house has a foundation. That foundation allows for a framework. A framework that can be arranged in numerous possible arrangements and will support walls, windows, doors, and a roof in just as many ways. Principles are the foundation that gives you the freedom for creativity, and individuality. Before one can be creative, ample amount of time must be spent on creating the foundation. Don't use a foundation for an outhouse to build your mansion.

- Without goals, you won't have direction to focus your efforts. The Journey is important, but so is keeping in mind your goal, where you're going; otherwise you're just enjoying walking in place and facing different directions.

- Dabbling in many things is fun, it's living life. But at least be close to a master of one, rather than the proverbial Jack.

- Discrimination is limiting, why should the weak, unathletic, and elderly be discriminated against when it comes to self-defense? Aren't they the ones who need it the most?! Self-defense should be unlimiting

- Patience is important. The body must be ready before it can be taught more. The Mind must be "mature" enough to be able to see the big picture.

- By focusing on the center, the core of it all, you will not be distracted with what's on the outside, which can be a facade. In actuality you can see the beginning and the cause for what makes up the actions that eventually lead to that facade, and deal with it appropriately.

- You can be a master of yourself. Don't let any negative suggestions, especially from yourself, tell you otherwise.

- The loud ones who speak as if they know, don't really know. And the quiet ones who only speak when necessary, or asked, do know

- We have been raised by culture and media to think life has to be difficult. If you're going to work towards something, work towards making things refined, efficient, and gradually easier, not exponentially harder.

- What good is what you do now, if it only works for now. In a moment, Now will become then.

- What matters most, is how you effect others. No one cares about what awards you've won, what accomplishments and failures you've accumulated over the years. At their death beds, people don't think about sports champions, famous people, or how much stuff you've aquired; they think about their loved ones and those that have personally made a positive effect on them.

- Legacy, is how you interact, not a hand me down of family heirlooms or certificates.

To Sijo James DeMile, Irene DeMile, Ron Ogi, Lonnie Williams, my family and all those i've interacted with classmate/student/friends...Thank you for what you've taught me; you are all my teachers.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Growth, Inspiration, Friends, & Fun! (Updated with Pictures)

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.

Seminars, Seminars, Seminars!!!

August is going to be quite the month for anyone interested in learning from the very talented Instructors of the Wing Chun Do/DeMile Defensive Tactics family!!!



Sibok Rocco Ambrose Winnipeg Seminar

Sunday August 8th, 2010

Noon to 4pm

Located at the University of Winnipeg Duckworth Centre Auxiliary Gym

Sibok Rocco will be teaching concepts of Wing Chun Do Gung-fu, the Floating Punch, and Wing Chun Do Chi Sao.

For more info contact Brett MacNeil at macneilwcd@hotmail.com or 204-223-2121

Sigung/Coach Ron Ogi Portland, OR Seminar

August 13th - 15th

Located at Portland Small Circle Jujitsu Dojo

For more info contact host Sensei Stan Miller: sensei@portlandjujitsu.com or (503) 281-9060

Sijo DeMile 1-week Intensive Seminar

From August 16th to 20th

9am to 4pm (with 1-hour lunch break)

Located at the Cardio Self-defense club's headquarters at Auburn Gold's Gym in Washington state.

Open to the Public!!! This will be Sijo DeMile's last intensive seminar. It will be a 2-part seminar with participants getting the chance to learn directly from him as the 1st part, and the 2nd part being a type of "instructor summit" for Instructors from all over to come together to train together and give the participants a chance to meet them. Don't miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity!!!

Cost is $1,000.00

To register contact Sijo DeMile at sijo@wingchundo.com

Exciting Summer News!!!

Happy Birthday wishes went out and go out to Sijo DeMile on June 6th!

No Classes will be held from June 28th to July 7th. Regular Group lessons will resume starting the week of July 12th.

Sifu Michael will be visiting the Ambrose Academy of Wing Chun Do on July 1st to visit with Sibok Rocco and his students. It will be Sifu's first time visiting the Ambrose Academy! Should be lots of fun seeing the other members of the DeMile lineage!

Keep visiting out site to keep a look out for a special events in August!...

..Sigung/Coach Ron Ogi will be teaching a seminar at the Portland Small Circle Jujitsu Club August 13, 14, & 15. Don't miss out on learning from one of Sijo DeMile's original students, and a direct student of Professor Wally Jay, founder of Small Circle Jujitsu!!! more details to come!...

...Sijo DeMile will be holding a 1-week training course August 16th - 20th in Seattle, Monday thru Friday, with 6-hour training/lessons each day! It will also be somewhat of a "instructors summit" for all the instructors across the country and globe who are active and non-active to come together to train. Sigung Ron Ogi, Sibok Rocco Ambrose, Sifu Michael, Sifu Ken DeMile and Sifu Pete Jay have been confirmed to attend so far. Should be a blast. This 1-week course is NOT restricted to instructors only anyone interested in an opportunity to learn & train under Sijo DeMile should not miss out on this opportunity! More details to come, but if you're interested let us know!