Part 2 Black Belt Exam on 5/7/16 continued from part 1

For almost 2 years I've neglected this web site and now once again we are back.   Even though I've neglected this site our school has still been actively training.  The next two posts were written at the time of the exam just never posted (like part 1).

Next came the most important part of the exam in my eyes, their one steps.  One steps are where the student first learns prearranged one steps which are like mini kata but with a partner, and then later they learn to make up their own.  One steps as I learned it combines sparring techniques and self-defense techniques so I refer to it as one steps or one steps self-defense.

As the student rises in rank so does the requirement of doing more one steps and showing more skill; in time the student will be required to demonstrate kick defenses, impact and edged weapon defense all in the “one step” format.   Now because our school has a large population of kids there are controls put in place; such as the student is not allowed to turn the weapon on the feeder after they have been disarmed, they aren’t allowed to be demonstrating ripping out eyes, doing the dance of death on a person after they have been taken down etc. etc.   All of these things can get the student and the parents in legal trouble in today’s society and I believe that is being irresponsible as an instructor.

However, it is in this phase of the test where our school and our students shine.   In our previous black belt exam only one student “technically died” when they went back in to control the weapon hand after throwing the person to the ground, instead of just getting away.  Hunter, I believe, got stabbed for his mistake.  This time no one died, well except for Bryce after Kimberly stripped the gun away from him and as she covered him the gun went off.   Rest assured it wasn’t loaded nor a “real” gun, but I do try and use training weapons that are as real or as close to real as I can get.  So we don’t use rubber or wooden training knives we use aluminum training knives; we don’t use a rubber training gun, we use (in time of course) metal pellet gun (that have NEVER been used as a pellet gun for safety of course).   By cocking the gun you hear a loud audible sound when it goes off as the trigger is pulled and it was a good teaching moment on the test how under stress things happen.

During the one step phase of the exam the students put to practice what they have learned under stress.  Their partner comes straight at them with a punch and they have to move and get out of the way or get hit.   In the advanced ranks (brown belt and beyond) the student learns to defend against kicks using different strategies drawn from various instructors and arts that I’ve trained in.  They also learn to defend empty hand against weapons; edged and impact, drawn mainly from my Filipino and combatives training with a lot of the material coming from my Modern Arnis program.  

Black Belt Exam 5/7/16 (pt 1 of 3)

This past weekend we conducted our third examination for black belt (1^st dan), it was also our first examination for one of our students testing for 2^nd dan.   It was a small test with only two students testing for black belt ranks and two testing for brown belt, so it was attended by only a few parents and friends to watch the students move up in rank.   My instructor; sensei Proctor and I were the only board members to attend the exam and to grade the students.

Sensei Proctor has attended every one of our previous black belt exams, and it is fitting because he drove down to Waco when I was teaching my first karate classes for the technical college I was attending.  I, as a brown belt, didn’t have the proper rank to promote my students so at the appointed time sensei Proctor along with another instructor, drove a couple of hours to put all of my students through a two hour Orange belt exam.  Over dinner after  this last black belt exam we reminisced about how far we’ve come over the last 32 years since that first test.  My wife reminded us how sensei Proctor had the biggest guy (my friend and roommate) in the class attack my girlfriend (now my wife) with a rear bear hug (her only instructions were to defeat him) and she ended up breaking his hold on her and then hip throwing him and dumping him on the wood floor.   Things haven’t changed that much in the past 32 years.

Kimberly who tested for 1^st dan Saturday has always been the smallest and youngest student in her classes.  Which also helped make her the one of the toughest and scrappiest students as well.  Kimberly in 2015 started attending the AKATO Kobudo program again as the youngest and smallest student and as I was told by both sensei proctor and Sensei Yates she has power and hits as hard as the adult women in the program.

Bryce and Kimberly demonstrating aerial kicks

Bryce who tested for 2^nd dan had already been through a black belt exam before and he had grown and matured a lot in the two years since that test, and he just turned 16 so he is in the prime of youth.  In these two years since his exam he has really grown up and now kicks and hits like a mule.

Olivia and Kaitlyn both tested for brown belt and went through the nerve racking ordeal of having to stand in front of a high ranking visiting instructor and demonstrate their skills.   Knowing that they were being put under the microscope per say with every flaw being revealed.

After the students demonstrated their basics which includes all of their blocks, kicks, punches, stances etc. etc. they then had to demonstrate the techniques in combinations that were randomly called out by me (the head instructor).   All of this was meant to not only show off their skill and what they have learned but also to ramp up the pressure on them. After this came their kata which again tired them out but kept the pressure on as they knew every time that they made a mistake and they knew we (sensei Proctor and I) knew it as well.

Kimberly with the opening moves of Bassai kata

 Hidden Sword Martial Arts along with Mid Cities Arnis will be co-hosting Datu Tim Hartman for a special Astig Balintawak and Panantukan Boot Camp this weekend.

Datu Hartman was a student of the late GM Remy and GM Ernesto Presas and he was also a private student of the late GM Ted Buot who was a Balinwatak instructor under the late GM Anciong Bacon the founder of Balintawak.   GM Remy Presas also studied Balintawak early in his arnis training and  Balintawak was one of the root styles that influenced GM Remy's creation of Modern Arnis.   All this to say that Datu Hartman brings a unquie prespective to our training and we are happy to have him come to our school.

GM Buot taught Balintawak the old school way that Bacon taught in the Philippines which was better suited for one on one training with the goal to develop proper body mechanics, power and speed needed for both stick fighting and for empty hand fighting.

I've known Datu Hartman for 15+ years now and I have enjoyed his teaching sessions at several seminars I've attended.   He is a good instructor and a teacher and we look forward to his visit.

Don't miss this opportunity to train with him.

When:
November 21, 2024
Time:
1:00pm - 6:00pm
Cost:
$79 by Nov 13th
$99 after Nov 13th

I hope to see you there.

Dieter's Photo Lesson at the Zoo

(All photos by Emily)

This morning (Friday the 25^th) after only getting a few hours of sleep Dieter (who’s staying at my house for the seminar) was up and ready to go.  Prior to his arriving in America I asked what else besides martial arts did he like to do and as it turns out we had a common interest in photography so we decided to go to the Ft. Worth Zoo to take photos and see the animals.  Emily who also has an interest in photography was also eager to go so we spent the afternoon at the zoo.

Right off the bat you could tell there is a huge difference between Dieter’s and my approaches to photography.  Dieter was outfitted with the packs for the various lenses, the adjustable tripod thingy, the sun deflectors on the lenses, all hooked onto his belt with quick release clips etc. etc.  Then there is me with my camera and my long range lens shoved in my pants pocket.

Who do you think got the best photos?  Of course Dieter.  He knew more about the subject, he was better prepared with the equipment, he had more control over his equipment (referring to adjusting his camera to different setting to get better results).  Once again Dieter was eager to share his expertise with Emily and I and he coached us on taking better pictures.

To me this is how we should approach our study of the martial arts and Modern Arnis in particular.  GM Remy passed onto us a living art, one in which there is room for growth and individualized expression in the art.  How boring would it be if we all tried to be Remy clones; if we all tried to speak with Remy’s tonal inflections, if we all tried to teach in the demo format that Remy taught in, if we all stayed with practicing only as we thought Remy taught it.

We were all there to practice taking photos and the subjects were the animals.  However we each had different animals or birds we liked to use as subjects.  We had different equipment with different settings all achieving different results in our photos and yet often times we were shooting the same subject.  Just like each of us learning a lock, or applying a lock, or a disarm, or a drill etc. etc.  Sure the technique might be the same but you could really tell a difference once it is applied, just like viewing a photo.  Some are photos are good but some are really WOW!  These are the ones that can really move you, just like most locks hurt but then there are those that put you on the ground with tears in your eyes.

It would have been boring if Dieter explained how to take a photo and then set it up, focused it and set the settings on the camera and stepped away and said “OK now go press that button” click.  Instead it was “Emily, do you know the Golden rule (referring to the rule of thirds)?  Here let me show you”.   Then after she took some photos he would say let me see and compare the pictures, make some suggestions and move on.  By the end of the day we all had a great time showing off the pictures to my wife and talking about them and again the education continued.

Through Dieter’s guidance today Emily and I learned more about operating my camera as well as how to take better pictures.  While it would have been fun (and probably painful) to play with arnis all day, and there will be plenty of that for us this weekend, taking a break from all of the martial art talk gave us a different lessons to be learned and fun memories for all.  

 

Datu’s not the best, he just does it different

But he's Freak en awesome at what he does

 

Last night Dieter as he was sharing his methods with me brought up that he doesn’t want me to say that he thinks he is the best or that his way is better, instead I’m to say simply they (Dieter and the DAV) do things differently.  I concur.  I get to play (or train) with a lot of different folks in the Filipino martial arts (FMAs) of all different skills levels from instructors to beginners and I know there are a lot of different ways to do things.  I can say confidently that Dieter does things differently and it makes a lot of sense, it hurts as well. 

 

As Dieter was getting warmed up after teaching me the lesson about not solving a problem that hadn’t been asked (read the first post about training with Dieter last night), he then went onto to explain how they (the DAV) block the low strike (the #9) to the knee during the Tapi drills.   Now I’ve been shown to hack at the hand, I’ve been shown to pull the capturing hand upwards to release, move off at an angle etc. etc. but he showed me to simply pull my hand downward and let my free hand act as a barrier to the other hand if needed.   Simple right?  But hard for me to pull off since I hadn’t trained that way. 

Dieter said “grab my hand” sure enough I gripped his hand and he pulled it right out of my grasp to block the strike.   In fact this release is what I had been teaching my beginner karate students as a release from a hand grab, I tell them to seek the door way (area between the fingers) and pull and sure enough this was the same concept.  I couldn’t hold on to his hand to stop the defense and yet when it was my turn, I instinctively went for the harder release by reaching for the capturing hand with my free hand (which as I described ended up with me getting wacked each time.  It took me a while to free up my thought process and to start to do the low line defense as he showed me, but once again it was simple and it made sense.

We go back to watching the video and he’s saying “good”,  “good”, “we do that too”, “exactly” and then “Oh no we do that differently grab your stick.”  He noticed I was feeding a back hand punyo lazily and told me this is why you are having trouble with the lock.  I was feeding the punyo more on a slightly horizontal plane instead of a more diagonal plane towards the face.  Now this was an adjustment of about an inch or two in the angle (or tilt) of my punyo feed and it made all of the difference in the world of trying to get the lock.  Then Dieter corrected me on the lock, “You must do this first (getting the punyo over the stick and pull in by rotating the punyo and starting to set the lock), then you must take up the space, and then you rotate your upper body” Wham! That wrist lock was set and my body was being jerked around trying to lessen the pain.  Wow that correction made all of the difference in the world in the setting of the lock.

More corrections followed after he watched the next lock on the video, and the next one after that and so on.  All of the corrections made the locks work better, which meant the locks were more painful and more secure and easier to apply and set up.  Later he sees me on the video showing a drill that involved thrusting on the forehand side (#6) and the reverse (#7).   “Oh we do that differently” and he explains how they (the DAV) thrusts in on those lines and how as the feeder you counter and set it up so that your opponent doesn’t get the chance to block.  Simple changing the angle of the entry, again but hard for me to pull off since I haven’t trained that way.  After seeing the tip of his stick dominate the center of my vision each time I tried to block his thrust it is pretty unnerving to say the least.  When I tried to show him how another person was countering that thrust from a different style.  Dieter says “yes you can do that, but how do you counter him?”  I think “Duh I don’t know”.  He then tells me “Enter” and he shows one counter, “or you can do this” as he steps off line and palis palis (passes) it from the outside and behind the strike, “or you can do this” and he shows another and so on and so on.

This went on for nearly two hours and he covered anything he saw me do on the video with a different way of doing the technique which in my view helped me make my arnis better.  I didn’t have one thought of “well I don’t think that will work” you know when you see something and in the pit of your stomach your going “ahhhhhhhh” while you look away embarrassed.   I’m so glad that Hidden Sword Martial Arts is sponsoring him for a full two day seminar, because I feel confident that not only will Datu Dieter help my arnis, but I think everyone will learn something that will help make their art better.   If we all get better then we all can help raise the bar for our training collectively.

I’m not saying Datu Dieter is the best, but………  HE is pretty amazing at what he does.