Comments on the LTKKA Camp in Baltimore

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Patrick Kennedy, David Pantano, Jorn Brandt, Jim Frederick, Mike Lambert all had great ideas to share yesterday and enjoyed sharing them with everyone. I missed Mr. Justice's seminar because I was busy getting tossed around by Mr. Frederick at the same time. So I'll have to try to catch another one....gotta look at the schedule and plan this out

Then enter Master Tatum from stage left LOL. Awesome seminar, very open and approachable, took time to answer everyone who had a question. My first time meeting Mr. Tatum and he answered so many of my stupid questions on the side..even took time to chat with my 5 year old son...I was truly humbled and awed...

I had a blast and am looking forward to the rest of the week.

Cute story - My son walks up to Mr. Tatum and says "who are you!!?". Mr. Tatum says "well, my name is Larry". My son says "you don't look like a Larry". Mr. Tatum chuckles and replies "oh, well what do I look like?" My son says "you look like a Larry Taaaaatum, the guy on the tapes my dad watches all the time." My son then does a little Kenpo pose complete with Mr. Tatum's signature "reverb". Mr. Tatum just laughs as I walk away completely embarassed, laughing and saying to my son "Oh my god, I can't believe you just did that". Priceless moment I'll never forget.

 

[MJS]

Sounds like everyone is having a great time James!! When you can, please give us another breakdown of the event!:ultracool

BTW, great story with your son!

Mike

 

[HKphooey]

James ,

That's awesome! Keep us posted on all the fun.

That is what I have always like about Master Tatum, very approachable.

 

[MattJ]

Great stuff, James. Mr. Frederick was my AKK instructor from 1991-1999. Great guy. I have worked out with (translation: been beat the hell out of by) Mr. Lambert as well. Fun times!

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Great stuff, James. Mr. Frederick was my AKK instructor from 1991-1999. Great guy. I have worked out with (translation: been beat the hell out of by) Mr. Lambert as well. Fun times!

Matt Jansen? is that you? if so you probably don't remember me (I started at Mr. Jim's in 98). Anyway Chris Davis has been trying to get a hold of you.....

 

[MattJ]

It's Jansson, but yes, that's me. :ultracool I saw Chris and when he stopped by Mr. Frederick's school last year. He looked great, lost a lot of weight. You can PM me here or on FightingArts.com

Sorry for the hijack! Good to hear from you.

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Another excellent day of seminars. Sean Kelley covered some energy drills, position recognition drills and parry drills. Identical stuff to what I learned from Bruce Smith in the AKKI. He also covered how alot of the techniques are the same just with variations of orbits and targets against different attacks. Mr. Kelley also covered being light on the feet but with good STANCES.

Mike Lambert covered a myriad of Kenpo techniques with change-ups and grafts thrown into the mix. Also covered proper STANCE shifts and weight shifts for more power.

Francisco Vigoroux covered some freestyles and fatal deviation with a heavy emphasis on PROPER BASICS AND STANCES. He stressed that we are to be "engineers of motion". I had the pleasure of working with his assistant and getting NAILED by Mr. Vigoroux on Fatal Deviation (with control I might add but he put his shots in, even the face shots). Nice to know other schools in Kenpo actually hit. Dont get that much here in Baltimore.....

Jim Frederick covered some variations of Lone Kimono and Tripping Arrow. He also covered some basics groundwork to get out of some bad positions. He also covered stance set I and stressed the importance of STANCES, STANCES, STANCES!!!

The seminar schedule got switched around so some seminars like Jamie Seabrooks didn't happen but he said he had a "double header" for sunday so I'm looking forward to that.

Looking forward to tomorrow's tournaments and definitely Sunday's seminars....

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Excellent event, had a few hitches like most events (most notably certain instructors not showing up or leaving early) but still very well run and very fun. Good job Lee for organizing such a great event.

Todays seminars that I participated in.

Mr. Tatum - Covered bracing angles, proper STANCES and how the lower body determines both speed and stability. Also had a Q&A section to answer any questions. Gave insight in to areas such 1)How to run a successful group class, 2) the "sliding scale" on how people are graded/promoted, 3) The organization of the kenpo system and why the systems arrangement of requirements shouldn't be tampered with, 4) How to keep students motivated, 5) the state of Kenpo today as opposed to the 60's and 70's, 6) How certain techniques are designed to counter other techniques and how the techniques for the sme attack link together if necessary, 7) How the what-if/even-if is often built into the ideal phase. etc.

Dawud Muhammad - Covered Deflecting Hammer and Gathering Clouds with different variations and how to counter one with the other.

Jamie Seabrook - Excellent Seminar! covered several Kenpo techniques and how one is a backup for another and why they need to be taught for that very reason and not deleted from the system. Also covered a few variations. Techniques covered included Back Breaker, Kneel of Compulsion, Lone Kimono, Conquering Shield, Fallen Cross and Cross of Destruction. I had blast working out with Mr. Seabrooks assistant and exchanging ideas on variations. Cool stuff indeed.

George Elmer - Covered a technique from his system called "Crossing the Blades" (A blend of Delayed Sword, Five Swords and Heavenly Ascent). Also covered an "advanced" Sword of Destruction with various inserts and suffixes.

Brian Price - Excellent Seminar! Covered alot of lockflows. From my Ju Jitsu and kung-fu Background I was right at home here with the locks and throws flowing like full body sticky hands. Even though much of the material was "old hat" for me I can appreciate good instruction when I see it and Mr. Brian Price is a top notch instructor indeed.

Lee Epperson - I have the benefit of being local to Lee Epperson, Baltimore's resident Jack and Master of All Trades. All I can say is need a little ground grappling with your kenpo? Lee's got you covered.

Final Comments. I had a blast and it was great to workout with people from all over. It was also great to meet many people from the internet face-to-face and on the mats.

Thanks to all the Ireland crew for paying Baltimore a visit, it was an honor.

Thanks to Patrick Kennedy, David Pantano, Mike Lambert, Francisco Vigoroux, Jamie Seabrook, Larry Tatum, Sean Kelley, George Elmer, Brian Price, Dawud Muhammad and Lee Epperson for sharing time and teaching with me.

Thanks to Francisco Vigoroux's 2nd Black assistant (I didn't catch your name man!), David Pantano, Thomas Clark?, Jamie Seabrook's assistant Matt (Trejo I think?), Jason Farnsworth, Michelle of Counterstrike Kenpo and Jose Lopez for bodying up with me. It was a pleasure and hopefully I was able to give you something new to toy with either while bodying up or at Mr. Frederick's seminar.

Finally thanks again to my Ju Jitsu student Dennis Kelley for representing well and winning the grappling tournament in impressive fashion (all victories by sub). Hey Dennis I guess I do know a little something after all?........and I told you your Ju Jitsu was better than you thought....

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

In the spirit of sharing I thought I'd post some of what was said in the Q&A section with Mr. Tatum. Bear with me as I typed this from memory so some of the wording may not be exact, but I assure you it's darn close.

Q: Mr. Tatum in your experience what is the state of Kenpo now as opposed to how it was when you were coming up through the ranks?

LT: The information is more readily available now than it was in the 60’s and 70’s. Today people can go to videos, books and the Internet to learn more about the art. Also the terminology today is very helpful. It allows people to talk more intelligently and articulately about our art. In the old days terminology was kind of balked at. People thought it was just a way to make things sound like more than what they are. Back then all people really knew was that this move broke bones and hurt people and that it kind of made them feel good about it (jokingly). So today the art is more widespread and people have more access to quality information. Also there are more technical people now than then. Back then there weren’t as many technicians in the art, just a bunch of guys that knew how to make the stuff work. Not a whole lot of why.

Q: Mr. Tatum do you have any advice on how to run a successful group class?

LT: Well when you come to my group classes you’ll see White Belts paired up with the Black Belts. You know why that is? So you don’t get a bunch of white belts together trying to teach each other, I know you’ve seen it. The Black Belts love coming to teach the beginners because they like to help other people and the White Belts get the best instruction in the world. When the Black Belts want to cut loose they pair off with each other. I don’t separate my classes by skill level too much because we are all one family, everyone helping each other and working together.

Q: Mr. Tatum do you have any advice on how someone should know what they need to work on next to get promoted?

LT: Do you have the DVD’s? There is a start. When someone is promoted I have to judge them accordingly. I can’t hold everyone to the same standard because they all come from different backgrounds. There are guys who practice the 24 technique system or the 15 technique system or whatever. So they know a different amount of the material on paper. But I have to look at them each as individuals when looking at them for promotion. I have promoted guys that weren’t even as good as their own students. Why? Because they made those students which is a skill in itself. When considering promotion I have to judge each person in his or her own right. You see him (points to a Black Belt in the crowd [I missed his name]). He bought the tapes and came to us and said he wanted to test. He came to the test and blew us all away and I promoted him.

Q: Mr. Tatum what’s your opinion on altering the system be it techniques or technique order or whatever.

LT: When you learn the techniques you’re supposed to change them to fit your body for what works for you. But when you teach it to someone else you want to give them the original version. The techniques are lessons; you need to give them the original lesson to allow them to change it for themselves when ready. The order of the techniques and sets and forms was laid out very carefully. The 24 techniques per pert were laid out very carefully in 3 sets of 8. One 8 prepares you for the next 8. One 8 prepares you for the next belt level and one 8 reviews. Also certain techniques are taught back to back for a reason such as Flashing Wings and Hugging Pendulum. The extending motion of the outward elbow in Flashing Wings is the reverse of the hugging motion in Hugging Pendulum. Those techniques were put together to help in teaching opposites and reverses. Now a beginner won’t realize it, but their body will on a subconscious level. So I would say that to teach the system the order of the base requirements should be left alone. They were placed in that order to build on each other.

Q: Could you comment on the Kenpo Wave?

LT: The Kenpo Wave is involved with Marriage of Gravity. If I were to tell everyone to use Marriage of Gravity and shuffle forward what would you do? You’d drop your height, and if I asked you to do it again you’d drop height again. And if I asked you to do it again you’d drop height until eventually you ran out of height. The Kenpo Wave is raising up just enough between movements so that you can sink on the next one. So your height constantly goes up-down-up-down like a wave. This should be subtle and almost unnoticeable. It’s different from floating which is obvious changes in height. The Kenpo Wave is becoming sort of a lost art just like the stepping back to a brace and bracing angles we discussed earlier.

 

[HKphooey]

James,

Once again thanks for taking the time to give us an overview of things.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Thanks to Francisco Vigoroux's 2nd Black assistant (I didn't catch your name man!), David Pantano, Thomas Clark?, Jamie Seabrook's assistant Matt (Trejo I think?), Jason Farnsworth, Michelle of Counterstrike Kenpo and Jose Lopez for bodying up with me. It was a pleasure and hopefully I was able to give you something new to toy with either while bodying up or at Mr. Frederick's seminar...

James,
As I stated yesterday I had fun practicing with you and was a good time all around.

Oh and the assistant was Richard. He moves extremely well and I was glad I had a chance to work out with him as well during one of Mr. Vigoroux's classes.

 

[MattJ]

Thanks for posting the Q&A stuff for us, James. Interesting to read about the "Kenpo Wave". I have never heard of that in AKK, but it sounds similar to TKD's "sine wave" theory.

 

[amylong]

I was there and had a fantastic time. The seminars were amazing and the people there were all incredibly friendly. I took pictures of pretty much everyone, which will be posted probably on the kenpo2006 website so keep an eye. If you were there, I'm sure I got your picture.

I learned so much about different ways to look at the techniques. I'll be having food for thought for a long time.

It was great to meet you all (those who attended).

I hung out a lot with JFarnsworth and was very impressed by his martial arts abilities. He has great technique.

--Amy

 

[jfarnsworth]

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[amylong]

Thank you for the kind words.

Well, that's what you paid for, right?

(Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that part.)

Yes, yes, a heck of a nice guy. Good martial artist. (please don't stop payment on the check.)

--Amy

 

[jfarnsworth]

You're funny.