I was one of the staff instructors at Sean Kelley's annual camp, held at his school in Greenacres, near West Palm Beach. It was held over the weekend of February 9-11. I missed Friday and Saturday but managed to make it to their banquet on Saturday evening. There was quite a crowd there with many well-known martial artists present.
Bill Wallace and Joe Lewis were there. They continue to spar after all these years, although it's verbal. And there were well-known Kenpo people such as Dave Hebler, Rainer Schulte, Ed Parker Jr, Dennis Nackord, Rick Fowler, and Mike Pick. Lots of groups were represented aside from Sean's CKF, a tribute to some people's ability to get past the organization thing.
Accolades abounded, many nice things were said, plaques, certificates and custom-made black belts presented, and there was no food fight. I was given a pair of boxing gloves signed by Joe Lewis, and one of the custom belts. You can see them here, if I manage to download the photos.
I hadn't seen some of these people for years. Dennis Nackord and I spoke briefly and he commented that we hadn't see each other since Ed Parker was alive. Jeff Speakman was there, another person I haven't seen in a while.
I taught my session on concussions and carotid chokes, using technique extensions to illustrate the usage of movement to create these effects on the body. My emphasis was on classroom safety and the martial artist's obligation to use only enough force to defuse a situation.
I've been doing this seminar for a few months, the first time being up at the NECKF Camp in New England last year in October. (That's a big camp!) I do it because I have found that many of us don't really realize what we're doing when we apply it and most are quite surprised when I do my talk.The short time I spent at the camp was enjoyable. I renewed some contacts and met some new people. Sean's thing is yearly. www.chinesekaratefederation.com
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