Tucson seminars

Shawn and Rebecca Knight packed their school when they hosted a successful seminar weekend in Tucson. I was there to teach with Steve LaBounty and Ed Parker. I met many new people from Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Frank Soto was there from Mexico, too. Dennis Conatser from Scottdale showed up; I hadn't seen him since Ed Parker's funeral in 1990.

What a great group they have out there. They remind me a lot of Steve White's group in New England. They are very cohesive, organized, and eager to perpetuate their art. One of their black belts, a girl named Candace, was found to have leukemia. They've been very supportive of the family in so many ways I can't describe. At the post-seminar dinner on Saturday night the young lady and her family came by for a few minutes. The school members had folded almost 1400 paper cranes for her, which they presented to her there. The cranes are significant in that they represent wishes for her return to health. One family is planning to go to Japan to a place where they hang these paper cranes outside. The wind and sun deteriorates them and when they break up, they believe the wishes are dispersed with the wind to spread the good wishes. That's just one sample of the family atmosphere of the AIK schools out there.

I was able to connect with my judo teacher, Carole Wolken-Melcher, who lives in Tucson. She came down to the studio and we had dinner together. She's 77 now, looks great, and we had a nice dinner and conversation. It was so good to be able to see her.

The seminars were very well attended, and seemed to be be well-received, based on the feedback I got. It was the first time I'd actually gotten to watch Mr. LaBounty teach. His session on what-ifs using forearms and elbows was right up my alley. It was a pleasure to watch. Ed Parker had the crowd going, with applause breaking out frequently.

Another really cool thing was going up toward Mt. Lemmon with some of his people and watching them run their forms out on the rocks up at 6,000 above sea level. The weather was nice and the view was spectacular.

All in all, it was a good weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in 2009. Thanks to crew for hosting.