Chicago seminars

Last weekend I was up at Kurt Barnhart's clubs in the Chicago area. I ran an introduction to basic Russian Systema class on Friday at Robert Garza's studio in Worth. Sensei Garza is the man I go to for work in Iaido. We had a judo student and another from Shotokan in the class and they said they really enjoyed it. I got to go a little hands-on with Sensei Filberto who teaches the Danzan-Ryu class there and he's got great flow.
  The Saturday classes were at the Japanese Culture Center in Burbank. The first seminar was on the forms, the second on family groupings. Ed Bilski, Oz Rivero and Zoran Sevic dropped by. Always good to see the guys.
  Friday night we ate over at The Patio, one of my favorite places for ribs. Two of my old-time black belts were there; my cousin Mike Schumacher and Jim Tucker. The usual suspects joined us, too. On Saturday Pete and Barb Tomaino hosted us at their home for dinner. Barb makes some Mexican food that I miss greatly and sometimes even hallucinate about. These Chicago boys are insane. I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while. And their wives are right there with them.
  After Sunday breakfast at Chuck's (don't miss this place in Burbank) it was off to the airport. You're right if you think we spent a lot of time in restaurants. Chicago has some great food. And the pizza IS better than New York's.
  Thanks to all who participated and to the Barnhart's. The time went too fast.

Kenpo Senior Conference

Here's the proposed schedule for the event here in Austin, TX on Oct 26-28.
Register at www.wedlakekenpotv.com/kenposeniorconference

Kenpo Senior Conference Schedule                         May be altered as required             

Friday Oct 26 evening schedule
S= Striking Track Omni A
C= Concept Track             Omni B
G= Grappling Track           Omni C

You may switch tracks at any time but the track sessions will be assigned to one room.

6pm
(G) Steve White, 8^th degree from Manchester, NH  Kenpo counters to common grappling attacks
(S) Ed Cabrera 4^th degree from Tampa, FL  Kenpo Fusion
(C)Tom Graves 7^th degree from Seattle, WA        Expanded Knot Concept

7:05
(G) Glenn Haley 4^th degree from Austin, TX   2nd Point of View where the Opponent is a grappler
(S) Marc Sigle 4^th degree from Esslingen, Germany     Integrating Pressure Points
(C) Graham Lelliott  8^th degree from Clovis, CA Ed Parker’s Motion Chart and the Universal Pattern

8:10
(G) Brian Duffy 7^th degree from Austin, TX   Joint Manipulations in the weapon techniques
(S) Ron Sanchez  5^th degree from CA    Pre-fight indicators
(C)  Bruce Meyer 6^th degree from Columbia, SC  Teaching Children

Saturday Oct 27 schedule   Omni ballroom

8:45 Opening remarks and bow in
9am – 1030         Mr. Sepulveda  Variable Expansion
10:45 -  12:15     Mr. Wedlake  Principles of Instructing
1:30 – 3pm          Mr. White  Closing the Gap/Technique Entries
3:15 -  4:45          Mr. LaBounty Rough and Tumble strike-downs and wind-downs
4:45-5pm             Closing Remarks and bow-out

Dinner Buffet 7-9pm
Presentation of the Dr. Francis Rene award
Question and Answer period after dinner

Sunday Oct 28   Omni ballroom
8am Iron Monkey forms workout
0830  Tommy Burks 8^th degree from Ft. Worth, TX  2 man knife drills

Private lessons if previously scheduled with the instructor

Noon - Check out and “head for the ranch”.

A Little Fun

Lenny Steineke in Germany and I were brainstorming on a project and he came up with a new Kenpo crest based on an idea I suggested. All in fun.

Hanging at Rancho Cortez




Driving the hay wagon team with the Belgian horses.

I got my niece, Serena, to come visit me in Texas recently and I took her for two days down to Bandera, "The Cowboy Capital of the World".  We had a lot of fun at Rancho Cortez with Larry and his people.
Unbeknownst to me, Serena caught me throwing a rope on the video.

On the hay wagon.
 

Larry got Serena to sit on a bull and even stand up on it, despite her claim to Level 5 panic.

They keep you busy at the ranch with trail rides, some lessons in the arena, campfires and storytelling.

I like working with the horses a bit and Julio was showing me how to catch them in the morning, get their lead lines on, feed them and get them ready to saddle. Larry took some time to get me a bit better at controlling the horse with some drills in the arena.
Had a great time. If you ever get to Texas, check them out. www.ranchocortez.com
  

September article

The "Iron Monkey" is the subject of the September article for subscribers on my website. Here's an excerpt about this training method.

When you run your forms at speed with power, you get a great workout. Your lower body is working hard in stance and transition. As a forms competitor I ran my competition forms over and over to not only sharpen execution but to have that leg strength required to be consistent through a long form. A common mistake is to have stances at the end of your form that are not as sharp and of the same dimensions as on the front end. The Iron Monkey is a wonderful tool for working this. Since your upper body works with the lower you get an outstanding cardio-vascular workout. Since the entire sequence takes about 11-12 minutes, it’s just about the recommended length of time for an effective workout. Twenty minutes is optimum. Getting to Six and then doing them back down gets you to 20 minutes.

This, and over 100 more articles and historical material, can be accessed through www.wedlakekenpotv.com/leewedlake. A Premium Membership is $29/yr and can be added to your kenpotv membership.

Bob White invitational

Bob White is having his event in March.
www.bobwhiteinvitational.com

Texas seminar at Oscar Steele's

I taught in the Dallas area last month at Oscar Steele's studio in Coppell. Three seminars, one for the kids, another on the freestyle techs and my Defending the Third Person seminar.
It was a pleasure to be invited, they're a very nice group. Two black belts came down from Plano, too.
I got some great feedback. It seems we all enjoyed ourselves. Looking forward to going back sometime.