Wonder Valley Camp May 24-26

Wonder Valley 2013

I flew into the Los Angeles area a few days before the camp. I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Parker's gravesite, something I do before I go to the Fresno event. It's hard to believe it's been over 22 years since his passing. Standing on that spot brings back memories of that day when over 2,000 of us were there for his burial. But on to something lighter.

SGM Parker's gravesite

Graham and Jaydean Lelliott host the bi-annual Wonder Valley Kenpo Camp (and execute it nicely with the help of students and friends) on a former dude ranch that is just perfect for it. The venue is about 30 minutes east of Fresno, in the mountains. The Lelliotts go the extra mile and it shows.
I dropped my car at the airport and Graham was there to pick us and get us to the ranch.
    The instructors included Steve White from New Hampshire, Marty Zaninovich from Fresno, Ingmar Johansson from Sweden,  Ian Harris and Paul McMurray from Jersey, Channel Islands and Ed Parker. Subjects included joint locking, knife work, gun techs, and concept work in progressions and applications. I did two early morning tai chi sessions on the patio by the pond. All the instructors worked with the kids, too. There were a lot of families there and everyone had things to do. Dustin Kwock ran the ropes courses, archery range and the early Saturday Boot Camp. There was even paintball competition.
  Attendees came from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, the U. K., Venezuela, and across the US. I saw people I hadn't seen since the last event and met some new friends (Aloha, Dave and Pam!).
The Saturday night luau was big fun. Harry Troupe from Maui played his guitar. He's a professional and it shows.

A bit of fun on Saturday night.



With Australia's Peter Tas.

We had two promotions there. Graham Lelliott's two students, Ian Harris and Paul McMurray were both moved up to 7th degree black. It was unexpected and they were both emotional about it. Mr. McMurray said he felt the belt around his waist but the weight was on his shoulders. True words. Lots of photos of the promotion on facebook.

Graham and Jaydean gave all the instructors a Western belt as a thank you. I thought that was a great idea and I'll think of them and the camp every time I wear it.
If you think you'd like to attend the 2015 camp, please contact them thru their website, www.glkenpo.com or on Facebook to let them know. Your interest may make the difference in whether they throw it again. It's a huge job and they basically take over the ranch for us. It's well worth the trip for the learning experience and the friendship.

Wonder Valley Camp

Graham and Jaydean Lelliott's bi-annual kenpo camp in the Sierra mountains of California near Fresno is coming.It's Memorial Day weekend this year, May 27-29 at Wonder Valley. This is a great camp and this year he has John Sepulveda, Steve White, Ed Parker Jr, Ingmar Johansson and myself teaching. Graham will do some instructing, too. There's seminars for the kids and lots of things to do for the non-martial artists in the family. This is always one of the best camps I go to. Graham tells me the website for registration is down so you'll have to e-mail him direct at glkenpo@hotmail.com to get the info and register.
  I know that there are people from England, Sweden, Denmark and Australia attending. Make this if you can.

Another Wonder Valley success

The Memorial Day weekend camp hosted by Graham and Jaydean Lelliott at Wonder Valley, California was a success. This is the third time I've been asked to teach and each time I have a blast. Many of our European kenpo people came over for the camp with Sweden, England, Jersey and Spain represented.
The instructor staff consisted of myself, Graham, Dian Tanaka-Whitson, Marty Zaninovich, Willy Aguilar (with England's Diane Wheeler and Doctor Nigel at left), Bryan Hawkins, Ingmar Johansson and Ed Parker Jr. I was able to sit in on several of the sessions. Many of the classes were held outdoors in the perfect California weather. The subjects ran the gamut from kids classes to stick and knife, grafting, buckles, joint locks, advanced concepts and more.

I was, as always, impressed with Marty Zaninovich. His content and presentation are top-notch. Marty is now an instructor at the famed Inosanto Academy, too. Dian Tanaka pushed home a point I like, which is to insure that you know the delivery is correct on knife and club attacks, which helps both attacker and defender.
The weekend is a mix of activities with seminars, challenge games, rope courses, and social activity. The Saturday night dinner music was provided by Kenpo black belt Harry Troupe from Maui, Hawaii. This guy can play a guitar! He had some people with tears in their eyes.
A big congrats and a thank you to the Lelliotts and their team for pulling off another great event. You can see a slide show by Amy Long at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK8jWP_upkI
Two trash-talking black belts duke it out at the Friday night dinner! Caught on video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp1FmPVblaQ
For some more insanity connected with the camp, see this video of myself and Graham in sumo outfits doing Short One and Two Man Set.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZydXy2b3UY

California trip

Jan and I went out to California a few weeks ago, down to the Monterey/Big Sur area, then to Fresno. Graham and Jaydean Lelliott spent two days in Carmel with us. We visited Monterey and drove down along the coast through Big Sur with them. They are such great hosts and fun to hang with, although, as you can see from the picture, Jay gets lonely sometimes.

The scenery along the coast is all it's advertised to be and the weather overall was good.

I taught a seminar at Graham's studio on Saturday. Sunday we went to the Clovis rodeo, one of the big ones on the professional circuit. I hadn't been to one since I was a kid. It was very entertaining and I have to say those boys are crazy.

Graham and Jaydean are running the Wonder Valley kenpo camp on Memorial Day weekend. Make it if you can.

2009 Wonder Valley Camp

This is from Graham Lelliott in Fresno, CA. This is a great camp.



Hi to everyone,
I thought it was about time that I sent out a reminder to you all.
Our 2009 Wonder Valley Camp is only about 10 months away, so we need to start receiving replies and registrations ASAP you can download an information sheet at http://www.glkenpo.com/
I can now confirm the camp instructors as follows.

Master Lee Wedlake, Ed Parker Jr, Professor’s Diane Tanaka, Jason Arnold, Brian Hawkins, Ingmar Johansson and myself.

I’m sure that you will agree that this has the making of another great camp at Wonder Valley California, the camp is held on Memorial Day weekend May 22nd to May25th 2009 Friday pm check in, Monday check out.
For those of you who attended the 2005 and 2007 camps please feel free to post comments on the guest book at http://www.glkenpo.com/
We already have Kenpo people traveling from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Jersey and within the United States so lets make this a camp to remember from around the world.
A profile of the Instructors and their seminar topics for the camp will be posted on our website in the near future, as I’m sure you will all appreciate there is a lot of hard work in coordinating this event, so an early response will really help us with room allocations etc.

Please reply to let me know you received this mail glkenpo@hotmail.com
Many thanks and best regards Graham Lelliott

Wonder Valley camp

Graham and Jaydean Lelliott and their crew at Central Valley Karate held a great camp over the Memorial Day weekend at Wonder Valley, just outside Fresno, CA.
The instructor staff included Graham, myself, Ingmar Johansson from Sweden, Jason Arnold from Canada, Bryan Hawkins from Los Angeles, Marty Zaninovich from the Central Valley, and Ed Parker Jr. Special guest Steve LaBounty was there,too.
The camp was well-organized, the location was beautiful, and the event was very family-oriented. Participants came from as far away as Florida, Australia, England, Sweden, Germany,Ireland, and New Zealand. Classes were held on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday, with one mixed class and the rest broken out between kids, brown/black, and under brown. The days included plenty of time to mix and get to know people as well as participate in the Challenge Games in which teams competed in archery, blindfolded canoe races, and other funny stuff.
For me it was a chance to see some old friends and meet some people I'd had contact with only be Internet. It's good to see them moving up the ranks and to hear about some of the projects they are working on. I'll be writing about some of them in this blog soon.
I had the opportunity to talk with Steve LaBounty for a while, which was a bit of a treat for me since over all these years, we've only met in passing. I enjoyed the time, which was a fill-in on some history and we talked about some research I'm doing on carotid chokes. He's teaching police defensive tactics and that's of interest to him.
One of the events they have there is a bonfire on Sunday night. Graham had each of the instructors come up and say something and presented us with a nicely done IKC flame-shaped memento. In addition, I was given an acknowledgement award that opens like a book; very thoughtful and much-appreciated.




The camp had a very positive atmosphere and it looked like everyone had a good time. It's one of the most relaxing events I've been to, and if you get a chance to go you should take it. It's only every two years but watch for it to take place on Memorial Day weekend in 2009. I brought Jan with me and she enjoyed it too.