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.

Another one to be proud of (updated)

My long-time student, Steve White, of Manchester, NH is on his way to Spain to do a business seminar for the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA) branch in Europe. He was invited by Marc Sigle of Esslingen, Germany, who is heavily involved in it. Steve's program director at his school, Lee MacDonald, is with him.
Steve's Manchester Karate Studio is a very successful and respected school in New Hamsphire. It's been there over 25 years.
In addition, Graham Lelliott is down in Australia on a teaching tour in four cities. Based on the Facebook reports he's doing his usual bang-up job.
I am happy to see the accomplishments of my students and wish them continued success.
UPDATE: Marc Sigle mailed me and said Steve is wowing them there.

KSC 2012, Pt. 3

The 9ths and their lieutentants.

Saturday morning saw the group meeting at 0845 for introductions and etiquette meeting. The day's schedule was four 1.5 hour seminars, lunch break, photos/autographs and then dinner.
 Mr. Sepulveda was the first teacher and his subject was Variable Expansion. I took the second spot and did a session on Principles of Instruction.
Steve White and I had decided that it was better to provide lunch than have people out looking for a place to eat, so we arranged it with the hotel. During lunch, the seniors met and discussed the future of kenpo and what we saw as out parts in it. One result of the discussion was that our lineages are becoming more cohesive. As we meet again in the future, a better picture will appear.
After lunch, Mr. Bob White taught entries and closing the gap. The final session was with Mr. LaBounty, "The SiGung" (teacher's teacher) on takedowns. He had some people in tears with his commentary. Closing his session he got into the heads of the participants with his "not me, not today" drill. You had to be there.
We had students of intermediate ranks all the way up to 8th blacks on the floor and working (yes, the 9ths work, too) during the sessions. You didn't see the red leaning against the walls.

2012 Kenpo Senior Conference

At the conclusion of the last session Mr. LaBounty promoted Mr. Gary Swan of San Antonio and Mr. Brian Duffy of Austin to 8th degree black. It was good to be present for this.

Next section will be about the dinner.

More craziness in Fresno

Last weekend I was in the Fresno, CA area at the invitation of Graham Lelliott and Pete Valdez. I taught classes Friday evening, Saturday and one on Sunday morning. Many clubs and schools were represented from as far away as Sacramento and Los Angeles.
  A nice surprise was to have Rich Hale drop in and stay the weekend. I hadn't seen Rich since the mid-80's at Pasadena. Rich had a gi top with him that he's been running around the country and getting signed by a host of kenpo practitioners. He doesn't want to give it up but he will be donating it to the auction at Bob White's charity event this coming weekend. I'd guess there's a lot of people wanting that item. There are too many well-known kenpo people's names on it to list. He says he will have posters of it. I saw the rough of it. There is a large photo of the gi and smaller mug shots of those who signed it around the outer edges. Nice idea.
  Back to the seminars. We worked on variations of Five Swords with the adults, kids got some fun stuff along with anti-bully techniques and I did my Defending the Third Person seminar at Pete's. The weekend wrapped with a little over 2 hours on Form 4 at Graham's.
  My thanks go out to Jaydean and Gloria who make the stuff happen behind the scenes. For photos of the weekend you can see Facebook. Rich Hale posted several, along with some other participants.
  

UK visit

I taught some classes in Merry Olde England last weekend. I was hosted in London by Diane Wheeler at her club there in Tooting. I was told I was the first American instructor to visit.
A few clubs were represented and some traveled to take the class and stay overnight in Wimbledon. I enjoyed meeting some new people and re-connecting with both Diane and also with Phil Buck, one of Gary Ellis's black belts.
I did a session on what I call "Broken techniques"; techniques that can be split in half and either part can stand alone. It seemed to be well received and the time flew by.
Had some time in the pub with many of the attendees and got to know them and hear their views on the system. The time went too fast and I was off the next morning to the Channel Islands.
   After working my way through the train system to Gatwick, I landed in Jersey to some beautiful weather, and it stayed that way all weekend. Paul McMurray, one of Graham Lelliott's black belts, was my host.
   My sessions on Saturday for the young ones covered escape techniques for grabs and the adults were exposed to the thinking of defending a third person. The brown/black class worked on zone theory with some extension techniques as examples. I was told I gave a simple, understandable explanation of the principles. Mission accomplished.
   Sunday we went through some ideas on the gun and knife defenses. We'd gone out Saturday night to a busy pub and even with some hangovers, these people were moving well.
   I really enjoyed my time with both groups. In both locations, black belts from other school and associations were welcomed. All had a good time.
   If you ever get a chance to visit Jersey (not Joysey), grab it. It's a beautiful island.
People have posted some photos of the classes on Facebook. I'm looking forward to going back.

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.

California seminars

I was out at the Valdez Dojo in Madera and Graham Lelliott's school in Fresno over the weekend. The turnout at both schools was great. The children's seminars were well-attended. Both studios teach good discipline and the kids were attentive, learned something new and we all had some fun. We did a little ground work and some two-man techniques for the adults. In the course of the evening, Mr. Lelliott promoted Pete Valdez to fourth degree black. David Jimenez was Pete's first instructor and he was present, too. It was a pleasure to be there with them.
   At Graham's the next day I did another seminar for children.The intermediates worked on more two-man and the brown/black group worked on Long Three. Amy Long was down from Sacramento, Armen George was in from Washington and many local black belts attended. Two of Graham's brown belts, Marty Sherwood and Doug Taylor were promoted to 1st black, too.
  Mr. Lelliott was celebrating his 30th anniversary as a black belt (on a date now shared with Mr. Valdez).
Congratulations to them all!
  Thanks to everyone who made the seminars a success.

Kenpo website

Check out this website by Roy Travert in the Channel Islands. He's a student of Graham Lelliott.
http://www.jerseykenpo.com/

Madera and Clovis seminars

Once again, we had a great time in California. Graham Lelliott arranged for me to teach at his new studio in Clovis and over at Pete Valdez's studio in Madera. Both are in the Fresno area.
   Mr. Valdez hosted two seminars at The Dojo, his year-old school. I did a session for the kids and also conducted a women's self-defense class. The children were great to work with, Pete and his assistants are doing a great, job with them. The women's class was the same one I run as a community service here in Florida; it was the first time I'd done that class outside my own school. It was a mix of ladies from the studio and women who had no training at all. Pete wants to use the format to offer his own program and I'm all for it. We need more women to know how to avoid trouble. That's Pete's group below.

   The Saturday seminar at Graham's was fun for us all. I started with compounding moves from techniques, threw in some offensive stuff, and we got into some soft-style concepts. The class was attended by all ranks and members of four studios, Graham's, Pete's, Amy Long's group from Sacramento (photo below) and Tony Velada was in from Chicago. (Sorry if I missed anyone.)

   The Lelliotts have a Christmas show for the families every year and the kids did a wonderful program. The them this year was the Nutcracker, very appropriate for Kenpo people I think. Little Dragons to teens were involved and Saint Nick even showed up to do a sword form and pass out candy canes.
  It was my last trip of the year and a good one. Thanks to Pete and Gloria for their efforts at The Dojo. Thanks also to Graham and a pat on the back to his wife Jaydean for all the hard work in putting together their show.

Photos by Amy Long.

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.

The "My Three Sons" camp

The New England camp was a huge hit! Mr. Bill Gaudette coordinated it and says over 80 people from ten states and four countries were represented by attendees.

Friday evening started off with classes by Marc Sigle from Germany, Jim Peacock from New Hampshire, Graham Lelliott from California and Gary Ellis from England. The Saturday classes were kicked off by Mr. Lelliott, followed by Mr. White. After lunch Mr. Ellis taught and I finished the day. The teaching order was by the seniority of the instructors, determined by when they were last promoted by me. The order remains but the ranks are now one higher, as I moved them all up to eighth. All of them had spent 5-6 years at the last level and had been continuously teaching and promoting the art. Between them, they have almost 90 years of experience as black belts, and more if you count the years prior to their achieving their first degree.

On hand during the ceremony was Richie Bernard, 10th dan in Goju-Ryu. He was responsible for getting the custom-made belts for Lelliott and Ellis.

The feedback on the camp is that everyone had a great time, learned a lot and were blown away to be there for the triple promotion. It was quite a sight to see the crowd reaction when I surprised them and how a sea of people moved forward to congratulate them. It is a bit of kenpo history.

It was Graham Lelliott's first trip to that part of New England and his first meeting with Steve White. It had been some time since he'd seen his old friend Gary Ellis, too, which made the event that much more special.

Mr. White has indicated that the camp may be held again next year and alternate with Graham's Wonder Valley camp. We'll keep you posted.

New Hampshire weekend

I will be joining my three highest ranking black belts, Gary Ellis, Graham Lelliott, and Steve White in Manchester, NH this weekend for a lineage camp. Steve and his crew do a great job of coordinating the event every year. This year will be the first time all of my 7th degrees will be on the mat with me simultaneously, and that's exciting.
I'n told there are people from all over registered, with over 80 last I checked. This is going to be fun!

Fresno seminars

I was hosted by Graham and Jaydean Lelliott at their Central Valley Karate Club in Fresno, CA last weekend. As always, it was a good time. All the seminars were well-attended. The Friday kids were a blast. The Saturday sessions went well, with one for mixed ranks and a family groupings seminar for the brown/black class. Sunday I did a lecture section on instructing for instructors. Afterwards we went to Fred and Julie Bell's home to have dinner with them and Marty and his wife Sheri, and Armen George. Fred has opened a class in his home in the west Fresno area, with his garage converted to a nice studio. We took a ride down the road to Madera to see Pete Valdez's new studio there, called The Dojo. (www.valdezdojo.com). Very nice facility; matted and they have an undersize boxing ring, too. The studio has a great look to it and I think they'll do well. His brother, Trini, was working hard when we were there and he'll be part of the success story.
Thanks to Fred and Kent for the t-shirts they gave me. Amy Long was there from Sacramento, too. Always good to see her and everyone out there.
The Lelliott's are holding their bi-annual camp in May on Memorial Day weekend at Wonder Valley. See www.glkenpo.com for info.

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

Fresno seminar

Last weekend I was at Graham Lelliott's studio in Fresno, CA to teach a seminar on Form 6. As you can see from the picture, Tara enjoyed herself. Graham has a great group of people and Tara, along with Amy Long came in from Sacramento, Dave Arnold drove all the way up from the San Diego area, and an old friend, Craig McCoy was there, too.
I hadn't seen Craig since Mr. Parker's funeral, so it was good to get caught up. He's got a sharp mind and spent a lot of time with Ed Parker and other top-notch martial artists. While we were at lunch, John Henderson stopped by and sat with us. John had run the Santa Monica school many years ago. So when the two of them got re-acquainted, with Graham and I sitting there, the stories were flying.

Amy Long took this photo and said it captures 'enthusiasm for teaching". I really enjoyed working with the group on a complex subject and learned a few things myself. All in all it was a fruitful trip and I thank everyone who was there to make it a success.

(Side note: If you were at the event and wish to have the pictures, you may download them at www.sacramentokenpokarate.com/Wedlake1.zip (mostly the kids' seminar) and www.sacramentokenpokarate.com/Wedlake2.zip)

It's backwards!

There is an opposite and a reverse for everything. Yet, some things shouldn't be reversed. For example, airplanes shuld not land backwards. And students should not be promoting their instructors.
Ed Parker's Kenpo has been around since 1954, when he opened his firast commercial school, longer if you count his pre-studio teaching. That's a bit over fifty years, by my Chicago Public Schools math education. I tend to beleive that 50 years is a good amount of time to produce some competent instructors, pretty well distributed throughout the world. And if you count the number of 10th degrees, there are certainly enough to go around.
Why then, are there people who resort to promoting themselves under the guise of taking a promotion from their students? Can't find a teacher?
I pointed out this type of situation to Bruce Meyer, who read it and said "It's backwards. The students are promoting the teachers." Absolutely to the point. Other writers have said "Of course your students are going to want to see you promoted."
We agree that it's just not the way to go.
There is a mechanism for promotion in situations where it's just not possible to get tested and a group will elevate their best to the rank. It's called a quorum. That was more common many years ago when instructors, especially in kenpo, were few and far between. Now it's just an escape hatch for a lazy instructor who wants to be a fourth, fifth, or sixth degree without having to be trained and tested by a higher, more seasoned authority.
There are more kenpo instructors of senior rank now than ever and it seems there are more of these "association" promotions than ever. My point is, it's easier to get under someone to train you but these ranks are being assumed with little or no effort to hook up with someone with credibility.
Live in New England? Get with Steve White or Doreen Cogliandro. Middle East Coast? Joe Palanzo has a large group of competent people. Midwest? Kurt Barnhart in Chicago or Steve Hatfield in Ohio. Mountains? Paul Mills, Mike Pick. Northwest? John Sepulveda. Lower Midwest? Tom Kelly, Rick Fowler. West Coast? Larry Tatum, Graham Lelliott, Bryan Hawkins, Frank Trejo. And there are waaaay more that can get you on track. Make a phone call, save some money and either go to them or fly them to you.
I've seen too many guys who take a few private lessons, figure it's too hard, and decide to have their students promote them. I know the reasons - "Too expensive", can't travel", "I"m being held back", "I run a business and don't have time". Some reasons are legit, espceially the "we don't get along" one.
In the event you are genuinely stuck, there's a mechanism for that, too, and I've discussed that previously. But for most situations, going the route they've gone is just chicken***t. Do I sound upset? You bet. And so is anyone who put their time in, took their lumps, spent their time and money to earn that next stripe.
What do you think?

Fresno PDS

The seminar at Graham Lelliott's school in Fresno, CA was a success. It's always a pleasure to visit and work Graham and his group. Graham is a real people person and has been a friend for years. That said, his people are like him as well and you can't not have a good time with them.


Most of the group was from Fresno but we had some people who drove for many hours to attend. Tim and Deb Maynard came down from Concord, CA and Amy Long was there from Sacramento.

Afterward on that Saturday we had a birthday party for Graham. A party at Graham's is more like a county fair than a party. It was good to have a chance to hang out and talk with Doug, Juan, Tim, Deb, Amy, Pete, David, Coleman, Patty, Kim, and more.

On Sunday, the "old man" and I took a ride out to King's Canyon to see the sequoias. Graham has access to a Porsche 911SC, so you can imagine what fun we had with that in the mountains. He pointed out a coyote on the way back, which was the first I'd ever seen, being a city boy.

The plan is for me to go back in early December to follow up last weekend's weapons seminar with Form Six, building on what we did. Watch for a date.


**************************************
Lee Wedlake has been teaching Kenpo Karate for over 35 years and has written a variety of Kenpo Books about different kenpo katas and kenpo concepts. Mr. Wedlake has worked directly with Ed Parker and is generous with his knowledge and his time. He is available for Kenpo Seminars and camps.

Kenpo Karate 501

My next book is just about done. The subject is Form Five, the take-down form. It's about 60 pages and the cover will blow you away. Ed Parker Jr did this cover as well and I think it captures the essence of the form's theme beautifully.
Graham Lelliott wrote the preface. There is a contribution by Dr. Rowe as well, a condensed version of what he and I are working on for an article on sleeper holds (approved by Steve LaBounty, by the way!). My guys Mike and Kyle are modeling the techniques. Ed Cabrera and Danny Sullivan are in there too, choking each other in the sleeper hold section.
With a little luck it will go to the printer in July. Keep your fingers crossed.

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.