Chicago seminars, May 3-4, recap

As always, I had a blast with the people back home in Chicago. I surprised the guys by showing up to run their Thursday night class in Burbank. Kurt and Barb Barnhart put me up in their home for the time I was there.
Friday night I taught a class on Russian Systema basics that was well-attended, as were all the sessions. One of my first students, Rich Kozik, came by to see us. Rich started with me when he was 14. I was a brown belt teaching at the park district.  He's now 54 and has been fighting cancer for the past two years. That makes it 40 years that I've known him.
As I've mentioned in some of my recent posts, I've had several long-time students attending seminars and this was no exception. Kurt Barnhart was one of my first students when I opened my first studio in Palos Hills, IL in 1976. I taught his wife, Barb, as well as her daughter, Lisa "The Terminator". Black Belts Manny Rivera and Ed Bilski have been at it since the early 1980s and Don Rushing was not far behind. So, we're into the 30 year students!
Some of the people in class there are second generation, meaning their parents trained with me years ago. There's a few who started with me and earned their ranks under Mr. Barnhart, such as Rick Vecchi and Pete Tomaino. They all knew Mr. Parker, too.
Saturday's classes were on techniques with some extensions, making relationships to their construction with the focus on buckles and forearms. Gina got the "Dogjaw"!
On Saturday night we went out to see my cousin Mike Schumacher and his band, Full Circle, play at Hackney's in Palos Park (where my uncle had been the police chief many years ago). Mike's a kenpo black belt, too. They'd rounded up some of my cousins I hadn't seen in years to be there, too. Turns out one of my cousins teaches guitar and she had a student who had trained with me in 1983. HE showed up, too. Good to see Tom Jarema after all these years. Mike's daughter sang a song with them and she's got some pipes! The crowd went nuts. My cousin Laura sang as well and she did a great job. Vocals run in that side of the family, motion (dance and karate) runs in our side.
Kurt and I missed the chance to get up to Milwaukee to see the Harley-Davidson museum due to a late train and missing our connection. That was disappointing for us both but we'll make it up in September when I go back.

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.

Chicago promotions

A board was assembled on Sat. 20 August in Chicago. Kurt Barnhart's students tested. Dan Helie was promoted to 2nd Black Belt. First black promotions were Rick Vecchi, Ken Ritter and Cliff DeRose, Joe Cantele and Pete Tomaino to brown belt. Congratulations to them all!

Kurt Barnhart Promoted

In 1976 Kurt Barnhart walked into my studio on 103rd Street in Palos Hills, IL. I had met Kurt briefly years before when I was working at another studio. He started with me and continued, eventually taking his first black test with Mr. Parker on the board. Kurt took the bull by the horns when I moved to Florida in 1991 and kept a club running. Today that club has the children of the students who studied with me working toward higher levels of proficiency.

   Over the weekend I promoted Kurt to 7th. I did this in the presence of many of the same people who were there when Ed Parker would come to teach and test our people. To name a few; Don Rushing, Tom McLennan, Ron Allen, Bob Weaver, Jim Tucker, Rick Vecchi and Barb Barnhart. Zoran Sevic and David Zorich were there, too. Zoran started with me in 1981 and is now a 5th under Tom Saviano (McSweeney lineage) and David and I did judo together at his father's dojo when we were kids.

As I told the group, Kurt has been in the arts a long time (and AT the arts as long), has continued to train and contribute to the arts and considers it an honor to teach. His committment shows and his efforts to foster goodwill in the martial arts community was demonstrated by the linkage of our group with the Danzan-Ryu jiu-jitsu group that works at the Center for the Martial Arts in Worth, IL, run by Sensei Robert Garza. You can feel the positive energy between the groups.  

I was treated to a therapeutic massage by one of the black belts there after my seminar. It was fantastic. They do the restorative applications in their training and I was fortunate to get worked on. A great weekend with the Chicago people once again.

My congratulations to Mr. Barnhart.

  

Chicago seminars

The weekend seminars in Chicago were successful. Members of several schools attended. Three sessions covered takedowns, grafting and multiple attackers. In takedowns we worked the differences in trips, buckles and sweeps. The multiple attacker session was designed to change perspective by moving one of the attackers' point of origin. The tag line for that one was "The purpose of this research is______."  I got that line from Dr. Rowe. Grafting is always fun and we started with Wing of Silk and took off from there.
     Mr. Zoran Sevic of Saviano's White Tiger in Addison took the classes. You may recognize his name, he has a website called http://www.kenpothoughts.com/. He asked a question I had never thought to ask. It was "Where did the cover-out come from". Did Prof. Chow do it? Did Ed Parker innovate it? I never saw the Castro's do it in CA. I'd seen Danny Inosanto do it while demonstrating Kali, but he was a kenpo man before going to the Filipino systems. Zoran presented  a theory that one of the Emperado brothers integrated a form of it and we (Mr. Parker) picked it up. We're looking into it. Thanks to Zoran for that.
  Mr. David Zorich was there, too. He's my boyhood friend and now a 4th dan judo teacher in the northwest suburbs. Always good to see him. (Over 40 years now, David!)
  Come out and hang with us next time. In the spring, when the temps go back over 70. Thanks again to Kurt and Barb Barnhart for hosting. See their site at http://www.phoenixkenpo.org/. By the way, interview podcasts with them are uploaded, see the link at my site homepage, http://www.leewedlake.com/.

Slap 'em!

Many martial arts have resuscitation techniques taught as part of their system. Hmm, missing in Parker Kenpo as part of the standard curriculum. (I have to say that many of us fill that gap with required First Aid/ CPR/AED/other training such as traditional Chinese medicine, Danzan-Ryu ju-jitsu and Judo kappo, etc.
Mr. LaBounty in CA, Kurt Barnhart in IL, Steve White in NH come to mind.)
Below links were sent to me by Bujin Kenpo brother Nelson Kari in Illinois as part of an e-mail exchange we had about an accupressure point. I was reminded that they slap the feet to bring someone back from unconsciousness. 
In kappo jutsu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappo
They also used to slap the sole of the feet with a stick to reanimate an unconscious person.
http://judoinfo.com/books/kuatsu.pdf
     Naturally, I had to run it by Doc (Marc Rowe). Marc's a retired pediatric surgeon and he immediately commented that it's a technique they use to get a baby breathing. No, they don't hit them with a stick. They thump their foot with a finger snap. My lady, Jan, immediately knew this when I mentioned it, she having been in the medical field, too.
   Now they question is why it works. Turns out there's a point in the foot that sends a message to your cerebral cortex. Go figure.

Chicago seminar

I was back home last weekend to work with Kurt Barnhart's group at Worth Martial Arts and the Japanese Cultural Center. The seminars were well-attended. We did ground work on Friday at Worth. I taught a combination of Judo pins, Russian Martial Arts (Systema) and Kenpo ground techniques.

On Saturday I did an intro to Yang Tai Chi. I was privileged to have my first tai chi teacher, Sifu Bill Grizzle, come by. I took my first lessons with him in TCC in 1985. He's still teaching up there. My old friend and judo partner Dave Zorich came by, too. We've been friends since we were kids. Zoran Sevic was there from Tom Saviano's White Tiger school. You may recognize his name from his website, http://www.kenpothoughts.com/.

 When I get up there, I try to get a sword lesson from Sensei Bob Garza. He teaches Iaido on Sunday mornings at the Worth dojo, A Center for Martial Arts on Harlem Ave. I enjoy his instruction. Being back at the beginner level in something keeps my perspectives fresh.

So, thanks to everyone who attended, Kurt and Barb for organizing and Bob for having me in his class. We plan to have another event in September.

Chicago seminars

Once again, we had a great time back in the old stomping grounds of Chicago. Both seminars were well-attended, with Sensei "Wojo" and his black belts attending the contact manipulation class alongside our own people.

I had the honor to promote my long-time friend and student Kurt Barnhart to sixth degree black. Kurt has been in the arts since 1967 and has studied with me since I opened my first school in Palos Hills in 1976, being one of the first in the door there. (Chicago boys; look carefully and you'll see "Da Chief" looking on.)

Kurt and I met Mr. Tom Saviano of the White Tiger school for lunch on Friday. Tom is John McSweeney's highest ranking student and carries the flame at his school in Addison, IL. I hadn't seen Tom in years and it was good to be able to spend some time with him.

That Friday evening I had dinner with another long-time friend, Doug "I hate people" Kimme, who is now a police officer in Champaign, IL. Doug and I used to shoot competitively together back in the 80s. He's way better at it than I and now instructs SWAT teams. Doug lost his only son in Iraq last year and we've been in contact but hadn't been face-to-face in many years. It sure was good to see him.

I also had some time with Sensei Bob Garza, an Aikido and Iaido instructor, whom I have tremendous respect for. He came out with us Saturday night and we had him laughing so much he had tears in his eyes. Those Chicago boys are madmen.