2014 Kenpo Senior Conference

We had to skip 2013 due to scheduling conflicts with other groups. I was told people were mad at me but it is what it is. Steve White and I want to promote peace and cooperation in the kenpo community and throwing another event in a crowded schedule would not help.
The date as of now is May 2-4, 2014 here in Texas. The Omni hotel we used for the first event is not available so I'm looking for another. The same kenpo seniors have agreed on the date, those being myself, Bob White, John Sepulveda and Steve LaBounty. That weekend is also the birthdate of the late Sibok Tom Kelly, so we'll dedicate the event to his memory.
  We plan to expand the schedule to have some sessions during the day on Friday. We'll limit your choice to one of two sessions versus the three in 2012. That being the only complaint we heard, not being able to decide between interesting subjects.
  This is a "lineage" event. That means we select our assistant instructors from the lineages represented by the four seniors. We term them "lieutenants" and wish to showcase those on the way up be becoming the next generation of senior instructors. Of course, some of us have a right-hand man who is senior in their own right, but we still call them lieutenants.
  We're lining up female instructors, too. Barbara White from CA and Denise Plowman of ID are already on board. Steve White, 8th degree is committed. Graham Lelliott and Ron Sanchez are on the list.
  As I write this I am getting ready to head down to the San Antonio area to look at venues that will include the possibility of doing it at a ranch. These facilities have a variety of rooms, dining halls, fitness facility, pools, Jacuzzi, hiking trails, horseback riding, campfires and more. That makes them a good thing if you want to bring the family. More later on this.
  Steve White and I are looking forward to hosting you again in 2014.
  Remember, we call it the Kenpo Senior Conference because it's a chance for seniors to get together, not because it's for old people.

A Big Deal in Miami

I'll be part of an event, directed by Munis Abunawar, in Miami on Sunday, 10 November. There's the Pan-American tournament on Saturday, which I'll be at too. Sunday includes myself, Bob White, Gilbert Velez and Manny Reyes. http://www.panamericaninternationals.com/ and
http://worldkenpofederation.com/seminars

New book is coming

I'm on a deadline to submit the manuscript to the publisher in October. This is the compilation of my books, Kenpo Karate 101 through 601. That means parts of 101 will be included for historical background on the system and Mr. Parker. The chapters on the forms have been re-done with the few errors corrected. All the thesis form material has been consolidated. New chapters on Forms 7 and 8 are added. A new chapter on sets is in there, too. You'll get the history of them as well as their reason for being. All the general rules of motion are consolidated, new photos, too.
I've spent many hours recently re-writing some things for clarity based on input I've gotten over the years. I've updated some of the historical info in the opening chapter since it's been over a decade since 101 was originally published. John Sepulveda wrote a preface for it, too and contributed to the chapters on 7 and 8. Many of the photos were done in Germany and England as well as the US, so you'll see it was an international effort.
The book is looking to be out late in 2014 through Blue Snake books. Working title is The Kenpo Karate Compendium. This will be THE book on the forms.  

October 2013 premium subscriber article

If you're a subscriber to my monthly articles (not to be confused with the free newsletter), the October article is on use of the thumbs. I was a bit surprised it was a long as it is but there's a lot to using them and keeping them from getting hurt.
Subscription is $29/year and you can register by going to www.wedlakekenpotv.com

The October 2013 newsletter

The next newsletter is about ready to go. You can get on the e-mail list, and it's free, by going to my site at www.wedlakekenpotv.com/leewedlake and subscribe.
Every month I list updates to my video site, recommended reading, seminar schedules, video links of interest and other items. I've been told it's pretty handy.

August newsletter

Most of you know I publish a free newsletter every month. It's e-mailed and you can get on the list by going to my site to sign up. www.wedlakekenpotv.com/leewedlake
You'll find short articles on happenings, seminar schedules, brain science ( we hit the head a lot, so this is stuff you may want to know), recommended reading, site updates, links, etc.
According to my webmaster, depending on how your computer is set, it may be hard to read but a quick change gets it right.

August seminars

I'll be traveling a lot this coming month.
August 3-4 I'll be at Marc Shay's American Karate in Broomall, near Philadelphia. Saturday seminars are open to all. One session for kids and two for adults. The adult sessions will cover Two Man Set and Grafting. Sunday is a Comprehensive Review seminar, Part One.

August 9-10 it's Coastal Kenpo Karate in Goose Creek, near Charleston, SC. Nick Dreiling hosts. Open seminar Friday evening along with classes for kids taught by Bruce Meyer. Adults sessions Saturday on zone theory, grafting and category completion.

August 17 I'm in Ohio at Steve Hatfield's Panther Kenpo Karate near Columbus, in Mount Vernon. Kids and adults sessions. Adults will cover line and flow drills along with technique extensions.

The AKTS camp in New York is the last stop for the month. This is John Sepulveda's camp and it's director is Tim Murphy in Rockland, NY. This will be a biggie and it's my first time teaching in New York state. Dates are 8/23-25.

Contact info for all the above is on my site at www.wedlakekenpotv.com/leewedlake/seminars-2

Upcoming Seminars

I'll be in New Bedford, MA this weekend with Lance Soares. Subjects for this weekend include gun defense and sleeper holds/concussions.
Plymouth, England with Gary Ellis is set for the last weekend of June. Coincidental that Lance lives in Plymouth, MA. Flow drills, two man techs and weapon work there.
Ft. Myers, FL will host Part 2 of the comprehensive review seminar we started back in April. Forms 4/5/6 are on the schedule as well as finishing off the techniques.
A multiple attacker seminar is tentative for Round Rock, TX in July.
August sees Broomall, PA, Charleston, SC, Mount Vernon, OH and Stony Point, NY on the schedule.
More dates and places can be found on my site at www.wedlakekenpotv.com/leewedlake/seminars-2

Missed My Anniversary Date

June 2, 1975 I made first black. Mike Sanders in Sterling, IL signed off on me after flunking it the first time around. Three years later I moved to second after being on probation for a year. Mike didn't like my sparring skills and I had to fight, fight, fight. I was more of a kicker due to my initial training. The first kenpo school I went to gave no formal instruction in sparring, so we went to tournaments to see what we could pick up. With a predominance of Korean and Okinawan styles, we didn't fight much like kenpo people. Mike told me I had to get the hands better, so I did. When I pulled off a triple win (fighting/forms/weapons) at a tournament in 1978 or early 79, he signed my certificate.
It seems funny that 46 years after starting in the martial arts, I'm still at it and closing in on 40 years as a black belt. And I'm still working at it.

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.

Pennsylvania Seminars

Last weekend I went to Leesport, PA to Brian Price's studio in Leesport to teach seminars for the kids and adults. The kids class was on staying focused in training and we even had parents on the mat with us. The adult subjects were concussions/sleeper holds for the first and the second was on "category completion". The turnouts were very good and many schools were represented.
   We were honored to have Hanshi Ron Martin, 8th dan, Goju-Ryu present. He was the captain of the first US Karate Team and was known as one of the top karate fighters.

Self, Brian Price, Hanshi Martin

 

 Mr. Price had recently earned his instructor certificate in Systema and we did a little hands-on during the weekend, which was fun. He and his wife, Sue (who bakes a mean cake), took me to dinner Friday and we had an enjoyable evening. Saturday's dinner after the seminar was attended by about 15 people, including Mark Schiffman, Jim Deery, Marc Shay, Mike Corsello, Stephanie Hammond and Hanshi Martin. It was entertaining, to say the least.

  Photos to follow.
  I'll be in the Philadelphia area the weekend of July 27-28 at Marc Shay's and hope to see our PA people again.

May Premium Article

Here's an excerpt from my article entitled "There Are No Rules". It should be available to premium subscribers shortly.

We do things other many systems do not. For example, we use the neutral bow while most use a front stance. We check and others don’t. We cover out at the end of a technique and most practitioners of other arts have never even seen such a thing. It’s due to our principles or “rules” of motion.

I believe the statement that we have no rules is largely a semantic argument. Try using a front stance in a kenpo class on a regular basis and see if the instructor tells you it’s ok and ignores the use of a neutral bow. They’ll tell you you want to have your feet turned on the 45 and give you reasons. They’re going by the rules. I created lists of the General Rules of Kenpo in the back of several of my books in the Kenpo Karate numbered series, those being the 101, 301, 501 and 601 volumes.

A yearly subscription of $29 allows access to monthly articles and over 100 archived items. Subscribe at www.wedlakekenpotv.com/leewedlake

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.

Kenpo and the Weihnachtsmarkt

Marc Sigle invited me over to Germany with a visit to their Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt) in Esslingen on the schedule. Esslingen is an old town and much of the area has been preserved as it has been for hundreds of years. They recreate the market of the Middle Ages, complete with torches, food, drink and people dressed in character. Pretty cool. It's reputed to be one of the best of its kind in Germany.
   Marc picked me up at the airport and it was snowing, as it did most of the weekend. That was a switch from the Texas weather I'd left, where it was almost 80 degrees and sunny. We met up with his wife, Isabelle and his student, Lenny and had lunch at the market.
  Over the weekend I taught two children's classes, two technique classes (one on some knife defense and another on extensions), an in-depth basics class, one class on Short Two, another on Long Three and another two on the Two Man Set. That one was very well-received and I had Tommy Kozitzky and Marc assist. We had a special black belt class on Form Five, too.
   Phil Buck was down from England, he's a Gary Ellis black belt. Phil writes horror and his books are available on Amazon.
  Tommy Kozitzky and Claudia Neumann came down from Dusseldorf, too. Claudia has been instrumental in producing the German translation of my book on the base forms, Kenpo Karate 201. The weekend was the initial debut of the book, the first kenpo book in German. That was pretty special.
  As always, the food was good, the people were great and I got to work on my German some more.
We have sets dates for 2013, in April and November. Steve White will join me in the April trip.
  Thanks to Marc and everyone who participated!

New England Seminar Tour

The weekend of Dec 14-16 I'll be in New Hampshire and Massaschusetts for a series of seminars, the last ones of 2012 for me.
I will be at Holden Martial Arts in Holden, MA on the 14th, Friday. Subjects and times not set yet.
Saturday I will be at Jim Peacock's studio in Mont Vernon, NH in the morning to teach Body Mechanics. That afternoon, I go to Steve White's Manchester Karate Studio for two sessions. One for the families, and another on Advanced Concepts. That evening Steve and I will probably be found somewhere in the North End of Boston at dinner with Lance Soares, who hosts at his school on Sunday.
Two sessions Sunday in New Bedford, MA at Lance's. One on falls and rolls for kids, another on joint locks for the adults.
That's a wrap for the year. Thanks to Steve White for coordinating and the school owners for hosting.

Recap of the Kenpo Senior Conference, pt. 1

Steve White and I partnered up to make this event happen back in early 2012. Steve urged me to do this as we believed that after 22 years since Mr. Parker's passing that the four seniors we had teach were of like mind. The conference was named such because we wanted to talk with the seniors and see where, or if, this would go.
That's why we named it the Conference. This is not a resurrection of the Kenpo Senior Council/League of Kenpo Organizations. It is not intended to be an organization at all. It was an event. We did have our conference on Saturday and we are of like mind and will move forward as such. In the future you'll see more of our respective lineages working together.
People started arriving in Austin on Wednesday and Thursday. They came from Germany, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, California, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Washington state, South Carolina and Texas. Several associations were represented such as my PKS, the AKTS, AKF and NCKKA.
Steve White came down with Tim MacKenzie and Julie Stockwell. She and Tim helped out with registration and other things along with Janis Nyman. Graham Lelliott arrived from CA with Pete Valdez  on Thursday.
The Omni hotel Southpark is near the airport and was a venue that Brian and Lee Duffy use when she hosts the annual songwriter's conference in January. www.austinsongwritersgroup.com/ It turned out to be the perfect spot. The staff was efficient, rooms comfortable, meeting areas suitable and the food was good. The location lent itself to people being able to catch a quick cab ride down to the 6th Street party zone and other downtown attractions. The free shuttle made it easy for people to get there.

We have to thank Steve White's program director at his studio, Lee McDonald for the work he did on the flyers, t-shirt design and participation certificates.
Part 2 to come.

Australia wrap-up

With Melbourne's Peter Tas

Jack Nilon and Peter Tas worked together to arrange a tour of several clubs and schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. I did nine seminars over 7 days to both youth and adult groups. Subjects included my "Great Escapes" and the rearrangement principle for the kids, Ed Parker's freestyle techniques, club defenses, "Broken Techniques" and technique interruption drills for the adults. I did private and class sessions, too. Pete had asked me to be a special guest at his juniors tournament on the first Saturday, too. I sat on the forms boards and was the center judge for the upper ranks in sparring. The tournament ran well and the kids took home a bunch of nice trophies. I ran a short seminar for the participants immediately afterward, too.
    Along the way I met many people I'd been contacted by online and was able to put faces with names. I saw some whom I'd met at a previous seminar I did in Sydney in 1999 or at Graham Lelliott's Wonder Valley camp in California. Good to reconnect as well as meet new people.
   The instructors who hosted seminars were Peter Tas in Melbourne, Tony Billman in Epping (near Melbourne), Tim Barnes in Adelaide ( place with a time-zone difference of one-half hour), Jack Nilon in the Sydney area and Jo Stenzel in the Brisbane area (she was helped out by Steve Broadbent there, too).


With Tony Billman

   I stayed with the Tas family the first few nights. Pete's wife, Jodie, was a marvelous hostess and put up with Jack, Tim Barnes, and myself. Pete is a bit of a shrinking violet (far from it), so it got a little nuts at times. Memorable quote from was from his daughter to Jack; "You've just been owned by a nine-year-old girl." Jack, Pete, Tim and I went to the Peninsula Hot Springs the day I arrived. Quite an experience and a great way to relax after a loooong flight. www.peninsulahotsprings.com/ The weather was perfect and it went down the tubes the following days, turning to rainy and colder.

   One of the days with the Tas family we went down to downtown Melbourne. Along the way we stopped at the beaches. We went up in the Eureka Tower to the 88th floor observation deck and the weather cooperated. We followed that with a visit to The Shrine of Remembrance, a war memorial to the ANZAC veterans. It's worth a visit.  www.shrine.org.au/


Adelaide kid's seminar, Jack Nilon assists

 
Tim Barnes hosted in Adelaide. He's a chemistry professor at the "Uni" there. Aussies abbreviate almost everything and "uni" is the university. I'd never been to either Melbourne or Adelaide before and it was a treat to see the areas. Tim and his wife, Tracey, put Pete, Jack and myself up for a night, then we were back to Melbourne. They have a beautiful little girl who will be a heart-breaker and probably win a Nobel Prize.
  Tuesday, back in Melbourne, we went over to Tony Billman's Australian Kenpo Concepts. Tony's instructor is Tommy Chavies. Mr. Chavies is an excellent technician. I'd met him at the Pasadena studio and we've crossed paths at the IKC many times. Good man, and his rep, Tony, looks to be doing it right.
  I stayed with Jack, and his brother, Adam, and their mom in Sydney. I caught up with Adam and some of Jack's mates. It was good to see how they're doing. Jack and I went to do some ATV/quad-bike riding out along Peat's Ridge. First time for me. Jack told people I was throwing dust and dirt at him but I believe he was ahead of me most of the time. Good fun.
   We jumped another airplane up to Brisbane (Aussie security is nothing like the the TSA) and met up with Peter Tas again and Steve Broadbent "Broadie". Steve and Pete work under Graham Lelliott, and they love him. Steve's wife, Merry, was now in the mix with us and she gave as good as she got. The Friday night seminar was at Jo Stenzel's Studio MMA www.studiomma.com.au and the turnout for both seminars was good. She had a small barby afterward with steaks and sausages, so we could talk with the troops. We joined her again at her home with her husband, Ted, the next night for more good food and conversation.
  Broadie took us to Mt. Tamborin for a look around. It's on the edge of the rainforest and has an artsy downtown area. The road going up is pretty intersting and I saw lots of motorcycles heading that way.  Afterward we went down to the Gold Coast, next to Surfer's Paradise. It's a lot like Ft. Lauderdale. The Brisbane area looks a lot like south Florida.
   Nilon took the entire time off work to be with me through the trip. That gave me lots of time to look at his material, watch him teach, check his time-in-grade and see how he worked. I promoted him to 4th degree black. He's now got his assignment for his 5th black thesis and moving forward.

Melbourne seminar

  Peter Tas took a lot of work time off, too. He was with me in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. He, like most of the people I met, are hungry for info and want to represent the system well. Pete took the photos you see here, too. More later.

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.

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.

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.