Martial Arts of India and more

England's Phil Buck and I were discussing a variety of arts and he mentioned an art called "Catch" or Catch as Catch Can". I thought this was interesting as that's a somewhat common phrase here in the US that implies you get what you can while referring to any number of things. Apparently it's based on a British wrestling system. Funny how things work into the language.
We also spoke of the martial arts of India; Kalaripp or Kalarippayat. My first escrima instructor, Al McLuckie, studied that for a bit many years ago. If you're interested, here's a link by the only teacher of it in the UK. http://www.kalarippayatt.co.uk/2012/kalarippayatt.php

Kenpo basics book

An old friend of mine, Leo Lacerte, wrote a book that compiles the basics in detail. It's been out a while and I was recently shown it by Marc Sigle in Germany. Mr. Lacerte did s nice job with it and I recommend it.  Here's the link. http://www.lacerteskenpo.com/

Seminars in Germany

 I was at Marc Sigle's Bushido ES studio in Esslingen, Germany. This print on the left was given to me by Claudia Neumann and Thomas Kozitsky. They had come back from India just a day or so before coming down from Dusseldorf for the seminars. They got this and the hand-carved block below in Nepal and presented it to me. Marc got one of the prints, too. Pretty cool.The escrima stick was burned with a dragon and tiger by Kirsten Steineke. Her husband, Lenny, has been training at Marc's and is closing in on black. Kirsten jumped in the seminars Saturday and I believe I saw her from the corner of my eye throwing an almost vertical side-kick. Thanks to all of them.

This flyer was done by Lenny and the back was signed by the participants. It translates as "Thanks very much for the great lessons". Phil Buck was down from England and it was good to see him. He and the rest got along quite well, judging from the laughter and those dragging in on Sunday morning. The subjects I covered included some extensions, tai chi applications, forms, basics, technique analysis and some classes for the kids. The "kinder" gave me some pretty good Texas-style cowboy yells, too.

Saturday night we went out to dinner at our usual place which is situated on a hilltop outside town. It has beautiful views and the sunset is hard to beat. The schnitzel is very good and the company makes the time go too fast.

Seize the Throat

They're here and available in my online store.

Bob White event update

I read that they wrote a check for $50,000 to the charity from the proceeds of the event in LA last weekend. I missed it but want to thank those who were for their efforts.

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.
  

Bob White's event

The Royal Family charity tournament is happening in the Los Angeles area this weekend. In conjunction with that, Bob White is having a dinner/auction and the International Journey will be released at that time, too. I'm told there are only two US honorees that won't make the event, myself and Joe Palanzo. It should be a landmark event. Proceeds from the book will also benefit the charity. I have them available on my website store at www.leewedlake.com. I donated some of my books and videos to be auctioned off for the benefit as well.
Find more info on the event elsewhere on  my blog where I have a link.