28 Jun 2006

WHALLOP!!! I smack the wooden stick down hard on my
opponent’s skull and watch in glee as it fractures into a zillion
pieces. Well, it would have done were it not for the fact that
my weapon was heavily foam padded and my opponent
covered in full face and head shield. This is the world of
Philippino stick fighting and it was introduced to us at
Imperial by our old mate Barry Harte, 4th dan at the
Hakudakan Dojo. Amongst a myriad of skills Barry teaches,
he is an instructor of this wonderful art and showed us how
lethal it can be in expert hands. The slender bamboo stick can strike,
obviously, but it blocks, parries, disarms, counters and crushes with
alarming speed and ferocity. Wow!
Sensei Barry also showed us a selection of very very cool control
and restraint techniques - including a lot of two fingered control
restraints...ouch!
In a nutshell - the best two hours spent with a stick and two fingers.
Many thanks to Barry for the top notch seminar and we hope to see
him again soon!



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Mind, Body and Stick Ass Moves

WHALLOP!!! I smack the wooden stick down hard on my opponent’s skull and watch in glee as it fractures into a zillion pieces. Well, it would...

21 Jun 2006

After a giddy past couple of weeks what with SENI and Royler and also Gordon Liu, it was time to get back down to normality in Meerkat’s martial arts world, so its back to BJJ and JJ training as usual. And my next project is to try and produce a competition team to enter this year’s Jikishin National Tournament in October.
About ten years ago, when I first entered the tournament (and won a silver in sparring!), it was quite a big event in the ju-jitsu world. Now it probably seems less big when you compare it to SENI or the many MMA events up and down the UK. But in our world (trad JJ), it is still seen as the big one to aim for. A medal placing here brings the respect of your ju-jitsu peers and is getting tougher and tougher each year as more and more competitors train in other MA to hone their fight skills.
Obviously for me, ground-fighting division is the one I want to aim for and it is encouraging that a troupe of my JJ club buddies are similarly keen. Could 'Team Imperial' win a ground-fighting medal for the first time ever?
Let us also not forget the other divisions of stand-up sparring and random attacks, where we usually do quite well.

In reminiscing over past times, I recall our good friend Chris Allen, who moved out of town and hasn’t trained with us for a long time. But I remember him because years ago, he came up to me and enthused about this new form of ju-jitsu from Brazil where most of the action was on the ground. We laughed. How could Brazilians know about jujitsu? And surely our devastating array of wrist locks and hip throws meant we didn’t need to learn ground work? Then he showed us a few moves. One was a triangle choke and the other a scissor sweep. We stopped laughing and wowed at the dynamics of these 'new' (sic) techniques. Chris since went on to devote all his training to BJJ – spending time in Brazil – and we were left wondering how we could learn this cool new stuff. Now, everyone is at it. It’s like an arms race at times. If we don’t learn BJJ to supp our trad training, you sure as hell know the dojo down the road is.I wonder where Chris is now?

Back to reality

After a giddy past couple of weeks what with SENI and Royler and also Gordon Liu , it was time to get back down to normality in Meerkat’s ma...

1 Jun 2006

In a small, slightly hidden warehouse, last night, 35 eager students of the grappling game took part in a seminar with the world's second most famous Gracie brother - Royler. This was one special night as Royler has never been to the UK before and a real privilege. The seminar was three hours long and I could have stayed there for three more, so fascinating the tuition, so sharp the dissection of techniques and explained to a level where every one of us had the look of 'ohhhh, so that's how you do it'. Stand up, passing guard, choking, combining choke with sweep - all basic and simple stuff, the stuff you can pick up in any training vid or BJJ book. But here, in this dojo, shown by one of the world's most enduring and evergreen exponents of the art, here the techniques came to life.
It must have been a little tough for Royler. Brother Royce has literally just lost his fight to Matt Hughes the night before. The two brothers are very close so it must have been a blow to the family pride. But here was Royler, explaining to us about joojitsooo and still smiling and showing us the joy of grappling.
Of course Meerkat and Mrs Meerkat were especially honoured to be given the job of official photographer. With big white backdrop and studio lights set up, we snapped away crossing our fingers that the pictures would come out. The pressure was on as all the camera crew, reporters and magazine press were opting not to take photos instead happy to rely on our product. Gulp! Well, I think my pics are a little overexposed, white gi - white backdrop darn! But one or two are hopefully useable. I'll post a full reportage on my pic gallery soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of interesting poses!

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Royler helicopters Meerkat - oh the fun on my face.

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Meerkat sends Royler flying the wrong way, oops.

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Royler gets his own back, this pressure point hurt like hell!

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Baby Meerkat gets in on the picture.

More photos here: http://www.pbase.com/seymour/roylerseminar

Royler Gracie seminar

In a small, slightly hidden warehouse, last night, 35 eager students of the grappling game took part in a seminar with the world's secon...

 

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