Knife Seminar (2)

Just a few things that Sifu Dan and Gene Guidry went over in the seminar. Gene started with some good hand and arm stretches that you can't skip when dealing with the knife. He then went into the necessary Pekiti stepping and turning techniques that are also essential. Sifu Dan took over and started with the basics which included knife taping. This is extremely important when learning the knife. Both Gene and Dan made it very clear that taping is not necessarily how you fight or defend with the knife. Later, Sifu talked about emergency techniques (if you want to call them techniques). As always, these things are based on principles in the system which is vast. Later, Sifu Dan delved into takedowns and strips which was very helpful to me. This, to me, is something that has to be practiced over and over, not to memorize but to make sure that they are understood. I am hopeful that there will be more seminars like this one to both emphasize what we have already learned and to gradually add to what we have already learned. By the way, both Gene Guidry and Sifu Dan worked with me a lot in the seminar and I am very grateful for that. Actually, Sifu Dan used me in a few of the demontrations (since I had learned some of this before) and I was very proud that he did. Hope I did well? He said that I did! Check out the picture of me and Sifu Dan in this blog! Next time, some pictures of pit stops and also a picture of Gene that was taken at the knife seminar!

Knife Seminar (Today!)

I was surprised to hear from Sifu Dan several weeks ago, although I think I started the conversation on his page. He said he had a knife seminar coming up on November 21 and was to be in Lafayette. I have always been interested in knife because the knife is probably the most used weapon and knife defense can be learned and used if necessary. Naturally, the day of the seminar was raining and raining a lot for me is fairly bad because it is an hour and half trip in bad weather. Today was no exception but I was surprised to find that the rain was not too bad, at least on the trip down to Lafayette. I had directions but when I got to Lafayette, the rain was realy bad and frankly, I got lost. I finally got to the park where it was being held but was 10 minutes late. I had to call Sifu Dan on his cell to make sure I was in the correct place. When I got into the room, which was about a 20 by 50 foot room (about), exercises were already in progress. A student of Sifu Dan, Gene Guidry was leading the group. He has been with PMATC for about 8 years or so. Gene worked with me a lot of the time and was extremely helpful and I really learned a lot, especially takedowns which is my weak point. The seminar went on for about 4 hours and I think was enjoyed by all. I got to take some pictures and will have them up soon. Hope we will have more of these seminars, especially Pekiti Tersia knife ones. More knews on this seminar next time and hope to have the pictures up then too!

Sifu Fong Seminar

The first time I saw Sifu Francis Fong was about 3 or 4 months into my Wing Chun journey. Sifu Dan told me that Sifu Fong was going to be coming to New Iberia for a seminar at a certain date. He did not indicate what was to be in the siminar, such as Sil Lim Tao, or Chum Kiu or whatever because Sifu Fong always generally decided the day of the seminar what he was going to teach. Sometimes it depended on who was there and how much knowledge and ability the members had. Frankly, it did not matter to me because I was just excited about meeting him! The seminar was held in a concrete building, sort of like a room, at the edge of the park in New Iberia. There was ample room for the number of students attending which was about 30 or so. Dan brieflly introduced me to Sifu Fong and the seminar started with exercises to "warm up" and the heat was on. We went through a number of principles that Sifu Fong introduced and broke up many times to practice exercises learned in the seminar. I came out of the seminar with both a much better understanding of some Wing Chun principles and an even better understanding of the terrific abilities of Sifu Fong. The best way I can say it is: it appears that Sifu Fong has "eyes in the back of his head"...I do know that I would never attempt to surprise him. I know that I would shortly be landing on the floor, probably upside down! In my ten years, there would be many of these seminar which I enjoyed very much!