Waiting to board the train for Ottawa

I’ve been teaching Modern Arnis seminars at the Stronger You Martial Arts and Fitness dojo since August of 2008 when I first met Renshi Janet Lawless.

Since then, I’ve been going to Ottawa 6 to 8 times a year to teach seminars and private lessons to those interested. As usual, I took the train from Oshawa to the Fallowfield station in Barrhaven, alternating between napping and surfing on the Wi-Fi.  Met Renshi Janet, Cathy, and her grandson, Cassidy and went back to her house for lunch.

After lunch, I headed to the Stronger You dojo for an hour-and-a-half private lesson session with Sensei Mark, who wanted to review some of the material from the recent Michigan Camp. We focused on two basic areas: the 2 vs. 2 stick drills taught by Master Ken and the 2 vs. 1 stick techniques taught by Master Chuck Gauss. That’s all we did for an hour and a half. Lots of repetition and tweaking of technique and body mechanics.  

While Mark may be the student, I always learn something whenever I teach private lessons.

It may be anything from teaching methodology to specific phrasing or explanations that cause a light bulb moment. The student could trigger an idea or avenue I’d like to explore. I had lots of fun with Mark in this session.

Then I transitioned to grading a couple of Stronger You students, Monica and Morgan, for their Modern Arnis ranks. They both did very well and have bright futures in this art. The young ones will be important for the future of Modern Arnis here in Ontario!

After dinner, Renshi Janet and I trained for several hours, focusing on all 20 Bamboo Spirit Flow drills, working our way through them, and making some tweaks here and there. We also reviewed the basic left vs. right tapi tapi. Then we mixed it all up and did some free play. We had a lot of fun with this stuff!

The next day was the seminar and, as usual, I started off the first hour with a question-and-answer session.

The folks wanted to go over the single lock and the forearm backward throw.  I went over the technical details for both techniques and went through a few “what if scenarios” to drive home the importance of solid body mechanics.

The second hour continued the theme of proper structure and body mechanics in the execution of technique. While it may seem like we were practicing posing techniques, I focused on solid basics.

Topics included the angulation of the punyo feed, timing of the slap-off, and having a good solid stance. I showed them how poor structure can affect their technique for each of the above. And while I taught some variations of the posing technique, the focus was laser beam-like on proper structure.

Working hard on the slap-off technique!

In the last hour of the seminar, I focused on Flow Drill #2, aka the “Clearing” Drill, both with the cane and empty hand applications.

First, I focused on the stick version of this drill, ensuring that the drill was being done correctly.  Structure in every aspect of this drill was emphasized. After ensuring that the attendees did this drill well, I went into one combat application of this drill, consisting of the standard inside clear followed by a punyo feed to a slap-off. I also covered the outside clear followed by the same technique, with a variation using the stick to knock the opponent’s arm off before the finish.

I finished the seminar with an empty hand application of the first part of Flow Drill #2. The empty hand application mirrored the inside clear/punyo feed/slap-off portion of Flow Drill #2. The translation is as follows: The opponent throws a straight punch. The defender parries the punch with a heavy check of the left hand, followed by a right hammer fist to the opponent’s face, which is blocked. The finish is the slap-off.  Regardless, the principle is that the Flow Drills have empty-hand applications.

After the seminar ended, Renshi Janet and I reviewed some material with several students to see where they stood in regard to their next promotion. All are progressing well and are on track.  Their hard work will pay off!  

Oh yes, I shot another “Fix It Friday” video with Annabelle, a 15-year-old student of Renshi Janet’s.

Annabelle has a lot of promise, and I enjoy watching her rapid progress in Modern Arnis. She’s got a bright future!

Screen shot of the video that I did with Annabelle at Stronger You.
Screenshot of Fix It Friday video with Annabelle

I spent much of Saturday night and Sunday morning training with Renshi Janet, going over disarms, anyos, counter disarms, sinawali boxing, and timing aspects of tapi tapi. Fun times with her!

I look forward to coming back to Stronger You in the future and doing more teaching and training!

To the folks at Stronger You, keep up the great work and see you soon!

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