Let me begin with a sincere, THANK YOU, to all of the people who came in support of our event. We know how it feels to drive a long distance and participate. It is a day of great anticipation for us and to, have people show up and support it, is considered by us, a pure gesture of friendship. A post Jam evaluation will be done at class tonight. Impressions, along with those of Jam advisors (Dragon Tab holders), will appear at the bottom of this article.

   The Jam actually started on Thursday night. It was kicked off with a visit from Master Kelly Markum. Kelly was, in short; inspirational. He tied everything in with a value system that he is a shinning example of. The martial arts material he instructed on, was useable and will be implemented into our class plan. The values he spoke on should be implemented into everyone’s life plan. Kelly drove down, taught the class, then drove back to Ashville NC . This was quite a gesture of friendship, dedication to his art and unselfishness of his time. When he left, he left a feeling of well being with us all. His genuine, upbeat, positive outlook on everything is so contagious, it is no wonder all around him are lifted up.

    The Jam began at ten o’clock sharp, Saturday morning. The kick off demo is traditionally done by Master Willie Wilson. This year at the urging of he and Master Joe Laney, I took the first shot. My demo was Dragon Sen-I Jutsu. I got some good comments from people whose opinions are important to me. So I felt good about my portion. I think those observing and participating realized that it is not a new system, but a new systemization of four older ones (Isshin-ryu, Kung-Fu, Jujit-su and American boxing). I enjoyed the open minded audience.

    Master Wilson was asked to demonstrate and instruct on falls and break falls. His group(Karate Five) demonstrated with precision and grace, the finer points of hitting the ground with no damage with the ability to still defend ones self. More impressive was the blindfolding of his students so they wouldn't know from which direction the take downs were coming. Their execution was flawless. You could see the hours of teaching, training, and work that went in to preventing ground injury from a real fight. Yet people were reluctant to join the instruction part. I was sure that several didn’t know how to fall effectively and it reminded me of the, “I can’t be taken off my feet myth,” that instructors perpetrate on their students rather than admit they don’t know basic fall procedures. I yelled at my students to get out there and not let Master Wilson leave the building without getting all they could from him. I teach them fall techniques, but I am no Master Wilson and that is what the Jam is all about…. . getting better with the best.

   We were also treated to some incredible stunts by Sensei Anston Wilson. Thank you Master Wilson for sharing and caring. You are a true pioneer of cross training. Your knowledge is admired by your friends and secretly envied by your cross training nay sayers.

    We then worked on some punching )(boxing) combination drills. I would demonstrate, then let everyone partner up and work on it. The thing about this group was, all you had to do was suggest something about hitting. All got right on with it and as they say, ”a good time was had by all.”

    Next; old friend, Grand man and Master; Maurice Msarsa, demonstrated point and nerve strikes. Mostly he demonstrated his own guts and grit. Master Msarsa had, had a removal of a tumor the size of an egg from his neck just days earlier. He was wearing a big bandage on the back of his neck and head, that covered a six inch long incision full of staples. Driven down to Anderson and nursed along by wife Johnnie, I asked him why he didn’t just stay at home this time. He said it was because he said he would be here and he always keeps his word to a friend. Another value system lesson in real life form. We finally chased him out of there but not before he gave Ralph smith some private lessons in the corner of the room. . Now Snake has a big patch on his head…Just kidding…. Kinda!!!!!

 

    Now came the “DRAGON PUNCH OUT,” that first made the Jam a tough guy/girl attraction. That tradition was not lost on this group. It is my own original “either you want to fight or you don’t,” creation. It is continuous, with face contact and what ever power you want to get hit back with it. All chose to pound away. There were no injuries and many lessons learned. One of the matches saw two real tough guys, Darrin Motes and Ron Stapleton linking up. At the end and going out of bounds, Ron nailed Darrin with a knee strike. We never said knees were or were not allowed. It just happened to come up……pardon the pun! Ron apologized, but I felt that it is something we work on, so Darrin is obligated to defend it. When I asked Darrin later, he felt the same. He said, “Shihan, protecting yourself from everything is what this is all about”. “I don’t want to depend on rules to protect me.” Attitude reflects leadership.

    You have to come back strong after the fighting to keep people’s attention. I had the right combination. The one, two, punch of Masters; Clyde Stanley and Joe Laney. Master Stanley and Trish flew in the night before from Minden Louisiana . Clyde is a “masters- master” in ground fighting. His Half Circle Ju-jitsu and Isshin-ryu combination, is a street fighters dream. Clyde got and held everyone’s interest. His students are a model of his leadership and I always hope he rubs off on me and my students also, Attitude reflects leadership. Also thank you Master Stanley for the “LIVING LEGEND AWARD”. I am always humbled by recognition of my peers.

    Physically, there is no difference in throwing a knee strike or a front kick except for the distance and circumstances involved. Generally I’d rather get hit by a knee than a kick. This is unless Joe is throwing it. He demonstrated among other techniques a pile driving knee strike that should become his trade mark. Joe appeals to people who train for realism and his students reflect it. There are some dojo’s, that when you get in with their students, you should know that it is going to be turned up a notch. Joe’s is definitely one of those. Attitude reflects leadership. I wouldn’t hesitate to place my students under Joe’s leadership.

    After all the twisting of limbs, and busting of major organs practice, compliments of Laney and Stanley (the Bruise Brothers), it was time for a change of pace. Master Wayne Wayland (possibly the wildest animal in the forest), gave us a detailed lecture on tournament kata presentation. Master Wayland is a perfect combination of the old and new school. He brings both, equally well, to the table and does an excellent job. Wayne is a valuable person to have around younger students, as he is a true believer in the code of Isshin-ryu conduct, and loyalty. Without that, our dojo’s are just another sweat shop. Wayne has been around, and gave we who spend most of out time in our own area’s, a look at the judging concepts around the country. Wayne ’s web site (http://www.bohans-family.com) is the best in the country. With him at the helm it will stay that way. Thank you Master Wayne for the piece from your collection of wild boars. You pointed out its rugged individualism. Master Strong pointed out that they were also very ugly. Hope that had nothing to do with the symbolism of the gift.

    As the day wore on, we got a pick me up demo from Master David Gabbard. He entertained as well as educated. He demonstrated pressure point knock outs from the Chinto kata. He also did some additional bunkai demonstration the most reasonable and believable use of the 360 turn I’ve seen. The cross trainers just seem to have a better grasp of how things end than the fundamentalist mono trainers. That’s not a put down, just an observation I personally have made the last twelve years. David started me toward this line of thinking years back and all my mentors in between have helped me become a full fledged, card carrying, cross trained martial artist. David is putting together a new concept of his own, and I can hardly wait to steal most of it. If you haven’t seen his tape on matching you should. One would think that David has always been a fighting machine. He has not. He worked very hard to develop his skills and knowledge. He has done a lot of it by being a good thinker and listener as well. Anyone who listened to him Saturday learned something.

    The last fight session was the best, the most educational and most entertaining. One side could only kick while the other side could only punch. It gave the competitors a look at which part of their skills are best to worse. The kickers were always in a little of a disadvantage. As in a street fight they had trouble avoiding the rush and keeping the punchers off them. I don’t know how these styles that kick 70% of the time expect to realistically protect themselves. Obviously kicks alone or predominately, will not, It’s clear from the drills ,that they are going to get their a - - kicked 70% of the time.

    Earlier I made a reference to good listeners. Speaking of good listeners and harvesters of knowledge, I had the good fortune to have some key people who didn’t do a demo, or have anytime on the floor for themselves, place themselves in a support roll. These are the people who should be remembered most for their support. Either they didn’t want to demo, or time didn’t permit. Either way, they showed their friendship and support, by attending and lending fellowship and camaraderie to the gathering. Dave Park, the world’s most underrated martial artist, told his hilarious “Chicken Wing story. Sandra Strong graced the ring with her special brand of mayhem. Renshi Tony Williams and Sensei Stapleton, gave the rest a lesson or two in smart fighting. I sense that Renshi Tony is going to hang up his competition shoes after this year. It may be our last year to observe this dominant fighter. Wonder who will be the next David Gabbard/ To Tony Williams/to???? Chain of greats. Lots of good support from Sensei Jerry Lewis who has no ego just a big fighters heart. Thanks to Masters Jerry Sullivan and Snake (the legend), for assisting in the days leadership. Also thanks to Masters; Melbert Lee and William Mason These guys asked nothing for themselves and did their best to make a positive impact with the rest. They did just that…The Karate five is loaded with first class leaders and Masters. All of this is orchestrated by Master Wilson. We may never see another group like this.

    If you read the article you will see that there was little if anything to judge negatively. The students and advisors all agree that there was a conspicuous lack of support from certain sectors. Perhaps this is to be expected, but it is still disappointing. We support everyone and every body, yet we are the only event some people never support. I don't want to overshadow the supporters with complaints about non supporters. That's ungrateful. This is about a meeting, comments and questions from others. No one is obligated to go anywhere they don't want to. What is hard not to notice is we see people attend every event but ours. That is hard to explain away. All I can say is, the answer is obvious. I'll just leave it at that. I don't care to spark controversy. We'll just return to the "you don't support us, we don't support you." This is the only fair way I know to deal with a situation of this kind. Not personal just business.