ARTICLES AND COMMENTARY

 

A HAROLD LONG WEEKEND

    The family of Harold Long, along with Joe Laney and the Harold Long foundation, sponsored and conducted, the second annual Harold Long open house and tournament, in honor of his memory. The open house was on Friday night at the offices of the Harold Long Realty Co. It was attended by the family, students and friends of Mr. Long. As last year, it was a time to reminisce with old and new friends, about our departed leader. Master Wayne Wayland set up a slide show of Mr. Long, to include family and students. It was amusing and depressing to see that we have all changed a bit. Like the tournament, it will become an annual event and one I’ll never get tired of attending.

 

    The tournament was a complete success. I have not been to a better organized (thanks to Joe and Debbie Laney) and officiated tournament in years, if ever. I would never want to give a tournament because if done right, it is a lot of work. Reese and I went up Thursday night to attend the HLF board meeting and give Joe and Debbie a hand with the tournament set up. Our work contribution was nothing compared to what had already been done. Debbie’s dinning room table was piled high with signs and sign up forms. The Dragon Jam is max out to me. Joe and I talked about some different events next year. Perhaps, some Pankration, grappling, team, or combinations there of. It will also be moved to the fall to give some wiggle room to Kelly’s tournament. His is a tradition and needs to stay around. It will not be the same crowd, same verse. We want to juice it up.

 

    We had a brief rules meeting prior to the tournament. Master Laney went over the rules, followed by Master Wayland emphasizing what he expected in kata scoring. I then went over what techniques would not be called a point and a brief reminder on how to judge the kumite. We also made it crystal clear that no spectators could be on the floor at any time. There were no problems and the visibility for all was perfect. We did allow them on the floor for the black belt finals.

 

    With the help of the other masters, the floor was kept clear and judges were shuffled in and out. I cautioned the judges ahead of time that if they were having a bad day, I would replace them or correct them. I replaced only one set of judges, reprimanded another group for a very questionable call, and got on one judge to move faster and watch low scoring. He crouched down, really hustled and was the best judge in the ring. No one, and I mean no one, was offended. It was the goal of the day to have the fairest and best judging for everyone (kids to black belt finals), we could possibly give. We assembled a group of center leaders and let them pick their own judges. We had not one complaint and lots of justifiable praise for the officials. Credit should go to all the judges but the center guys, Wayne Wayland, Kelly Markum, Tony Williams, Jerry Sullivan, Wayne Honeycutt, Cas Cox, Bob Porterfield, and Doyle Seiber kept everyone in position and focused. If I left anyone out I apologize, as I am going from memory. Big kudos to Masters; Tony Williams, Wayne Wayland, Chris Spruill, and Master Laney who handled all continuous matches, to include the grands, flawlessly.

 

    My special thanks to Master Wayne Wayland who with a very busy schedule came and gave his usual 110% effort and leadership. I hope everyone can support his Bohan/Neimira Memorial tournament June 26^th and 27^th. See details on his site; www.chinto.com

 

   There has been a change in plans for Tony Williams Tournament. It has been moved to June 14^th.

   In between the above two, don’t miss the Kelly’s Hero’s tournament in Rogersville Tn. April 26^th. 

 

    A well deserved congratulations to Leon Scott who won the grand champion trophies for kata and continuous (full contact) kumite. He had to beat a fierce comeback charge from Austin McAdams who had to wait on a second wind after a fierce match with Woody Woods. Woody and Austin barely escaped the fired up young dragons, Rahyel Wiley and Eli Rhodes. Darrin Motes finished a close second to Leon in the black belt, point heavy weight and was a dojo favorite to win the continuous grand. He was under the weather before the tournament and was able to get all the way to the warm up for continuous before I pulled him out. I took one look at him and I said no. He was too sick to argue. The dragons swept the black belt kata and continuous kumite by finishing first through forth in all divisions. In fact, the dragons did not lose a match to any one else, other than each other, in the continuous. Forgive me for bragging so much on them, but I think they deserve it for their accomplishments. They trained hard for this one, to include 440 yard sprint intervals. They also banged each other so hard the Tuesday night before the tournament, I had Jason Anzur(my right arm) hold only an hour class the next Thursday. They had a lot of healing up to do before Saturday. I put, at her request, my 13 year old girl Alicia(Sis) MacDougal, in the women’s continuous. She lost by a point to the champion but finished a very strong third. Had she not had plenty of experience in our dojo fighting adults, and knowing that the officiating was strong, I wouldn’t have considered it. In all we won 26 trophies.

 

 

    Unfortunately in the point contest, the Dragons couldn’t solve the crafty Chuck Reynolds, who won the point grand championship. Were it not for a nasty leg injury during the point matches, he would have had his say in the continuous competition also. Sensei Reynolds, his students and spectators, were a big plus for the tournament. His spectators are very knowledgeable and respectful. I let them kiddingly give it to me a bit, while I was center ref. It was that kind of friendly environment and the camaraderie was excellent. Of course, Cas Cox and Robert Porterfield were also enjoying needling me between rounds. Some things never change.

 

     It should also be mentioned that the female performance of the day was turned in by Lacey Ketchmark of Lebanon. She was a double grand champion winner. She is another in the series of wonder-kids that are fighting in the adult division. I know there are age rules but she is like my Austin and Sis; the exception to the rules. You also have to ask yourself; If I teach my kids to defend themselves, is it only other kids that they can defend themselves from? I think common logic tells you that their greatest challenge is going to come with defending themselves against an adult. Adults pose their greatest danger in the street. So why not condition them in a controlled situation like the dojo or tournament ring. What are tournaments really good for other than advanced training for your students anyhow?
 

    It was a rare privilege to be a part of a promotion consortium to promote Master Cas Cox.He was given a Hachi Dan certificate signed by Master Joe Laney, Master Wayne Wayland and myself. It was an honor and a humbling experience at the same time. Cas was reluctant at first as he is not a “rank” kind of guy. He frankly could care less about rank. Lots of people say that, but few really feel that way. Cas is senior to all three of us in reality as well as many of the higher ranking dans, but has been doing his training in various dojo’s and at his home. He became discouraged by all the power struggles that went on after Mr. Long’s death and separated himself by training with just he and his son, Jason. Cas impressed me the most with Isshin-ryu, when I saw him win the S.E. championship in Chattanooga . That was when I ask Mr. Long to take me on as a student. Cas was my first sensei. When we visited the dojo for instruction, it was Cas who taught me all the kata and how to take a round house to the head. Cas was the Fonz of the dojo. Everyone wanted to be Cas and wanted him to like them. He is, still my official/unofficial sensei. Basically we wanted to bring Cas closer to his rightful rank with hopes that we can acquire a ninth dan for him in the future. I also reminded Cas that unless he get promotions, his students will have a lower ceiling, as you can promote no higher than the ranks below you. It keeps you from having to rely on anyone else to pass judgment on your students for promotion sake. It was a great idea by Master Joe, to give Cas this promotion. Wayne and I were lucky to be a part of it.

 

    In closing, I ask you to further consider the merits of the Harold Long Foundation. Getting this worthwhile cause off the ground has been a little harder than it should be. We have had a lot of verbal but little financial help from the Isshin-ryu community. I don’t know exactly why, because I know how generous you all are and how much the preserving of Mr. Long’s memory appeals to everyone. I do surmise that there are people who want Mr. Long’s memory assigned to just them. Or those who are taking far more credit than their accomplishments since his death are showing. I also surmise there is some, back fence jaw boning, over where the money goes and to who. All I can tell you is one, his family wants to be the care takers of this part of his memory. They have tried to share and distribute the credit but have been told by people that they were too busy. Perhaps they are. So why are people not contributing. It is 25.00 dollars. Is that really too much. Even if it were a complete scam (and it damn sure isn’t) you wouldn’t exactly be losing a fortune. I’m on that board and I participate in where that money goes. It goes to the perpetuation of Mr. Longs memory. . . period. I can tell you where some of it was wasted. It was wasted on food and drink for the Harold Long open house, as many did not RSVP as the invitation requested. I suppose there is some apathy and some cynicism, they often go hand and hand. Maybe people don’t care, or are still holding on to grudges that are stronger than benevolence. I don’t know and I’m at the point of not caring.We may be hoping for help from places where we are not going to get it. On the other hand, we are not out on the street with our hats in our hands, as we have sent a couple of people their money back. We’ve had enough of their riding the name of Harold Long like a dung bug. His family doesn’t want it, the board doesn’t want it and the good people who have given of their support don’t want it. Irrespective of old wounds, old fools, self promoters, or errors in judgment Mr. Long made; we and whom ever wants to join us, are going to insure the legacy of Harold Long. I personally am willing to take some bold steps to do it.

 

A few additional pictures from the day;