ARTICLES AND COMMENTARY

 

THE STEEL HAND JAM

(See other pics below)

 

   Neither snow, nor sleet, nor rain, nor extreme physical exertion, could stop this group of training warriors. The best cross training workout to date took place at Joe Laney’s Steel Hand Dojo, Saturday (January 19, 2008). Joe has a great place to train and he has developed a fine program there with excellent students. He had everything ready and standing tall for the occasion. Our thanks to Joe, Debbie and their students for a first class job of hosting. He is a hard working master with lots of knowledge and teaching ability to match. His students are very fortunate to have him as their sensei.

   We had assembled there, the best combination of instructors and participants I have ever been in the company of. I take great pride in my own yearly Dragon Jam but the continuing education that is taking place in these quarterly sessions, is making some of the Dragon Jam obsolete. This is a good thing, as it is indicative of how everyone is improving and taking advantage of the information at hand. One of the improvements is the conscious effort to cut back on just show and tell, to show and do; in other words, fancy demos have given way to teaching. No one wants to drive all day to hear the story of someone’s life. It is also a good idea to be a working master. Uke’s are in short supply, so you may have to get real.

   We trained on Chinto kata bunkai, demonstrated flawlessly by Master Cass Cox. His Chinto was personally taught to him by Master Shimabuku on his visit to Knoxville in 1966. Cass invited others to add some bunkai of their own, which we did.
 

 

   Master Rick Honeycutt demonstrated and drilled us on seize and control techniques that he has uses in his work as a cop. These things have had the street test many times over. We were going to call him back for choke out demo’s, but time didn’t permit. Definitely next time.

   Masters; Joe Laney, Butch Hill, James Ogle, and Pete Mills trained everyone in a variety of ground fighting as four groups rotated the room. Master Spruiell was the rover so as to utilize him in every ring. The participants further increased their training value by working with people from other dojo’s. We all discussed different points of view and found knowledge in each person’s philosophy. Each of the masters worked as hard or harder than the students.

   Next came the Pankration fighting, with the officiating and rules mostly being done by Butch and James. It was aggressive, clean, defense revealing, and injury free. At some point you are almost too tired to hurt anyone. I said almost. The guys and gals did a great job with their sportsmanship and training attitudes. It could have gotten ugly any time someone had wanted it too. But then Butch and James may have jumped ugly and no one wanted to risk that. During the matches the other masters were either coaching from the side lines or verbally coaching people standing close to them. Masters Dave (bad chicken wing) Park and Tony Williams, were mostly participating; so their coaching was limited to their groups and partners. Even Jerry Lewis on crutches got so in to it, I had to talk over him from twenty feet away. It was that kind of day and group.
 

   It was also great to have Master Bob Porterfield join the group. He looked great and was a sight for sore eyes for me personally. So was the case with Master Glenn Webb. It gave a flavor along with the new things learned as a reminder that Isshin-ryu is still the base. And these guys were some of the ones that put it on the map to stay.  Their presence and support was noted by all. I hope some of the other Isshin-ryu pioneers begin to support the new directions. Just their presence is reassuring.

   Joe then came back and taught some striking drills. He demonstrated and led some drills to improve your punch, elbow, and knee strike combo’s. Good drills like this are critical to improvement. Joe's background in law enforcement and chasing bail jumpers has given him street knowledge. this is invaluable when it comes to cutting to the chase and teaching the real thing.

    I led in some punch out, and punching combination drills. We then did some boxing work. I then did an exhibition round with a hard working, aggressive young man, so everyone could critique our footwork and combinations. It was a good learning experience for me as well. 

 

 From there it was kick boxing. It was continuous, up close and personal. Again, no injuries and even some laughs. Maybe it is strange humor to the outside world, but it is our kind of humor. All who participated looked sharp and convincing. I was proud of the spirit everyone showed. We also went to first takedown and control wins. It makes it hard in boxing gloves but it further demonstrated the additional skill the people are acquiring from these sessions and hard dojo training.

At three o’clock, we all tapped out and started for home. It was as I said, the best day yet. Reese and I were lucky enough to be the house guest of Debbie and Joe. It was the perfect place to relax and EAT. One thing we guys have in common; we have found women that can cook. Debbie is no exception. And that guest bed forgave all my ills and spills. Thank you Laney’s for a great weekend.

I am convinced that point tournaments have seen their better days for adults. They are still in the best interest for the kids, for now. These training/friendly competition days like we just had, are a thing of the future. We will need them to inspire our students and keep up with the interest of the times. For adults, karate doesn’t interest them anymore. But say MMA, or grappling. and they are very interested. If we are smart, we can get ahead of the power curve and take advantage of that interest, rather than let it make us obsolete. You can teach Isshin-ryu as the mother of all disciplines if you will study it from that stand point. We (Dragons) have, (Dragon Sen-I Jutsu) and it has literally rescued what was beginning to be repetitious disinterest. Now it is a bottomless pit of information. Perhaps it always was and I am not savvy enough to know it. But, I have discovered it in my own way and what is wrong with that, if it works!!! I still maintain that everyone should do what they enjoy and teach what they enjoy teaching, as long as the people you are teaching enjoying it, or you have people to teach. We need people who protect the tradition and we need people who push the envelope. We need each other. That is why we call our sessions cross training. It is open to all with a message or an idea.

 

 Thanks to those of you who gave your ten dollars to the Harold Long Foundation. Unfortunately some did not. It was announced twice ahead of time that days cost was ten dollars and it would be handled as a donation. It was not an option any more than tournament entry fees are. The fact that we would pay 75.00 to 150.00 dollars for the same information at someone’s seminar makes ten dollars pretty paltry. If you forgot to pay, you owe ten dollars; payable to the Harold Long Foundation and mailed to Joe Laney’s dojo, 5001 Chapman Hwy, Knoxville, Tn. 37920.

Thanks to Gary Long for visiting and explaining the HLF mission and purpose. I think it is plain to all, that we are using this vehicle to perpetuate the memory of the man, who is the reason so many of us are here. Others have helped along the way but in America, he is the original. Please see the web site for information and details at www.haroldlongfoundation.org