FCS Gathering

[Cthulhu]

Alright, I'll be off to Tampa tonight for the Gathering. Anyone know what's in store? I gather there will be kerambit work, obviously knife and stick work, and demos from Systema and Kenpo people?

Cthulhu
see some of you there!

 

[Cthulhu]

First day of the Gathering was a blast. As usual, everyone was incredibly nice, particularly the ones beating the crap out of me. Got to meet a few of our board members, which was very cool. LOTS of kerambit work. Demos by Maurice (try to get his last name later), Ron Boswell, Sonny Puzikas, and Rick DeAguila. Some single stick work and lots of playing. Palusut got to bang me up a bit

I'll do a better review when I get back home. I'm still a wee bit banged up, and I've got a whole other day of it today.

Cthulhu

 

[Cthulhu]

Second day was also a blast! Stick work, mainly working on transitions. Demo before the break by Eric Porshen (sp?), giving an impressive demonstration of Bo Sayoc's pain compliance techniques with a stick. After the break, Rick DeAguila gave a very interesting demostration with a short stick and Sonny Puzikas gave an eye-opening demo on bodyguard/protective services work, as well as showing us many deadly (and lovely) toys. Rest of the day was spent on knife, kerambit, and sikal work, followed by awarding of certificates, promotions (congrats Palusut, one of FCS's newest full instructor!), and photos.

Again, more complete review is planned when I get home. Got to get back to the Superbowl!

Cthulhu

 

[Cthulhu]

Before I get started, I'll apologize for any misspelled names right off the bat.

This past weekend, 1/25-1/26, Guro Ray Dionaldo held the first FCS Family Gathering of 2003, once again hosted at Rick DeAguila's Hapkido school in Clearwater, FL.

The turnout seemed to be much bigger than my last Gathering in March 2002, with 25-30 participants present when I arrived on Saturday afternoon. As usual, many travelled quite some ways to get there, Palusut coming from NC, Mr. Ron Boswell from UT, and a group up from Puerto Rico. And as usual, the atmosphere was more of a family reunion than a seminar as people met for the first time or got reacquainted with friends from the last gathering.

In a departure from Ray's traditional "what do you guys wanna do?" approach, he actually had a plan for the gathering. After the formal bow/salutation, we got started with kerambit work. Basics were covered very quickly before moving on to more complicated material. Though some of the concepts and techniques were somewhat complicated, the training progression was very smooth and clear, broken down so that each movement taught flowed into the next, both giving time for everybody to get up to speed and allowing others to move ahead and create on their own. Many thanks to arnisandyz for the kerambit he gave me. Even though many of the techniques could be accomplished with a small blade in pakal grip, the feel of the kerambit was much better.

After much kerambit work there was a series of demonstrations. Marrese Crump gave a very good demonstration that would have appealed to MMA-ists and any who crosstrain in the arts, providing a means of organizing all the skills and techniques learned in your various arts so that they flow naturally in a self-defense situation. Ron Boswell, a kenpo stylist who came down all the way from Utah, gave an impressive display of his interpretation of American Kenpo, breaking down some of the most basic motions to demonstrate how both power and speed can be generated. For a big guy, he moves freakishly fast! Sonny Puzikas gave a demonstration of Huc Chung Kuntao, explaining some of their footwork and body movement in relation to strikes, as well as effectively demonstrating how brutally effective the motions are in one of the more 'innocent' looking forms. Finally, Rick DeAguila gave us a demonstration of cane techniques, showing us how he's successfully merged the hapkido techniques with FMA concepts. Do not ask him to 'check your oil'. Trust me, you won't like it.

A short break followed the demos, and we started back up with single stick work. Transitions and switches are a big part of FCS stickwork, and we worked on them for quite a bit, utilizing them in break-in/break-out and tapi-tapi drills. During one of the technique explanations, Ray's Red Bull kicked in and he went into a blistering display of stickwork, explaining and showing his Sayoc Kail, Modern Arnis, and Pekiti-tirsia influences, while tossing his demonstration partner around like a rag doll. Once we figured out what he was originally trying to demonstrate, we went back to stick work for a while longer.

Eventually (two hours after the seminar was supposed to end ), we ended for the day, but not before boardmember Palusut got to bang me around for a bit. I got to meet quite a few MartialTalk members that day, which was icing on the cake. While others went out for dinner or partying, I went back to rest my sore body.

Day two started as a continuation of the stickwork covered the previous night, again working transitions and switches, moving between largo, medio, corto, and 'corto-corto' while incorporating switches. Before we broke for lunch, Eric Porschen gave an impressive demonstration of locks and pain compliance with a stick. As usual, everyone enjoyed watching Rico being tossed around and tapping out. After a big lunch, Rick DeAguila gave a demonstration of a short stick, similar to the yawara, but with a lanyard attached, showing similarities between the short stick work and FMA knife techniques. This was followed by another demo by Sonny Puzikas, this time going over bodyguard/protective services concepts and drills, as well as showing off some wicked 'toys'. The rest of the day covered knife work, more kerambit work, sikal, and combinations of the three, with the usual flowing training progression. At the end of the day, promotion announcements were made, and as I've posted earlier, Palusut was made a full instructor of Guro Dionaldo's system, representing FCS in North Carolina. Congratulations!

There was a lot of merchandise on sale at this Gathering. The usual shirts, as well as Ray's training blades. Palusut had the FCS kerambit video for sale. If just a little bit of what was covered at the Gathering is on the video, then I highly recommend it (I'm waiting for the DVD)! Sonny Puzikas also had a wide array of videos for sale, as well as some nice...er...letter openers.

There were lots of cameras at the Gathering, so hopefully some photos of videos will pop up. Again, the atmosphere at the Gathering was casual and friendly, which was remarked upon by Mr. Boswell, who was made welcome by all who attended. There are also other big events in the works, but I'll leave those for others to mention.

I'm sure I made many mistakes and omissions, but I'm sure someone can correct them as they're discovered

I had a blast and hope I can make it to the next Gathering!

Cthulhu
ps Al, you were missed by all and everyone hopes for continued improvement.
pss Al, I can never complain about being beat up by you again. I got beat up by Mike!

 

[Guro Harold]

Hi Cthulhu,

It was great finally meeting and training with you!

The un-official attendance was about 50 people. It was the largest FCS Gathering of record!!!

More news to follow, just got in from trip.

Palusut

 

[Cthulhu]

Good to hear you NC guys got back alright!

If you see any mistakes or anything I left out, feel free to pipe up!

Cthulhu