Datu Dieter Knuttle's Texas Tour (what to have him teach)

[Mark Lynn]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Datu Dieter Knuttle is coming to Texas to the DFW (that Dallas Fort Worth) area on June 27-28th (Saturday and Sunday) for a 2 day seminar.

Hidden Sword Martial Arts will be hosting him for the two day seminar and we will be holding it at the Roanoke Recreation Center in Roanoke TX. We're located just 15-30 minutes north west of the DFW airport.

Dieter was coming to the USA to vacation but he has taken time out of his schedule to visit us in Texas and we are real excited to have him. I've been to several camps or seminars that Dieter has taught at and he can cover a lot of different material, he has asked for input on what to teach? So if you had the chance to work on different FMA related material what would you like to see?

I've seen Dieter teach on
Flexible weapons, ball point pen (palm stick), baseball bat defense, table top defense; and on specifically Modern Arnis related subjects, two sticks vs. one, Tapi Tapi drills, locking, striking mechanics, disarming etc. etc. Then there is the classical arnis training or influence from the Philippines and over all there is a lot to choose from.

If I'm not mistaken (although I don't have all of the info) I believe he is also heading up north for a couple of seminars, prior to his start of his vacation so he might be coming to your area if you are up north in the U.S.

So while yes I'm plugging the seminar here; I also would like to know what specific subjects do you find interesting in the self defense FMA realm that if you were going to a FMA related seminar would you like to see. Please keep it on topic in a sense that I'm not talking about combat hand gunning, BJJ ground work etc. etc.

I'll post all of the info about the seminar over in the seminar or events area

 

[Mark Lynn]

One of the moderators called me out on spamming with this thread, and if you feel I've tried to spam the board, I apologize to everyone. I admit that I wrote "So while yes I'm plugging the seminar here", I had the official seminar posting over in the events forum I didn't want the details of the seminar being the focus rather I was asking what to have him teach.

So let me rephrase this, take Dieter out of the picture completely, if you were hosting a seminar and you could pick out what the instructor would cover. What would you have the instructor do?

Seriously since this is a Modern Arnis (MA) forum, I'd like to know what Modern Arnis practitioners like to see at the seminars they attend. This of course doesn't have to be limited to only MA players, and of course anyone is free to post, but as general FMA practitioners and MA practitioners in particular what subjects in MA or the FMAs do you like to see if and when you attend a seminar?

Do you like doing double stick drills? What about two sticks vs. one, "modern" arnis (more Balintawak inspired) or the classical systems (i.e. banda banda, sunketi, ocho ocho etc. etc.), disarming, or the more diverse (or out there subjects) such as palm stick, flexible weapons and such? Do you like to get down into the nitty gritty (minute details) of a disarm or a strike or a more general over view that shows connectivity between things without the fine detail? Do you like to see more empty hand stuff, locking, or countering by removing the obstruction? What about knife work or edged weapon material?

When you look at going to a seminar what do you want to see, again speaking from the FMA players point of view?

 

[MJS]

Me personally, I enjoy the things that are practical, simple and effective. Now, let me clarify. I'm not saying that the FMAs, or Modern Arnis specifically, aren't effective. Yes, they are. However, I've gone to many seminars and camps, and literally get blown away by the endless stream of tapi tapi drills, going from one lock to the next to the next to the next, etc. Are these drills good to know? Sure, but after a while, well, for me, it gets redundant and boring, to be honest.

So, to answer your question: I've never had the chance to train with Dieter, so I think the flex weapon stuff would be pretty cool. I like the knife stuff too. Of course, let's not forget about the basics. I think that some time spent on 'super charging' so to speak, some of the basics, ie: strikes, disarms, etc, would also be beneficial.

 

[Mephisto]

I like the basics, I loathe seminars that are heavy on learning a pattern I.e. Sinawali overkill. Some basic patterns are okay but if it's not regular stuff that's part of curriculum than I don't see the point of getting too in depth learning patterns. A free flow format or something like the balintawak countering method seem like a better option.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Gentlemen

Thanks for your replies, I'm currently in the DR'S office with my wife, so I can't really reply in depth now, except to say I agree with your points. And i appreciate your input

 

[Mark Lynn]

Me personally, I enjoy the things that are practical, simple and effective. Now, let me clarify. I'm not saying that the FMAs, or Modern Arnis specifically, aren't effective. Yes, they are. However, I've gone to many seminars and camps, and literally get blown away by the endless stream of tapi tapi drills, going from one lock to the next to the next to the next, etc. Are these drills good to know? Sure, but after a while, well, for me, it gets redundant and boring, to be honest.

I know what you mean. Back in the day when GM Remy was alive at many of the camps there was a lot of variety but a lot of the same old thing. Almost as if it was filler material. The Tapi drills were fun but what was a lot funner was the stuff that was shown on the side, by one of the instructors to my training partner or to me. Back then I took a lot of notes at each seminar and at night we would tape what we covered, then we would say "hey so and so showed me this", or that, and that would lead into some great exploration of techniques and drills.

I think the Tapi drills got a lot of bad feelings about them due to there not being real detailed instruction about what you are doing in them, or a real systematized method of teaching them etc. etc. We were all left to our own interpretations etc. etc. which isn't bad per say, but it can be confusing as well.

So, to answer your question: I've never had the chance to train with Dieter, so I think the flex weapon stuff would be pretty cool. I like the knife stuff too. Of course, let's not forget about the basics. I think that some time spent on 'super charging' so to speak, some of the basics, ie: strikes, disarms, etc, would also be beneficial.

Dieter is very good at explaining the how to's, how this works, why this doesn't, etc. etc. For instance his method of the alive hand snake disarm for a #1 (high forehand feed) was very detailed, made perfect sense, easily taught, and had immediate results. It looked like everyone else's snake disarm but it wasn't. So I'm looking forward to his instruction on the basics and mechanics of the techniques.

Not sure what you mean by "super charging" but if you mean getting more power out of the stick for the block or the strike through proper body mechanics, timing etc. etc. then I agree. At a demo here in the states I held a stick for Dieter as he shredded it using the forehand strikes because of the way they chamber and then whip the stick out. At that time in 2009 I was a bit to stuck in my ways, maybe this time I'll be more open minded about learning that method of striking.

Some of my students as am I, are also wanting to cover the flexible weapons. I seen Dieter teach using a belt and one of the DAV instructors using a tee shirt, but out of the probably 30 + seminars I've been to over the years on the FMAs, I actually had the instructors teach on the subject 4 times, 2 of which I just mentioned. The other two were Abon Baet from Garimot Escrima, and Guro Hallick from the JKD kali. I know there is material out there (DVDs) but I very rarely ever see it taught.

That's the thing that gets to me really, often times at FMA seminars you only really seen the rehash of the same old same old. You'll do some double stick Sinawali drills, some single stick, maybe knife work, some empty hand, lock flows, some ground work etc. etc. but in a martial art that really lends itself to innovation, to creativity, to variation it all seems like everyone wants to stay on the same course. Which is why in the past I liked seeing instructors teach on the dulo/palm stick, flexible weapons, baseball bat defense, table top defense; or like with Abon Baet practicing knife work on uneven levels (stairs out behind the seminar room), or solo baston drills in the ocean. That was really diverse material over all, and so different from learning new kata or sort karate sparring tricks.

 

[MJS]

I know what you mean. Back in the day when GM Remy was alive at many of the camps there was a lot of variety but a lot of the same old thing. Almost as if it was filler material. The Tapi drills were fun but what was a lot funner was the stuff that was shown on the side, by one of the instructors to my training partner or to me. Back then I took a lot of notes at each seminar and at night we would tape what we covered, then we would say "hey so and so showed me this", or that, and that would lead into some great exploration of techniques and drills.

I think the Tapi drills got a lot of bad feelings about them due to there not being real detailed instruction about what you are doing in them, or a real systematized method of teaching them etc. etc. We were all left to our own interpretations etc. etc. which isn't bad per say, but it can be confusing as well.

Good points. That even happens today, the 'on the side' instruction, with some of the seminar instructors. And yes, taping and/or taking notes is key.

Dieter is very good at explaining the how to's, how this works, why this doesn't, etc. etc. For instance his method of the alive hand snake disarm for a #1 (high forehand feed) was very detailed, made perfect sense, easily taught, and had immediate results. It looked like everyone else's snake disarm but it wasn't. So I'm looking forward to his instruction on the basics and mechanics of the techniques.

Not sure what you mean by "super charging" but if you mean getting more power out of the stick for the block or the strike through proper body mechanics, timing etc. etc. then I agree. At a demo here in the states I held a stick for Dieter as he shredded it using the forehand strikes because of the way they chamber and then whip the stick out. At that time in 2009 I was a bit to stuck in my ways, maybe this time I'll be more open minded about learning that method of striking.

Some of my students as am I, are also wanting to cover the flexible weapons. I seen Dieter teach using a belt and one of the DAV instructors using a tee shirt, but out of the probably 30 + seminars I've been to over the years on the FMAs, I actually had the instructors teach on the subject 4 times, 2 of which I just mentioned. The other two were Abon Baet from Garimot Escrima, and Guro Hallick from the JKD kali. I know there is material out there (DVDs) but I very rarely ever see it taught.

That's the thing that gets to me really, often times at FMA seminars you only really seen the rehash of the same old same old. You'll do some double stick Sinawali drills, some single stick, maybe knife work, some empty hand, lock flows, some ground work etc. etc. but in a martial art that really lends itself to innovation, to creativity, to variation it all seems like everyone wants to stay on the same course. Which is why in the past I liked seeing instructors teach on the dulo/palm stick, flexible weapons, baseball bat defense, table top defense; or like with Abon Baet practicing knife work on uneven levels (stairs out behind the seminar room), or solo baston drills in the ocean. That was really diverse material over all, and so different from learning new kata or sort karate sparring tricks.

Regarding the super charging comment....yes, you hit the nail on the head, when you talked about getting more power out of a strike. But, that can also be applied to what you said about how he does his #1. A slight change to make something better or more effective. It could be something as small as a change in footwork.

As for the flex. weapon stuff....that sounds pretty cool. If that were available at a seminar I was at, I'd be all for it.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Good points. That even happens today, the 'on the side' instruction, with some of the seminar instructors. And yes, taping and/or taking notes is key.

It also happen for me last weekend.

Last weekend I went to the IMAF Winter Camp in Houston with Master Chuck Gauss, Master Ken Smith, and Master Earl Tullis. I was surprised when people (other instructors and students) were surprised that I took notes and then videoed what we covered.

In fact during one of the lunch breaks we were videoing outside and afterwards Master Chuck came up and asked what I was working on I thought "oh crap what did I do now?" I explained that we were videoing he and master Ken were covering and he goes "OK now here is the counter", and he proceeds to give me some more techniques. "This is the counter for this, this is the counter for that etc etc.

The presenters didn't want videoing during the teaching session although a professional was there to video (I guess for footage for the website) and we honored that by only taking still photos, but I don't understand why people especially instructors don't take notes and or video afterwards.

Regarding the super charging comment....yes, you hit the nail on the head, when you talked about getting more power out of a strike. But, that can also be applied to what you said about how he does his #1. A slight change to make something better or more effective. It could be something as small as a change in footwork.

Absolutely; the slight change of footwork, hip rotation, or in the case the disarm of Dieter's I mentioned, the rotation around the middle finger.

In fact at the IMAF camp Earl did a technique where he applied a #2 empty hand disarm (wrapping of the stick hand) that was right out of Dan Anderson's (the gimpy wrist take away) playbook and added a hook punch to the technique to strip the stick as the punch was being delivered. Both me and my student picked that up since his (Dan's) disarm is one of the ones I teach. Earl 's variation was cool.

As for the flex. weapon stuff....that sounds pretty cool. If that were available at a seminar I was at, I'd be all for it.

Hopefully that will be something that he covers.