Datu Kelly Worden Seminar- Kansas 2005

[Andrew Evans]

Please see flyer at http://hokkien.uuft.org/datuflyer.pdf

Datu Kelly S. Worden will be giving a 2-day seminar in Topeka on March 12-13, 2005. Check out his clip at http://www.kellyworden.homestead.com/TacticaltoPractical.html where he is featured on the History Channel's "Tactical to Practical."

Mr. Worden is regarded as one of the top 11 knife combative instructors in the world (Tactical Knives November 2003 issue). He is also featured in the September 2004 issue of Black Belt magazine. In addition to numerous law enforcement agencies and personnel, he is also the edged weapons instructor for the 1st Special Forces Group in Ft. Lewis, Washington.

He has produced over 20 internationally acclaimed instructional videos and has written numerous articles on reality based self-defense and weapons training. He was also proclaimed as the senoir blademaster of Modern Arnis by the late Professor Remy Presas.

Special pricing as this is Mr. Worden's first seminar in Kansas!

$99 if preregistered with $30 non-refundable deposit paid by March 1st. $130 at the door.

For one day of training, it's $70 if preregistered with a $30 non-refundable deposit paid by March 1st. $90 at the door.

Please make checks out to "Martial Arts Council" and mail to:

Andrew Evans
1900 SW High Ave
Topeka KS 66604-3125

*Law Enforcement and Active Military Discount is available.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Andrew

What is the material that he will be covering, any idea? I might be away on vacation however if I'm not I'd like to check it out.

Mark

 

[Mark Lynn]

Andrew

Just so you know I checked out the flyer but my computer couldn't read all of it (it had errors or something). Send me the flyer via email or please post the info on this thread, location and such.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Andrew Evans]

Session I: Double Sticks

Session II: Single Stick

Session III: Empty Hand

Session IV: Personal Protection Knife Concepts

Location: Washburn University's Kansas Room upstairs in the Memorial Union.

Times: Saturday 10am-4pm & Sunday 9am-3pm

Mark,
The last seminar was at the Petro building on the east side of campus. The Memorial Union is more in the center of campus.
See http://www.washburn.edu/visitors/virtualtour.html# for map. You were at #23, this time you will be at #2.
Also, no problem with the extra day on sending in the deposit.
Take care,
Andrew

 

[Mark Lynn]

Thanks Andrew for the reply

I responded to your email before reading this post, no need to respond to my request with the email about the times and all.

Mark

 

[Andrew Evans]

Wow!

Datu Kelly reputation even stretches into the Midwest!

I received a bunch of last minute "check is in the mail" phone calls and I'm please to say that we are practically SOLD OUT and might have to turn people away at the door.

Folks still thinking about it better call me soon!

Modern Arnis is alive and well in the Midwest!!

 

[Mark Lynn]

Andrew

Check is in the mail, save me a place.

Mark

 

[kempomama]

Hotel Information

I recommend finding a good deal and then using mapquest. Topeka is fairly small and is on a grid system. Motels on Fairlawn and Wanamaker like Motel 6 or Holiday Inn are good are nearby.

http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.asp?MotelId=0307
http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.asp?MotelId=1195
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/foewe?WT.domain=www.holiday-inn.com&WT.vanity=topeka-westks

The closest hotel is the Capital Plaza but it's way too expensive. See http://www.jqh.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/hotels./hotid/79

Also, I think one should steer away from the motels south of 3000 SW Topeka Blvd.

 

[Guro Harold]

Hotel Information

I recommend finding a good deal and then using mapquest. Topeka is fairly small and is on a grid system. Motels on Fairlawn and Wanamaker like Motel 6 or Holiday Inn are good are nearby.

http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.asp?MotelId=0307
http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.asp?MotelId=1195
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/foewe?WT.domain=www.holiday-inn.com&WT.vanity=topeka-westks

The closest hotel is the Capital Plaza but it's way too expensive. See http://www.jqh.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/hotels./hotid/79

Also, I think one should steer away from the motels south of 3000 SW Topeka Blvd.

Hi Kempomama,

Welcome to MartialTalk and great post!!!

Palusut
MT Moderator

 

[kempomama]

Thank you Palusut. If you ever make it out to Kansas, give us a jingle. We look forward to meet more of the Modern Arnis family.

Also, I forgot to add that ""the Legendary Jerry Van Cook will be kicking it up from Oklahoma to spend some time and share his energy. Jerry is the autor of numerous 'Mack Bollen, The Executioner' series of books and also multiple books from Paladin Press on 'Real Life Self Defense,' 'Going Undercover' and so much more. Additionally Jerry is a dynamic writer for Tactical Knives Magazine, sharing insights and evaluations on more blade and tactics than most could ever imagine, great addition to the seminar."

Jerry Van Cook!!! Yeah, some of gals are fans of the Executioner series.

 

[Andrew Evans]

Ahhrrrgg! Somebody changed their website but the good news is that I have a better map.

Please see http://www.washburn.edu/visitors/maps/0405-CampusMap-71604.pdf for map.

This seminar will be at the Memorial Union, which is in the north central part of campus.

I recommend entering at campus at Jewell Ave and 17th and parking at the lot between the Bradbury Thompson Center and the Living Learning Center. From there, one can enter at the Stauffer Commons Food Court and walk up (or use elevator) to the top floor. We should have signs by that point if not before.

Thanks!

 

[Andrew Evans]

Datu Kelly Worden was awesome!! Many participants were blown away!

My students have always heard me say that Datu Kelly is one of the best martial artists of our time. I've been lucky enough to attend a few of his seminars and camps and it was great to have my students experience Datu Kelly firsthand, up-close and impersonal.

A couple of times in the middle of the seminar, I had students come up to me and whisper, "You're right! This guy is spooky... Nobody moves like that." Datu Kelly’s skills are amazing. If you haven't experienced his skills firsthand, you gotta see him. For those who already have, you know what I mean.

As for his teaching abilities, he's also awesome in that department. He material is complex yet easy to comprehend. He built up the topics with the precision of a mathematics professor- adding one or two variations as we went along. He also kept tying things together. A special treat was at the end where he showed us how everything related back to the beginning.

Thank you for Datu Kelly for making it out here. Not only did he teach me about specific skills and concepts, but he also showed me how to be a martial artist on the inside. Great personality, wonderful (and sometimes wild) sense of humor and overall great guy! :rofl:

I really appreciated other NSI folks like Bud and Cody from Wichita and Dr. Jim from Illinois rolling into Topeka.

Thankfully, many law enforcement, knifers, and other FMA practitioners in the Midwest area also experienced Datu Kelly for the first time. Mark Lynn flew in from Texas. Kenpotex drove up from Springfield, Mo. Guro Big Mike and David rolled in from Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo. Thank you everyone! Your support helped to make this a highly successful event.

Thanks to Sheryl Baber Evans for keeping things rockin' and rollin' and young Forrest for allowing his parents to ignore him for the weekend. Tony and Becky Hunter also helped a lot with organizing and keeping things running smooth. Aaron Burniston provided a lot of AV help/support and helped haul stuff around.

Special thank you to our students and the Martial Arts Council (I can never thank them enough!).

Take care,
Andrew

 

[Mark Lynn]

I'll second Andrew's post.

Andrew was a good host for the seminar, as he was when he had Dr. Remy Jr. and Dr. Matias out there last summer. He provided lots of bottled water and some snacks for the attendees.

Most of all though he provided his students the chance to see another great teacher and instructor.

I enjoyed Datu Worden's presentation of the material he covered. And once again got to see someone else in the Modern Arnis world who has taken what they learned from the Professor and expanded on it, and made it their own. His last demonstration of the empty hand and stick demos still has me thinking.

Mark

 

[Andrew Evans]

His last demonstration of the empty hand and stick demos still has me thinking.

I'm still thinking about that. Sheryl and I worked on more last night.

Anyway, I wanted to thank Mark Lynn for his help. We had a big group with some law enforcement who are not experienced with Modern Arnis. Mark did a great service by assisting a couple of them with the material while Sheryl and I worked our sections of the room.

Newer practitioners take note...
During a seminar, some many concepts are covered that nobody can possibly remember those. (Datu Kelly Worden's seminars are super intense.) Every chance Mark got, he took notes. Last year I asked Mark a question about a GM Remy Presas camp back in 2000. I didn't expect him to remember but you know what he said... "Let me check my notes."

Folks, if you ever meet Mark, pay close attention to him. You will learn a lot. Thanks to his example, I had acquired the habit of carrying a pen and a notepad to seminars. (Thus I also have years of notes and you will too.)

Take care,
Andrew

 

[Mark Lynn]

Andrew

Thank you for the kind words.

I just got done typing my notes last week for the seminar, in fact I just ran across my notes from the seminar I went to with GM Max Pallen (I had misplaced them) at Dean Golade's school.

Funny thing was that after six months I couldn't remember much of the drills and such. I mean I had drawings and notes but some parts are vauge in my memory now. However after the seminar on my way back to my inlaws (to spend the night) I would stop by a resturant and eat and expand my notes for the day recalling the material covered and filling in the gaps. Normally I do this with my laptop in the hotel room after the seminar but this time I just had my tablet of paper. As I was working on them today I was pretty disapointed in the notes when I came across the more detailed stuff that I wrote at the resturant. I lucked out that I did that cause otherwise I'd have missed alot of good stuff.

Although I still can't describe Datu Worden's Anyo break down.
Mark

 

[Andrew Evans]

Although I still can't describe Datu Worden's Anyo break down.

It took me a while to understand it at first. Your discussion with me about your Tapi-Tapi presentation last May helped unlock lots of secrets and I believe the same concepts can be found in the anyos- it's all about dynamic movement and a buttload of self-defense applications. In my opinion, the forms have more to offer.

What helped Sheryl and myself was to take turns doing the anyo while the other is the uke. The possibilities are endless. Just free your mind and the rest will follow. So would the uke or what's left...

All I can say about Datu Kelly Worden is that I'm glad that he has DVDs. While I appreciate the contribution of folks who only have written material available, dynamic motion like Datu Kelly's can never be fully documented by words alone. You need to see the motion- nobody moves like that. (While the DVDs are excellent, nothing beats being there live and in color.)

Thank goodness we can piece together that motion with our notes as a reference point or at least try to (I'm getting some of it). Too bad there's no way I can get some of that Datu Kelly Worden magic to rub off on me...

Regards,
Andrew

 

[Mark Lynn]

Andew

What I liked (or what impressed me) about Datu Worden's material and such was that he applied what he learned from the professor (and others) and blended it together and made it his own in a sense.

The material he showed wasn't vastly different from other instructors in the FMA I've seen. However his applying the concepts/strikes/techniques to the staff/spear was. And like I mentioned his way of interpertating the anyos was something different as well. (I know I hadn't seen others in the Modern Arnis family apply it this way, not that others haven't I just haven't seen it.)

I could see the Professor's material in what Datu Worden presented, I could also see Guro Inosanto's ( and the other instructos he named) as well. And it all fit together. However when someone expands what they have been taught and goes to apply it in other areas of the system(s) by combining things than to me that shows they have really thought it out (internalized it so to speak).

Movement, body cordination, and such is important (and Datu Worden had great mechnaical skills in this area) but it is a trained attribute. However with an auto accident, age, illness etc. etc. you might not have that skill anymore. Professor in his later years didn't have the movement he had before but he had the knowledge that this flows into that, this is the same as that, this is a trap, this is a throw, he made his art different from his teachers. Datu Worden is doing the same.

Let me know when you are bringing Dr. Remy in.

Mark

 

[Andrew Evans]

About his accident…

I have been an admirer of Datu Kelly Worden for many years. Before I met him in person a couple of years ago, my primary means of accessing his material was through his Paladin Press videos. Good stuff!

Yes, an auto accident often takes a lot out of someone but not Datu Kelly. As many of us in Topeka saw, the man can still rock the world.

First of all, Datu Kelly is a big man with lots of power. His earlier tapes showed how he used the size and strength. There was even some stuff I disagreed with. The problem with power-oriented concepts is that there will always be someone bigger and stronger. Thus I'm not going to use certain moves on a significantly bigger person.

Anyway, after his accident back in 1997 or 1998? his material took on a higher level. Datu Kelly fights like a small man in a large man's body and he does it very well. Thankfully, he still takes things balls to the wall. The good news for us is that his material works even when used by a smaller person to fight a bigger person.

One does not need to power through everything. Being older and wiser makes us use more technique. Thus in my opinion, the accident helped him.

Now for the current new and improved Datu Kelly Worden, check out his Filipino Bridging Hands DVDs. See http://kellyworden.com/Products.html (By the way, his older stuff is still ahead of the game.)

Take care,
Andrew