This letter is in response to the letters of the Topica FMA group. But it is probably best to get things out in the open now. So I will also be posting on FMATalk and Martial Talk.
2011 will be the tenth year anniversary of Professor Presas' passing. To honor our teacher's memory, I have decided to host a reunion camp. This is to show that the community can put aside our differences for a couple of days to do the right thing. I have invited eleven people to teach with me on this event. I have been answered by all but one person. The people who have accepted the invitation are as follows, in alphabetical order:
Dan Anderson MA 80
Bram Frank CSSD
Chuck Gauss IMAF
Tim Hartman WMAA
Dieter Knuttel DAV
Rick Manglinong IPMAF and WMAA
Rich Parsons Independent
Kelly Worden NSI
Brian Zawilinski IMAF
The two people who have declined are:
Jeff Delany IMAF JD
Remy Jr. MARPIO
I am currently waiting for the reply of the last person. I will not announce their name, as I do not want to put undue pressure on the party. At this time, I have no intention of adding to the instructor list. This does not mean that additional instructors won't be added at some point in the future. Our instructors are primarily US based instructors. The reason for that being the US is where most of the political nonsense occurred and this is an opportunity to smooth over the rough patches.
In the case of the IMAF, I decided to invite only two of their instructors to teach. The reason for this is quite simple....I didn't want any organization to have an overwhelming presence on the teaching staff. This does not mean that I am excluding them from the event. On the contrary, I would love to have all of the members in attendance. But the problem I run into is finances. With the current state of the global economy, I had to make some tough decisions on who to invite to teach at the event. If I was independently wealthy, I would invite everybody and foot the entire bill myself. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The only other question that needs to be addressed is "Who is welcome?" My invitation is meant for the entire martial arts community, in particular all past and present modern arnis practitioners. I have asked instructors to put aside their personal differences for this weekend. They have agreed to teach, with and for, whomever shows up. This includes myself. There are people here in Buffalo that I do not get along with that I will not exclude from my event. However, I am not going to engage in any of the negativity of the past. Some wounds are too deep and may never heal.
If you are interested in attending in the spirit of the event, we look forward to seeing you there. However, if it is your intent to bring up old topics, don't waste your, or anyone else's time.
