My experience with the 4th Annual Danzan Ryu Jujitsu Utah Clinic

[Ceicei]

I just came back from the first day of the three-day AJJF-sanctioned Danzan Ryu Jujitsu event. I had a blast! I thoroughly enjoyed myself. :highfive:

(Friday afternoon were the black belt exams. Some day, I'd like to take a peek just to get an idea of what the exam might be like for me many years in the future.)

I showed up at 7 pm for the evening classes. There appeared to be about 50-60 people. Three classes were held simultaneously, so obviously, I had to pick. I took the "Yawara Transitions" class taught by Sensei Ted Himmah and Sensei Williams. We learned how to switch from one yawara to the next, trying to flow with it. I learned a lot here, helping to reinforce what I learned already in my regular training. (The other two classes were for upper level ranks.)

For the following second hour, the next class I took was "Filipino Energy Drills", taught by Sensei Saeed Badiei. This proved to be a very popular class and drew about half of the attendees. This class was similar to the Wing Chun "sticky hands" method.

We paired up and started out slow to build up the rhythm doing parry, parry, check, strike (punch). Once we got that going, we then varied the type of strikes. We did roundhouse punches (parry, parry, check, roundhouse punch, etc). Next we did overhead strike, downward straight punch (to groin), elbow strike, spinning backfist, knee strike, and front kick. We learned to deflect them and still keep the rhythm. Soon we switched our deflecting defenses with trapping, then to different joint locks. We still had to maintain the rhythm of give and take.

Eventually, with some of the more experienced people, they incorporated takedowns and and continued the rhythm from the ground and while getting up. During the last few minutes, we stopped our partner drills to gather in a circle. We watched some of the upper level ranked people in the middle of the circle do this rhythm with a variety of locks, holds, and throws, and even grappling chokes on the ground. It gave us an idea of the diversity that could be done without having to stop to think, basically just going with the flow. A few of us were then called up to the middle to try. (He did call me up, that was fun!) I really enjoyed this class a lot!

We bowed out and were dismissed for the night.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Fifteen classes available, three classes held simultaneously, and five training hours. Looks like the five classes I'll be doing will be Jujitsu Waza Drills (Sensei Williams), Ground Work (Sensei Badiei), Knife Disarms (Sensei Badiei), Hanbo (Professor Estes), and Ni Ju (Sensei Himmah).

I'll be back tomorrow to report what I've learned! :uhyeah:

- Ceicei

 

[Ceicei]

Ok, I'm back and feeling very sore and covered with bruises! It's been good! I took a moment to relax and lurk through the other threads before I returned to this thread to give you my report.

The "Jujitsu Waza Drills" class was very good. We had to learn how to respond to surprise attacks. We paired up. At first, we practiced four different strikes and learned how to defend against them randomly. Then one of us had to turn around. The attacker is behind us. Once we turn to face (and at that very moment we're attacked), we had to defend quickly. It gives a new meaning to the term "sucker punch"! Soon we varied strikes by switching to traps and wrist/hand/arm locks and responding to these "sucker grabs" (is there such a term?) We then added on follow up strikes and counters. This was great to deal with the flinch reflex.

"Ground Work" class was very exhausting! I was paired up with a black belt and he put quite a bit of resistance to make me work really hard. We learned several very good grappling skills! We learned different types of mounts, dismounts, and how to do some locks and chokes. At the end of this class, we were paired up with others to do randori to test our new found knowledge against each other.

The "Knife Disarms" class was my favorite for today. The strategies were apparently from Filipino arts. To begin, we learned the 12 points of knife handling (different ways of doing strikes to parts of the body). For defense, we learned the importance of the outside of forearms versus the inside of forearms (when cuts may happen to the arms and our ability to continue). We learned how to sidestep, deflect, parry, and use the jujitsu hand/wrist manipulations to disarm and use it against the attacker. We also learned how to defend when the knife-wielder follows up their knife strike with punches. We also learned a very important lesson on range, peripheral vision, and how to take advantage of what is available to us.

For most of the knife drills, I was paired up with the host of the Clinic (Sensei Robert Hodgkin). There was this brief moment that when my partner and I increased the speed of our drills, he was slightly off his defense and got struck by the knife in the forehead above the eyebrow. The other blackbelts seemed to think it was a great thing for me to do and told me I shouldn't feel too badly about it. :idunno: Sensei Hodgkin continued practicing with me anyway, just making sure his range was a bit longer and his defense quicker.

The next class, "Hanbo", easily was the most painful class. We used a short staff (about half the length of a typical staff). We learned how to use the hanbo in deflecting punches and kicks. We also learned how to use this as an extension of our arms in performing locks and taking the attackers down. The most painful part were using the hanbo in leg/ankle locks. I learned a lot here too! Pain is an excellent teacher, but we also had to learn how to apply this carefully with our partners. Again, I was paired with another black belt and he taught me much with this.

The last class, "Ni Ju", was probably the most unique for me. We learned a kata/form in how to apply pressure points while manipulating different parts of the body. There were so many targets on my body I didn't know I had and the pressure points sure taught us how to comply.

There is one more day tomorrow, but I will not be able to attend. This is the first time my husband allowed me to go to a martial arts event for an extended time and he "missed" me a lot. He also wasn't too thrilled to see the new "badges of honor" I displayed all over my body (rug burns, bruises, and scrapes). I will be feeling quite sore for a while, but this is definitely worth it and I am very happy for the opportunity to attend.

Thanks to all who went to the clinic (as instructors and partners), for I have learned much and the experience gave me an increased respect for the amazing capabilities of the human body.

- Ceicei

 

[Brian King]

What a great review! Just like being there minus the ‘badges of honor’. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.

Brian King

 

[Ceicei]

Brian,
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I realize that reviews aren't exactly the most exciting posts.

I learned something about the behavior of groups Friday and Saturday. On Friday, my practicing partner was of the same rank as me. I noticed that the students tend to gravitate towards partners of the same (or one/two rank difference) or to those from their own school. [There were quite a few different schools who went to this event, so it was a nice mix.]

On Saturday, I decided to do this differently. What I did was intentionally step back and wait on the pairing until almost everyone has already paired up. This ensured that I often would end up being paired with experienced black belts. I liked that better because the black belt partners would actually challenge me and would often give me a lot of tips along the way to make whatever we were doing much better. I really did enjoy yesterday being partnered with the black belts most of the time and learning more than just the material being taught in classes.

- Ceicei

 

[Brian King]

Ceicei wrote

“I realize that reviews aren't exactly the most exciting posts.”

I disagree Ceicei, they are posts about people doing and not just talking. I enjoy reading well written reviews (LOL even poorly written reviews) as they can explain a lot, they can tell how a group trains, they allow a person to experience a training environment through another’s eyes and perspectives. They can list things that somebody enjoyed and stuff they may not have enjoyed which can help me with future seminars. They can point out a person or organization that I may want to train with in the future that I may not have know before as well as highlight those that I may not want to train with.


Ceicei also wrote

”I learned something about the behavior of groups Friday and Saturday. On Friday, my practicing partner was of the same rank as me. I noticed that the students tend to gravitate towards partners of the same (or one/two rank difference) or to those from their own school. [There were quite a few different schools who went to this event, so it was a nice mix.]"
On Saturday, I decided to do this differently. What I did was intentionally step back and wait on the pairing until almost everyone has already paired up. This ensured that I often would end up being paired with experienced black belts. I liked that better because the black belt partners would actually challenge me and would often give me a lot of tips along the way to make whatever we were doing much better. I really did enjoy yesterday being partnered with the black belts most of the time and learning more than just the material being taught in classes.”

Wow, good for you Ceicei! So many seminar attendees seem to stand about and expect to be spoon feed information and techniques and they never see or learn many of the other lessons being taught. Next time try to notice how people of the same temperament (even if they do not know each other) seem to end up training together. Meat head trains with meat head and talker trains with talker for instance.

I enjoy the way that Systema and some other seminars seem to run. For example when the instructor demonstrates we all just stand around them almost competing for a good view. This teaches how to see and anticipate where the action is going or going to be. You also learn how to see the front even through the back by learning to study body movement and seeing the tension and density in a persons back while they are doing the work as well as where and how the opponent moves. This translates into learning how people move while you are doing the work. We change partners often allowing us to work with many different people and even choosing partners translates in learning how to do the work. We have no ranks or belts so often the only way of judging some ones experience is to observe how they move. So often when they say to switch partners it is up to you to be greedy and to right away go up to those with more experience or those that move in an unusual ways or ways you are not familiar with (we get very many people from other arts training with us) and ask to work with them. This is also a great opportunity to work with people with different body types that might not be represented in your normal classes. Hint, very large people are absolute gold during these events. During most classes and at most schools the chance to work with very big people is limited and doing so where you have an instructor near by to help your understanding if you have problems is often worth the price of admission to the seminar. I have never been sorry for the effort.

One of the other things I do at ALL seminars not just Systema ones is anytime the instructor or one of the more experienced practitioners is in anywhere near me I ask to personally feel whatever we happen to working on, even if I already have or think I have a good feeling for what we are doing. I then ask that my partner also feel it, both so that after the instructor leaves to show others we are on the same page, but also so I can carefully watch how it is done and ask any further questions. I have learned so much during these little side bars. If I have a specific question and do not get a chance to approach the instructor for a side bar I might during the next switch in partners not take a partner and instead hunt down and ask the instructor my question which often leads to the next demo and further chance to feel the work from the instructor.

Ceicei, great job on both maximizing your training time and experiences and then taking the time to share them with all of us. Thank You

Brian King

 

[Ceicei]

Brian,

Thank you so much for your feedback. You've presented some interesting insights about the behavior of people. The next time I go to a seminar, I'll pay more attention to the group dynamics and see what else I can observe from them. You're right, it pays to really be very proactive with trying to seek as much information as possible. Gotta love those black belts!!! :uhyeah:

- Ceicei

 

[terryl965]

Ceicei great review glad you had a good time

 

[Brian King]

Ceicei wrote:

“The next time I go to a seminar, I'll pay more attention to the group dynamics and see what else I can observe from them”

Very Cool Ceicei. Once you have learned to recognize some of the group dynamics don’t be afraid to play with and monkey with the dynamics a bit and see what happens. It is interesting to note how one person’s behavior even very subtle behavior can affect a whole group, a talker amongst meathead types or a meathead amongst the talkers for a basic example. Besides learning the material of the seminar you can start to learn to manipulate your own behavior to strengthen or weaken a group or team. This is handy and interesting ‘work’ during meetings at work or home, sporting events and even lines at the grocery store or other shopping/customer service opportunities.

Anyway, I enjoyed your review and look forward to reading more and hope that your well written review also encourages others to post reviews of their events as well.

Thanks again
Brian