After a very meaningful eight weeks I am returning to work. Although my son was born nearly a year ago, the hospital where I work required that I be employed for at least a year before taking time off for baby bonding. So from about mid-February until now, I have been spending time at home, and (hopefully) developing you all into fledging FMA’ers. In that time we have been able to grow the Saturday SAYOC class in Claremont, and start the FMA class through the City of Claremont.
Due to my schedule as a Registered Nurse however, I will once again be posting the month’s classes for your reference. For the month of April 2010 classes are as follows:
Saturday, April 17th at 8pm – Secondary Training Site Location. Please contact me for directions if you need them.
Saturday, April 24th at 9am – Mallows Park in Claremont
Sunday, April 25th at 3pm – Hemet Class
For mid-week training sessions please contact me individually. In addition, please consider visiting other SAYOC instructors if you are within range. Guro Travis Downing holds classes in Fountain Valley on Thursday nights at 8pm. Guro Steve Feng holds classes in Monrovia on Friday nights at 8pm and Guro Jon Auzenne holds classes on Sunday mornings at 10am in Burbank. Guro Joey Pena holds closed session classes during the week. For anyone interested in any of these classes please visit http://www.sayocla.com for class schedules, instructors and contact information.
One of the main tenets Guro Dan Inosanto stresses is training with other instructors, schools and systems. Early on my training I had asked him for advice in this regard and was very firm about training with other individuals. He recently recalled how individuals who formerly trained under him went on to start their own systems without acknowledging their experience at his Academy. When asked about this, Guro simply stated that “the information isn’t mine anyway, as far as I’m concerned it all comes from The Creator.” I take this sentiment to heart, and highly encourage any and all of you to study with anyone you can. In SAYOC we train as a tribe; as a family. We get better as individuals when we get better as a group. Be respectful, and keep an open mind.
Lastly, during this past week’s Tuesday night class the question about blade types and sizes was brought up. Although we discussed blades briefly, I would like to offer this assignment as “homework”. If you had to design or make a blade, based on whatever training you have had so far, what would it look like? Why? Think about all the things we have talked about, grips, positions, carry, deployment, tactics/techniques and strategies. Bring your ideas (or blades) to next class.
Sorry about my lengthy “Dear Diary” post.
Guro Joe
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