Bac Fu Do Kung Fu. Since 1969. Back in the day it was written Pai Hu Tao. Both ways it means White Tiger Kung Fu. And it means David Crook. David Crook introduced me to martial arts and, in particular, Kung Fu, in 1977. I did not spend more than eighteen months with him, but…
Year: 2019
Pedro Sauer Seminar 30 Oct 2019
The seminar was held at Higher Jiu Jitsu in Woolloomooloo PCYC, hosted by Head Coach and new black belt, John Smallios. Thanks to John and the HJJ crew for their hospitality. Thanks also to Michael Hoffman for graciously sharing with me some videos he took of the seminar, without which I would have been seriously…
John Will seminar 20 October 2019 – de la Riva Guard
The seminar was held at Rick’s Spain’s Red Boat Wing Chun Academy in Redfern. Congratulations to March D’altilia for his promotion to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt today. The belt presented to March by John himself. Why de la Riva guard? In a nutshell – as a counter to a knee cut pass. You are…
Will/Machado Terminology Clarification
Some students found the terminology of the old Will-Machado Blue to Purple Belt grading sheet confusing in class today. Part of this is due to a name change for two guards, and related sweeps, that happened over time. The guard where our opponent is kneeling, with our feet between and hooked inside their thighs, was…
Secrets
In some traditional martial arts, there are secret techniques too deadly to spar with. There may also be kata or forms, containing such techniques, which must never be shown to anyone outside the particular lineage of the dojo or kwoon. Such techniques are usually reserved for the highest student levels, those who have proven themselves…
Restringing your Gi Pants or Fight Shorts
Sick of mucking around with safety pins or pens and taking ten or fifteen minutes to do this? Get it done easily on a minute or two. All you need is pants, drawstring, a slim piece of dowel or equivalent longer than your gi pants are wide, some tape, and you can do it easily…
John Will Seminar in England; blog by Meerkatsu
The Jiu Jitsu black belt and fabulous artist Seymour Yang, known online as Meerkatsu, wrote up a seminar by John he attended in Leicester, U.K. A number of comprehensive videos are included. It is interesting to see how first time seminar attendees find John, considering he was the person who introduced me to Jiu Jitsu…
Video – a Basic Armbar from Guard
I commented (favourably!) on a video by James O’Connor who runs the “Free Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Skills And Drills” Facebook Group. His video was about the Armbar from Guard (I can only use the link, WordPress seemingly won’t allow the embed). https://www.facebook.com/james.oconnor.9081/videos/3362927973732799/?fref=nf James asked about the sequence I use to teach the armbar. I made this…
Imperfect Creations
We are imperfect creations. We are works in progress. We all make mistakes. If we accept and recognise our imperfections, we must then similarly expect and permit our fellow humans to make the occasional honest mistake. We should make pre-emptive allowances for that in our interactions with them, and forgive them, as we would ourselves,…
Grandmaster at Note-Taking
I recently put up a blog post detailing an excellent seminar I took with John Will, on the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Front Headlock. John is a fifth degree black belt, Australian Jiu Jitsu pioneer, and extraordinarily skilled coach. John commented on my blog post, on Facebook, referring to me as a “grandmaster at note-taking”. High…