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REVIEW OF SAYOC KALI SEMINAR IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 23-24, 2004)

On October 23-24, Stockholm Blade Arts had the great pleasure to host another Sayoc Kali seminar with Guro Steve Lefebvre (Sayoc Kali Kayan Dalawa Guro). It was Guro Steve’s second public seminar in Sweden and this one was even more crowded than the last. There were quite a few new faces in the crowd and several of the people who attended the last seminar here had also returned to learn more about Sayoc Kali – The Art of the Blade.

Friday 22/10

Guro Steve arrived in a cloudy Sweden at noon on Friday before the seminar. For some strange reason – probably because of his extensive ninja training – this man never seems to get jet-lagged, so we decided to do some private training as soon as Guro Krishna Godhania (from England) and Arunas Rudis (from Lithuania) turned up. While we were waiting at the airport for their flights to arrive, we had time for a few cups of coffee while Guro Steve updated us on the latest news, events and stories from the Sayoc Kali headquarters.

After checking everybody in at the hotel and having something to eat, we then went straight to the school for some private training. We stayed there for a couple of hours and managed to cover quite a lot of ground in that time. To get a taste of what would happen at the seminar, we started out with the basic #3 of 9 Tapping drill and were then introduced to a number of variations on this drill, e.g. with tighter attacks and more intent, with broken rhythm, with added elements of stress and/or withering physical condition, and in low light/no light conditions (with Guro Steve throwing glow sticks at us!). Before we called it a day, we had also gone through Transition Drill 1, some basic stick grappling and Japanese hanbo techniques, and some of the Sayoc Kali “Phase 2” material.

Saturday 23/10

The actual seminar started on Saturday morning at 10 AM. Around 30 Swedish martial artists had come to our school for this two-day event. Several of the guys from Lameco Eskrima Sweden and our Sayoc Kali training group showed up at the seminar, but there were also a number of visitors from other schools and arts, e.g. Krav maga, Kali Sikaran, Shootfighting, Ashihara Karate, Muay Thai and Jiu-jitsu.

The seminar attendees were first introduced to the #3 of 9 Vital Template and the #3 of 9 Tapping drill. When they had learnt the basic tapping pretty well, it was time to add some serious stress to this drill. Like we did the night before, we now went through a number of training variations on #3 of 9, e.g. with added elements of stress and distraction, drilling against a wall, on the ground, with footwork, with broken rhythm and with projectile releases. Before lunch break we also had time for a session on stick grappling (i.e. grappling, takedowns, locks and chokes with the stick) – great stuff that also works very well with an expandable baton. My ribs and arms are still sore from that session, which of course is a good thing!

After lunch we continued working on the #3 of 9 Vital Template and the #3 of 9 Tapping, this time in Reverse grip (pakal). We then went through a number of different applications and takedowns for this version of the drill. Before the first seminar day was over, quite a few of us had also had the pleasure to do some knife or stick sparring with Guro Steve – who fought anyone who wanted to test their skills. It was great fun, but also a very convincing demonstration of what Guro Steve is capable of doing with the knife and the stick. Let’s say I’m glad we’re on the same team!

After a short coffee break, Guro Steve, Guro Krishna, Kenneth, Arunas and I continued training a few more hours, focusing primarily on the Receiver Grips 12 Count (which is a series of grips and grip transitions for controlling the opponent’s knife and feeding it back to him) and the Non-Linear Attacks (which is a number of very deceptive, non-linear attacks in various “S”, wave and drifting patterns). To cool down our overheated brains we then went out to eat, have some well-deserved beer and share a few good stories.

Sunday 24/10

On the second seminar day, we started by training the cross check and “corkscrew tapping” and then continued with the Transition Drill 1 Isolations, which are fighting applications with arm breaks, power-assists, takedowns etc. for the first of the Sayoc Kali Knife Transition Drills. Then it was once again time for some stress/adrenaline drills where the seminar attendees had to do the tapping/cross checking in a completely dark room, with distractions (e.g. being hit in the back with an ActionFlex stick, having glow sticks thrown at them etc.), and after having done series of squats and pushups.

To let people catch their breath and relax a little bit, there was then time for a Q & A session where Guro Steve did his best to answer our questions and tell us a little more about the Sayoc Kali system and its “Feeder-Based” methodology. Guro Krishna Godhania also did a very nice demonstration of Espada y daga (stick and dagger/knife). Before the seminar ended we also did some basic knife disarms and control grips (thumb shears) from the Palusot 7 Count drill.

After a short break, Guro Steve and the training group leaders then continued training privately for a few more hours, mainly working on the Receiver Grips and Transition Drill 4 (which is a pretty cool drill, see http://sayoc.com/vidclips/tns04.wmv ).

Monday 25/10

On Monday there was also time for some private training. Guro Krishna and Arunas had now left us, but Kenneth and I kept on working, primarily on Transition Drill 4 and the “Combat Applications” for the 6 Count Slide-Through Drill. We also did some stick work and a couple of nice reverse grip techniques from the Floro Fighting System (e.g. non-telegraphic attacks and footwork).

After the private training we took Guro Steve on a short Stockholm sightseeing (by car since the weather was pretty crappy). Later in the evening we had dinner and also had time for an interview, which probably will result in one or two magazine articles about Sayoc Kali in the near future.

To sum up, we would like to thank Guro Steve very much for an interesting, exciting and fun seminar, great private training sessions and, last but not least, a very good time when hanging around with him here in Stockholm! Guro Steve is a very talented and skilled martial artist, a good friend and a great guy! We hope that he enjoyed his time here in Stockholm and that he'd like to return for more seminars in the future. Guro Steve: So far, you haven't been very successful at offending us (even though you try very hard!!) – so we'd be more than happy to have you visit us again!!

We would also like to thank Guro Krishna Godhania (from Warrior's Eskrima in the U.K.) and Arunas Rudis (from Lithuania) for traveling all the way to Stockholm to attend the seminar and train with us. Guro Krishna and Arunas are excellent representatives of the Filipino martial arts here in Europe and they are also very nice people. I'm proud to call them my friends.

Last but not least, we’d like to thank all the other people who came to the seminar and worked very hard the whole weekend. I hope you had fun at the seminar and that you learnt a lot. I also hope that the people who hadn’t experienced Sayoc Kali before now have a better understanding of what this dynamic and highly combative blade art has to offer!

Gumagalang,

Fabian Tell
Sayoc Kali Training Group Leader
Stockholm Blade Arts
http://www.bladearts.com

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Airyu

Hello Guro Fabian!

Thank you again for the second opportunity to come out and visit you and Guro Kenneth! I'll have some of the photo's up on my webpage today or tomorrow for a quick reminder of what was going on.(except when we did the low light work...)

Gumagalang
Guro Steve L.

www.Bujinkandojo.net

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ryangruhn

Thanks for posting that review. The Syoc group is only a couple hours away from us and we have been thinking of going down and doing some group training. I am sure the experience was a great one.

Gruhn

__________________
---DURATTAN ~ "THE MOST DURABLE RATTAN STAND-IN" ---

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Airyu

Hello Ryan,

Where are you located? Which group are you planning to train with? Hopefully we will meet and train together in the near future.

Gumagalang
Guro Steve L.


www.Bujinkandojo.net

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ryangruhn

Check out my page , I live in State College, PA better known for Penn State, "a drinking town with a football problem".

You?

Gruhn

__________________
---DURATTAN ~ "THE MOST DURABLE RATTAN STAND-IN" ---

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Sun_Helmet

Hi Ryan,

There's a Sayoc Stick Grappling seminar at November 21, 2004 - Upper Darby, PA.

Check out sayoc.com for details.

--Rafael--

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