Dog Brothers Public Forum

Congrats Dog Meynard.

Dan Jackson made an interesting comment/question/observation to the effect that our normal experience with violence and aggression causes separation in our relationships, but the violence and aggression of a Gathering seems to strengthen relationships.  I don't know if that is the theme OP is going for, but it is a good insight.

The filming/interviews in the staging area during the Gathering seemed to capture some good examples of the warrior fellowship that so many of us share as a result of whacking each other with sticks.

Many woofs and tail wags to all who made the Gathering great.  It was a high point for me in the 2 years since cervical fusion surgery.  Everyone I fought, came at me HARD, and made it a break-through day for me.  Thanks.

My thoughts on the day have not completely coalesced but in the spirit of "find (and keep) what is useful," one point that comes to mind is -

The fighter's staging area was great

There was room to stand around after your fight and talk with your opponent.  IMHO - It aided the "In Gathering Evolution."  Looking back, I definitely made mental adjustments with each fight.  The ability to debrief and decompress after each fight helped me during the Gathering.

The larger staging area also made it easy to identify who was in the queue (had an opponent and waiting to fight) and who might be looking for a fight.  In the past, it has been a little frustrating to find someone to fight while standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a crowd of fighters and spectators.

Crafty

What instilled respect for the shockknife (from the beginning) was when you walked around and zapped us with the shockknife.  Something happens deep in your brain and you treat the shockknife like a knife.

I like the idea of using the shockknife for all knife fights (remember to bring a lot of batteries).

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On a side note, I understand the photogenics of shiny aluminum training blades, but I disagree with eliminating the use of the rubber, wood and plastic knives.  I fact, I encourage the use of the Sharky plastic sparring knives.

I know people spend good money on replica aluminum training blades.  They are very pretty, but IMHO they are training blades not sparring knives.  Those replica aluminum blades are great for training disarms and working other knife technics, but they are pretty damn pointy to be used in full speed sparring (the same can be said for many wooden knives).

If people want to agree to spar with nice photogenic (and pointy) aluminum training blades, ... enjoy.  As for me, (if the shockknives are not available for some reason) I'm knife fighting with a Sharky and bringing an extra for my opponent.

Ryan

I just saw that you got a set of rings.

The link below shows a nice ring exercise that is deceptively hard.

http://ironpunk.blogspot.com/2006/06/push-ups-w-rings-that-rock.html

I agree with Tom regarding pictures afterward the Gathering.

Great news on the two shock knives.

I like the idea of folding mats around the ritual space.

Cool.  You gotta start somewhere.

Just found mine in the mail ... and no time to watch it, until tonight.

It came so very close to being informative.

In the vid clip, there's a scene where the knifer grabs the guy and almost pulls him out of his shoes with one hand.  That was beautiful!!!  Who was the knifer?  I hope the entire movement is on the DVD.

Impressive vid clip.  It's been said before, but this material is very dark and sobering.

Carlo? Are you Grinning Dog Carlo Arellano?

If so, gIve me a call sometime.  Check your Private Message inbox for my phone number.

ronro

Any sabre fencing info

One of my kids who used to fence saber is now doing Doces Pares.  He has fast reflexs and a killer parry/strike combination.

The down side from the saber training in crossing over to stick is learning to engage his other hand and lateral foot.

cranford

I have had lots of shoulder problems and this is what I have learned:

One, strengthen the entire shoulder.  Sometime in our training we develop a strong push but no pull.  When the muscles get unbalanced (fornt to back or right to left), it causes problems.

Two, strike/punch from good position.  For example, often people throw a hook and land it out to their side rather than facing the person (I don't know if I'm being clear).  You have to retrain yourself strike with your shoulder in good position.

Three, and this isn't anything you haven't heard already, but you have to rest rotator cuff tears.  REST REST REST and then rehab (the internet is full of illustrations of the exersices to do) with VERY light weights for a long time.  Once it your shoulder is strong, keep doing the exersices.

Chuck B

WEKAF style masks .... The cups that are supposed to protect your ears can actually catch air on a direct hit

That is a great point and probably the biggest problem with the WEKAF masks.  The guys I train with stuff a rag into the ear cup of the mask.  This helps some, but I am going to start wearing ear plugs when I fight with the WEKAF gear.

It is easy to be lulled into by "safety equipment"  I was sparring a guy with WEKAF gear and hit him on the head so hard (with one of those little 7/8" sticks) that his knees buckled and he almost went down.  At the last WEKAF World Cup, people were braking bones with 7/8" rattan sticks.

sean

whatever area I have protected, then I'm not as worried about

True, but hard hits will come through a fencing mask and good gloves.  I'll never forget the June 2003 Gathering when a guy was knocked out with a shot to the mask.  I can be enlightened and wear a little protection.

At the last WEKAF world cup, there was a guy who would turn his face into the strike because the metal grill on the WEKAF mask would send a shock waves back through the stick and fatigue his opponent's hand.

For me, the Gathering fights are tests.  I think the gloves are a skill level thing.  The guys that wear those thin little gloves have all my respect.  As a stick fighter, I am just not there yet.

At my skill level, I don't wear much padding, but I do wear lacrosse gloves.  It registers when I take a shot to the hand, but I don't risk losing weeks of training from a broken hand.

I have used the mook jong and made my own out of PVC.  I also made this freestanding, three-legged, four-armed, spring headed contraption that worked OK.  All that stuff is interesting, but for my money, I am content with a thai bag (with as small diameter as possible).  I also like the BOB (Body Opponent Bag), but unless I had a school, I would not buy it just for myself.

IMHO the dummies you listed aren't worth the money.  If you want try something, go to a construction site and pick a large diameter (8-10 inches) PVC pipe, carve out some holes for arms, pad it, and mount it.  If you need it, I can give you some ideas on connecting the arms and mounting it (you do want it to have a little movement).

I would also suggest, going to a tire store and getting some old tires (they give them away).  Bolt them together and shove a long stick or two in between the tires as arms.  Make sure the tires don't have any of the steel belt showing.

Another idea that I enjoy uses a double-end bag.  Fix a string onto a tennis ball and hung it from the same point as the double-end bag.  The string should be just long enough to let the tennis ball rest on the middle of the double-end bag.  As you hit the double-end bag, the tennis ball bounces and flies around randomly.  Focus on keeping your timing on the double-end bag (remember to move your feet) while slipping and/or blocking the tennis ball.

Here is one I have used with good results for the price.

Get a foam pool noodle (long cylinder of foam with a hole through the center).  The "Dollar Tree" stores have some.

Then get a thin rattan stick (you can see where this is going).

Cut a piece of the noodle about 6 inches shorter than the stick, and put the noodle over the stick.

metis,

how much is too much? what's the usual?

I wear a fencing mask, cup, mouth piece, knee pads and lacrosse gloves.  At my first Gathering, I wore more padding (It is hard to fight the desire to wrap yourself in foam).  By the next Gathering, as I got more comfortable with parrying and moving, I wore less padding.

As for how much is too much ... One time, I saw Crafty tell a guy to take off some padding.  The guy had elbow and fore arm pads with heavy hockey gloves.  The point is, these things work themselves out.  It'll be fine.

IMHO - Too much padding gets in the way of the experience.  It also sends a message.  It tells others how much confidence you have in your skill "Only you are responsible for you" AND it tells others how much trust you have in them to adher to the code "Be friends at the end of the day."  We are a tribe.  We are there to make each other better, not put each other in the hospital (overnight ).

Lets talk at the Gathering, I'll go one with you, if you agree.

xtremekali,

where can I get a good deal on a fencing helmet?

This forum has at least one threads on masks.  My words of wisdon on the subject are go a local fencing club get a used mask.  Any mask will do, but you only need what is called a "3 weapon mask" (the ones with the black screen).

I recently searched the Sacramento Craigslist "sporting goods" section with the term "fencing." I found a $10 mask for sale. Go to http://www.craigslist.org/about/cities.html find your city, run a search (or post a want ad) and see what comes up.  You have time.

It may be too early for this, but I am looking forward to the June Gathering and there are already 17 fighters registerd.

The purpose of this thread is for fighters to call each other out.  This worked pretty well for me at the last Gathering, so I thought other fighters could use this thread as an internet version of walking up to a group of fighters and asking for a fight.

I'll start - I want a shot at Rich "C-Hellhound" (once he registers), Dog Rog, Dog Milt, Gints, True Dog, C-Grinning Dog (if he's fighting), Dog 'Sisco Taruc (if he's fighting), some other people who's names I don't remember, and anyone else who accepts my challenge.

Anyone else want to start a dance card?

Anything can happen at a Gathering, so IMHO if someone accepts an invitation/challenge/offer, it's only tenative.  Anyone can back out for any reason - got hurt, over matched, done fighting, just don't want to fight, whatever - no questions asked.

Dog Corey
corey.davis@ccpoa.org

Fencers masks are tested at each tournament by the armorer (who can be real assholes about safe equipment).  Even normal fencing strikes eventually weaken the mesh.  I am sure a couple of stick fights would make it unusable for competition.  Once a mask fails there is no way to repair it.  It is retired and used for practice only.

My best advice is go a local club get a used 3 weapon mask - FIE if possible because it is stronger and has more padding.

I just searched the Sacramento Craigslist "sporting goods" section with the term "fencing."  I found a $10 mask for sale.  Go to http://www.craigslist.org/about/cities.html find your city, run a search (or post a want ad) and see what comes up.

IMHO get a thai bag.  In the long run, it will be more useful than a the shorter bags used for boxing.  I have seen (on the internet) someone selling an unfilled thai bag for $100, so look around.  If you buy one, the empty/unfilled ones are cheaper.  Just fill it yourself with old clothes.

A very good source for heavy bags (and everything else) is http://www.craigslist.org/about/cities.html  find your city's page and look under sporting goods.  In the Sacramento area, I see all kinds of heavy bags for sale dirt cheap.

The problem with many of the low end bags is that often the sand bags (which should be in the center of the bag) are too close to the sides - it's like hitting clay.  I have made and custom packed or repacked several bags and can give you some ideas.

One of the cheapest bags I have made was from a large duffle bag I was given (they cost about $25 new from army surplus) and stuffed it with rolled up cardboard.  If I did it again, I would use old clothes instead of cardboard.

As for the swinging of the bag, many bags have straps on the bottom so you can secure it with some bungies to a cement block.  A shoe repair shop can sew on some straps (or repair damaged bags) for almost nothing.

One last lesson from my experiences.  Unless you just enjoy the challenge of making your own equipment - save money and time and buy it.  It is almost always cheaper than making it yourself.

Hargrave's site comes across like it is THE Offical JKD organization.  However, the closest thing to an "Offical" JKD site that I know of is http://www.bruceleefoundation.com which is run by Linda Lee and Taky.  The Foundation does not certify anyone.

For marketing purposes, Concord Moon L.L.P owns "the name, likeness, image, domain names, designs, and trademarks of, or associated with, Bruce Lee."

I don't know anything about Hargrave.  He might really be that good.  IMHO, the whole certification thing is BS ... it is just a piece of paper that costs $1000+ and a weekend of training or watching videos.  How many people fail to get certified after handing over the money?

Great.

After the last Gathering, I realized that mentally I had only prepared myself for three fights because at my first Gathering I only fought three times.  So this time I am trying to keep that inner voice in check and set my expectation higher.

So far I have three fights lined-up.  Taruc would be four.  I am also trying to contact a few others.

Is there a way to have a page (on the membership side) that has email addresses of DB memebers and/or registered fighters?  Maybe after I have been around longer, this won't be a problem, but right now it would help.

Does anyone know if Grinning Dog is coming to this Gathering and how to contact him?