Dog Brothers Public Forum

Now would be a good time to begin submitting completed fighter forms for the Canadian Gathering.

Thank you.

Problem with most tournaments (of any kind) is that they are for the bottom line of the promoter and not for the fighters involved. I am mostly referring to tournaments with a "stick fighting" division as opposed to a Stick fighting only tournament.

Also, due to circumstances and situations, the format seems to drift towards a preference of WEKAF type rules. No thrusting, no leg strikes, no clinching of any kind, because we know darn well that that stuff doesn't work in the real world. And yes, lots and lots of padding. Add to that the pencils-on-steroids rattan and the situation is almost laughable.

Tournaments do have a place within the evolution of a stick fighter, but when you see people actually thinking that they "won" by hitting 68 times to their opponent's 67 you realize that there is a place where this evolution has slipped backwards a bit.

I know it's easy to be negative, but I competed in my first tournament a long time ago and was at my most recent one just a few months ago. Not much has changed in that time. Dog Brothers RCSF, on the other hand, has been growing since it started and the people who participate in it have changed the game for us. We always could grapple, now we can grapple. Strikes, combinations, stick placement, grappling and footwork are all coming together to make these fighters something to contend with in any arena.

As I pass 58 years on the life meter, I find myself getting back into training even more now. I am now relatively injury free and healthy and find myself starting to train harder. Three days of cardio based work with running, skipping, and body weight exercises. Three days of circuit training based on resistance bands, kettle bells and plyo boxes. Lots of warming up, stretching and several vain attempts to customize my diet to trim down my bulk. Hitting tires for various lengths of time.

I am seeing noticeable (to myself) improvements to my overall conditioning which is motivating me to try harder and add technique classes for skill preservation/improvement to my schedule. Looking forward to adding regular grappling training back into the mix as well. Have been toying with a wrestling class but I have to increase my flexibility a bit first. The drills required for general class participation can tweek knees that are not prepared for the strain.

Looking to swing the stick harder in '11, perhaps face someone at a gathering.

Well I can dream.

All the best charging into the new year.

You know, some of us here have heard of Guro Inosanto before, and even taken some classes with him.

Originally it was going to be a tennis ball inside a sarong (a la stories from Pa Herman regarding the insertion of a rock inside a sarong for more impact). Lonely Dog then thought that it needed more oomph and less bounce so they cut it and put dirt inside.

Dog Jeremy Charles was doing quite well against Tennessee Dog's nunchaku until the very last exchange when Jeremy tried a fancy tie up with Tennessee's foot (caught while kicking). Inexperience with the flexible weapon caused Jeremy to momentarily pause which resulted in Tennessee Dog landing a solid nunchaku strike to the side of the fencing mask-encased head. The resulting disorientation caused the fight to be declared over as time was ending anyway.

Good fight.

Never mind just the Euros, the east coast is being approached by those self same clouds giving such fits and starts to Europe.

PG

And chocolate cake in Toronto.

I too am looking forward to all this.

There is quite a group forming in Toronto. Rene Cocolo has brought Crafty up a couple of times and he has some guys trying it out. Also Tyler Morin, A Pekiti Tirsia instructor, has been to a couple of gatherings and DBMA seminars has hooked up with Rene. He will probably answer your question directly. We have a gathering-like event here in Montreal every once in a while that they come up to.

All is possible, even in Canada.

Sled Dog

Gord,

There are Canadian groups that have sprung up in Toronto, Ottawa, and Timmins. Loki has a few under his umbrella on the west coast.

Tyler Morin (PTK & IIMAIA) has been to a few DBMA gatherings and Rene Cocolo (JKD Family) has too (they are not connected, but they know each other) Rene is bringing Crafty to Toronto in February.

We have started a regular grouping every couple of months based on the gathering concept with people showing up to fight on a Sunday morning.

I really don't care if it takes a long time to spread around as this sort of commitment cannot be rushed and has to be absorbed.

If you want to do it, you should take the first steps yourself. Frustrating at first, then very satisfying.

Good luck everyone.

Sleddog

We are continually bombarded by stories about people who, after getting involved, were arrested, prosecuted and otherwise treated like the perp they were trying to stop.

I honestly don't know what I would have done in those circumstances. I hope I would have intervened, but lets not judge these people. Rather, lets steel ourselves to the possibility that we could freeze too and work to come to grips with those feelings and pray that when it hits the fan, we can step up and do the right thing.

The problem I had with the explanation is it's limited scope. The same three movements were shown without any breaking off or re-entering. All of the thrusting lines were ignored. As a Pekiti Tirsia practitioner you should be aware of how that element is blended into the drill and how it could impact the result. Since you used non PTK terminology I presume you are purposely not includiing the other drills that fall under the Sumbrada umbrella (bad pun).

I do salute the attempt to drill it at a higher speed. Being able to maintain it long term at that speed though is wishful especially if there is a realistic hope of application. I find that if the closed distance is maintained for any length of time, during an exchange of over 5 or 6 strikes, that one or both players tend to fall into "striking the weapon" and not the person holding it.

When you look at Guro Inosanto's explanation of Sumbrada, you will see that most people barely make it to level 5 of the 12 levels he describes so it is easy to see how people's impressions of the drill can seem off. But you are right, footwork rarely seems to pollute most peoples versions of this drill.

I firmly believe that those who successfully fight and win in MMA are no longer where they came from because it takes so much more that that to win in the octagon.

Even the best wrestlers come up short when they first start out in MMA but, like any elite level athletes, they quickly adapt. The better BJJers also train for cardio endurance now. GSP was a BJJer before he discovered wrestling. If you outside the limited focus of the UFC you will see many different fighting methods being successfully applied.

Anderson Silva, Muay Thai and BJJ. Minotauro Nogueira BJJ. Fedor Emilianenko (sp?) Sambo. Mark Hunt, Muay Thai. Wanderlei Silva Muay Thai & BJJ.

No doubt that wrestling has had an incredible impact on the fighting in the UFC but it has not overshadowed any other method that much.

When you call it a "Closed Door" gathering, what do you mean? It is being discussed in public open forum, so who doesn't get to go?

There is a phenomenon in "older athletes" that the stiffness of exercise does not hit them on the first day after. I am now quite stiff, it is day 2 (post weekend). Moving around with tenderness in my extremities and not enough youth to mask my movement.

Had a great time. Initially it was hard to get going when I saw how high the level was. I had to ask myself if I was prepared to just be a mobile heavy bag for some of these young warriors? I finally came to my senses, realized that nothing of value is appreciated without some work, and came out swinging. Of course, now I wish I had started earlier and fought longer. These are thoughts that you have after you survive an encounter, not before.

It was my honor to have been there. Dog Brothers have a great future with this pack. Thanks Crafty for the invitation, thanks  Pappy and Linda for the hospitality, thanks Kase for the conversations, thanks everybody for the adventures that will grow into stories that could not possibly have happened, but they did.

Philip Sleddog Gelinas

David Wink was an early training partner of Top Dog when he was still on the east coast. I think I heard that he was nominated for a Nobel Prize too, but not for stick fighting.

Sheep Dog,

Yes it was MMA Tracker.net.

I don't know how to give the direct link but to find it I went to the "Browse" section, highlighted "other" under sport, and "TV Show" under type. Was directed to the list.

It was under this title: Fight.Club.No.Limits.01.26.2008.XviD

Found a download site. Doing it now.

Thanks

As things happen, we don't get the same National Geographic programming in Canada as you do there. I have been looking for a site that I could down load it from but have come up empty in  my search.

Can anyone guide me to an available source?

Thank You

Sled Dog

I really wish that I had been able to make it. Looks like it was a lot of fun. Boy, has it evolved since the early days!

I didn't get to see the show yet but the promos looked great.

Maybe next time, creak creak.