Greg Nelson Update

[Bob Burgee]

Hello All,

I spoke to Greg Nelson last night. He sounds great and is teaching JKD twice a week!! This is amazing. Many of us wrote him off 4 months ago. For those of you who don't know, he has been fighting cancer for quite some time now. The cancer that was attacking his liver has gone into remission. Greg is now walking with a cane and is still battling this disease.

This man is truly inspiring.

Here is his website: http://www.mmaacombatzone.com/

[DJColdfusion]

I got the following from a friend of mine (concerning Greg Nelson):

Brandon got to work out with him about two months ago at the Erik Paulson
coach level 2 instructor's camp.  He said he saw this frumpy old bald man
with a cane walking about Inosanto's gym, looking at all the pictures on the
walls and studying all the memorabilia and taking a picture or two.  He told
me he remembered thinking, who is this old guy and how does he expect to
keep up with the rest of the class... he can hardly waddle about on that
crooked old cane.

Then when Sensei Paulson introduced him as the instructor for the second
sesson of the day he says he remembers vivedly how Khru Nelson set his cane
down and hobbled over to his partner where he said... That's another thing I
like about the prumb.  You can kind of use your opponent to prop yourself
up.  Then we went about demolishing his partner for a minute or two at full
speed and as soon as it began, he quietly made his way back to his cane,
took a seat and said, now you give it a try.  Brandon said it was a scene
straight out of Empire Strikes Back.  Master Yoda hands out a beat down to a
couple of the young, brash Jedi.

I remember seeing him at Thai Camp this year.  He ran the prumb in the field
of screams and after hours he showed Khru Bernales and I his newest ventures
into the world of Silat/Kali... he had attached a leather strap to the end
of his cane.  At first glance it looked like a simple hand strap.  But when
he said, come here... check this out, he let go of the strap and slid the
bottom of the stick up to the palm of his hand.  He then whiped the handle
towards me and the leather strap lashed around my neck.  The next thing I
knew, I was getting garrotted and Khru Bernales was laughing as Khru Nelson
was pointing out... "see, not only do you get a nice choke going, but you
can assist with a stick to the adam's apple and what more, they usually
succome to the rope burns before the choke is even fully effected."  This
whole time, I'm clawing at the leather strap with my eye balls bulging out
the sockets.

The man is amazing and simply seems to find ever new creative ways to
improve, augment and reinvent the arts.

 . . .

he put his hands on me for just a moment at the Thai Camp and I swear he's
stronger now than when I met him in 2001.  He was showing me the finer
points of the 50 - 50 position and when he put his weight down on one side,
my knee nearly buckled.  His upper body is huge now compared to what it was
back then.