I have said this before, and I will likely say it again – Sean Kelley’s seminars just get better and better. Mr. Kelley taught Short Form 2 and Long Form 2, as well as the “what-if” phase of Kenpo on the Friday night. Mr. Kelley taught the theme of Long Form 2, how and why the universal block breaks the order of the inward, outward, upward and downward sequence, how Kenpo is taught as a category completion system as evidenced by the single and dual setups through the dictionary forms, and how Kenpo is a study of motion. He also showed how the basics from the isolations at the end of Long Form 1 are contained in Long Form 2. Although we typically use a neutral bow when striking with the front hand, and a forward bow when striking with the rear hand, Mr. Kelley explained how it is not necessary to move to a forward bow when executing the eye pokes since the target is soft anyway. Also, understanding the timing separation of “distance with rotation” and then “rotation with distance” in Long Form 2 is a critical aspect to the form.
On the Saturday, Mr. Kelley taught seminars on the Storm (club) techniques and on kickboxing. He taught Evading the Storm and Checking the Storm, and showed how Checking the Storm really teaches what not to do, and why Evading the Storm is a much more logical and practical technique. The kickboxing class including hand drills, kicking techniques, leg sweeps, leg buckles, and pad drills. Matt Trejo, John McDonald and I were all there for the seminars and had a fantastic time.
