Can-Am Kenpo Camp, August 8-10th, London, Ontario

Hi Everyone,

From August 8-10th, Grandmaster Larry Tatum (10th Degree American Kenpo Karate Black Belt) will be returning to London, Ontario teaching martial arts seminars at the Courtyard By Marriott, 864 Exeter Rd. Other seminar instructors Professor Jamie Seabrook, Master Tony Mayo, Kyoshi Mike Leclair, Sifu Michael Shaw, and Sensei Scott Southwell.

The cost for 9 hours of seminars is $125 if paid before July 30th.

The seminar schedule is as follows:

Friday August 8th

5-6 pm Sifu Michael Shaw
6-7 pm Kyoshi Mike Leclair
7-9 pm Grandmaster Larry Tatum

Saturday August 9th

8-9 am Master Tony Mayo
9-10 am Professor Jamie Seabrook
10-11 am Sensei Scott Southwell
11 am - 1 pm Grandmaster Larry Tatum


Self-Defense Tournament

August 9th at 2 pm. Cost is $35 for tournament only, or $150 for camp and tournament combined.


Note:

Private lessons with Grandmaster Larry Tatum are $100 U.S. per hour.


All cheques can be made payable to: Scott Southwell

May Belt Promotions

Congratulations to the following students on their belt promotions at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy in the month of May:

Santiago B: Advanced White
Wesley S: Advanced White
Victoria B: Advanced Yellow
Alex K: Advanced Orange
Ben K: Advanced Orange
Cameron V: Advanced Orange
Nathan V: Advanced Orange
Joseph H: Purple
Anya F: Advanced Purple
Noah B: Blue
Scott B: Blue
Timothy B: Advanced Green
Ethan B: 3rd Degree Brown
Luke N: 3rd Degree Brown
Maxim F: 3rd Degree Brown

Fantastic work from all of you!

Rener Gracie Mount Submission Mastery Seminar

Today Matt Trejo and I attended a Rener Gracie seminar on mount submission mastery in Newmarket, Ontario, at the Gracie Humaita school. The seminar was phenomenal, and Rener's instruction and enthusiasm was second to none. As his assistant, Rener brought with him Brian Ortega - a Gracie Jiu Jitsu black belt who has just signed with the UFC and who will be fighting on the May 31st card in Brazil against Diego Brandao.

The seminar started with super hooks mount control, with emphasis placed on strong hip pressure and a low body position. Rener then taught on how to create submission opportunities from the neck-hug sequence using the wrist isolation, Americana armlock, figure-four armbar, and twisting arm control (TAC) transfer. The figure-four armbar is used when the opponent holds my arm to prevent it from looping around the head to prevent me from using the Americana armlock. With the TAC transfer, I drop my body against the opponent's back arm in response to the arm reaching across his body to release the isolated wrist.

Matt and I picked up on a lot of important material, and look forward to training with Rener again soon.

Darren Wynes - 2nd Degree Black Belt Promotion

On Saturday, April 12th, I promoted Darren Wynes to 2nd Degree Black Belt (Assistant Instructor) in American Kenpo. Also joining me to sit on the testing panel were Evan Wiley (4th Degree Black Belt), Matt Trejo (4th Degree Black Belt), and John McDonald (3rd Degree Black Belt).

Darren began training with me as a 1st Degree Black Belt in November 2010. Darren is an incredible student and black belt, driving around 1.5 hours each way to come take private lessons with me. Darren's private lessons are at least 90 minutes at a time, and usually a full 2 hours. Moreover, he travels to London at least 2 times every month to take private lessons, averaging a good 3-4 hours of private lessons monthly.

For Darren's test, he had to perform all American Kenpo Forms required for promotion to 2nd Degree Black Belt. He also demonstrated many advanced American Kenpo self-defense techniques at street speed on a partner, and had to fight full-contact against every member of the testing panel.

If you are in the Kitchener, Ontario area, I strongly suggest seeking out private lesson instruction directly under Darren Wynes, as he is the top American Kenpo Karate instructor in that area.

March 2014 Belt Promotions

Congratulations to the following students on their recent belt promotions at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy:

Ben W: Yellow
Lucas C: Yellow
Noah C: Yellow
Noah B: Advanced Purple
Scott B: Advanced Purple

Great work all of you!

Larry Tatum Seminars

This past weekend Grandmaster Larry Tatum came to Southwell's Kenpo to teach American Kenpo seminars. Myself, and five of my students attended the event. The seminars were awesome. For the Friday night seminar, Mr. Tatum taught how to counterbalance your kicks, and he also covered Leaping Crane, Shielding Hammer, Fatal Cross, Destructive Twins, and Delayed Sword. For the Saturday morning seminar, we did a graph sequence of Thrusting Prongs into Crashing Wings and then into Tripping Arrow. We also went through Locked Wing with the extension. A large part of his seminars also focused on striking the weak point of the opponent. Mr. Tatum has a knack for detail and his power and speed are mind-blowing.

Congratulations to Scott Southwell on his promotion to 4th Degree Black Belt (Senior Instructor).

Here are a couple of pictures from the event.

February 2014 Belt Promotions

February was a big month for belt promotions at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy, especially because I had several children move up to Junior 3rd Degree Brown Belt (we have separate programs for children and adults). In my school, it takes children one year per stripe for all Junior Brown Belt levels, which means that the minimum time-frame for a children's 3rd Brown Belt to be able to test for Junior Black Belt is 3 years since his/her promotion to Brown Belt. This equates to an approximate total time of 8 years for a child to be able to test for Junior Black Belt since beginning American Kenpo. When a child reaches Junior Black Belt (we only have 2 in our school, one of whom is my oldest daughter Morgan), he/she then has to learn all 154+ self-defense techniques that are required in our adult program to be eligible to test for 1st Degree Black Belt. Although this may seem like an insurmountable task, the reality is that a Junior Black Belt would already know many of the techniques required, especially the beginner techniques and those already contained in the American Kenpo encyclopedia forms.

Here is a list of all of the students that I promoted in February:

Brandon D: Advanced Yellow
Alex K: Orange
Ben K: Orange
Cameron V: Orange
Nathan V: Orange
Anya F: Purple
Ethan B: Advanced Green
Luke N: Advanced Green
Maxim F: Advanced Green
Chloe B: 3rd Degree Brown
Christofer L: 3rd Degree Brown
Claire H: 3rd Degree Brown
Joseph L: 3rd Degree Brown
Maia G: 3rd Degree Brown
Madison S: 3rd Degree Brown
Michael L: 3rd Degree Brown
Nathan T: 3rd Degree Brown
Reese W: 3rd Degree Brown
Brennan W: 1st Degree Brown

Great work all of you!