The Martial Arts Show, Birmingham, NEC, May 22nd-23rd

So it's that time of year again...more martial arts shows. This time it's at the NEC which means it's gonna be bigger (and better?) than last year! Last year's was pretty good and I got value from going just from the demonstrations which were great! It was good to see other martial arts styles practising. I like to see different flavours of martial arts so for me it was fun. Plus I'd talk the hind legs off a donkey so beware contributors...

As well as demonstrations there are free seminars and suppliers' stalls. Last year I got to chin wag with Iain Abernethy so I might see if he's going along again and catch up.

I was going to embed the promo video but it's so cheesey I didn't bother. If you're desperate to see it go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk_LG_zPrNw

Martial Arts Festival - Wayne Swietoslawski

I met Wayne at the MAF-UK the other week and I decided to blog about him as he is a genuine guy who is now applying himself to full time martial arts training and teaching.

Wayne has an impressive martial arts CV and as well as holding several black belts has trained throughout the world with outstanding martial artists but what really struck a chord with me was the tagline Wayne uses: Training for Life. Wayne trains all the time. And I mean ALL the time! So the phrase Training for Life covers the way he considers that training in the martial arts is his life but it also makes him (/us?) ready for life. Training helps us deal with life. This can be on a practical, physical level or an emotional or 'spiritual' level: it keeps us fit for life and hones our minds.

As soon as Wayne's site is up and live I'll post it here.

Martial Arts Festival - Canemasters

Poor old fella there with his walking cane. Probably couldn't handle himself if anyone attacked him huh? Well canemasters aims to prove otherwise: a self defence system worked around the walking cane.

As a practitioner of Tang Soo Do I'd seen a Master's cane form and my own Master told me how he upon flying to an international seminar was obliged to check all weapons into the hold but was let onto the aircraft with his cane...! Mark Shuey, the founder of Canemasters, unsurprisingly holds a Tang Soo Do black belt as well as in Hapkido too where he first saw the cane being used in self defence.

Canemasters take this idea to the next level and have developed an entire self defence system. Certainly the added leverage goes a long way when using the cane and getting whacked by a cane which can be whipped round at a fair lick would really smart. I did have a slight problem and this was that these guys happily carried the cane around with them as a side arm and not as an aid to walking. "It's got me out of trouble a couple of times", said the seminar leader.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll take my tonfa out into town next week and see what happens...

Here is a rather limp version of the Tang Soo Do Ji pan gi hyung:

Martial Arts Festival - Krav Maga

Straightforward and no nonsense self defence against empty hand and weapons. Seems very effective, direct and energetic. The seminar I attended covered 3 or 4 techniques and the teacher managed to get us all executing them effectively immediately (granted most of the attendees were probably practicing martial artists). Especially neat was the 'scan' after the techniques. After effecting the moves on your opponent (be it neutralising or stopping the attack short) scan around for other potential attacks. 

Check out the website: http://www.krav-maga-uk.com/

I was taught the seminar by a friendly Vin Diesel look-a-like called Nick Maison who was approachable and business like and seemed very sharp in technique.

For a wikipedia overview of Krav Maga click here.

Martial Arts Festival - capoeira

Fun in the sun with the capoeira team. They always seem smiley and enjoying themselves as they sing, play music, dance and spar. Led by Pedro Albuquerque:

Martial Arts Festival - iai

This demo was lead by Hanshi Mike Selvey and as well as some iaido kata the guys treated us to some iai-jutsu kata and koryu kata as well as some tameshigiri (test cutting)-always interesting to see! The dojo site can be found here: www.tenshin-ryu.co.uk

Martial Arts Festival, Leicester

as I pulled up at the Parklands leisure centre, Leicester, I realised the MAF-UK was going to be quite a big festival! There was a shuttle bus laid from the car park (which I had to pay another fiver for!) but it was well organised and ran smoothly so we were at the door soon after. Not sure what to expect I scanned the programme which seemed crammed! Two outdoor demo areas and one inside as well as two indoor seminar rooms meant there was plenty to see (although the indoor demo area was extremely impractical and you didn't get to see much!). 

It seemed a fairly nice atmosphere but there were plenty of guys strutting around looking like they'd had a ramrod inserted up their backs and that they were incapable of walking without swinging their shoulders forward outrageously. Strut, strut, strut. But this was, I'm glad to say, in the minority.

I made my way straight to the main hall and had only had made 5 steps in when I got chatting to a guy who was promoting his sensei and club: Wayne Swietoslawski of Waskido Ryu Ju Jitsu who was eager to tell me about his art. I took to Wayne and we got chatting about canes so he led me off to a seminar by canemasters: a self-defence programme based on walking canes. 

Following this I went straight to a Krav Maga seminar which focused on effective self-defence tools. this system struck me (unsurprisingly) similar to Systema but I guess experienced practitioners of either may disagree. Fundamentally it's quite a flexible and 'free' system with key principles underpinning different scenarios. We worked on stopping the attack early and ground work. As well as scanning for other opponents-very useful I thought.

Back in the main hall I bought my pair of Feivue's which I've been after for some time and saw Iain Abernethy on a stand! After I heard from his accent that he was a Northerner I had to stop and chat. What a friendly guy and although I didn't buy anything from him he still had time to chat with me about what he's up to, his dojo, Harry Cooke and the meaning of life. Great interlude to the day's seminars...

I strolled out into the sun to the outdoor arenas and watched capoeira, iai demo with some tameshigiri and finished the day by watching the krav maga demo.

A full day but I managed to have a cuppa in the sun and take lots of cool photos and meet some good folk. I'll document some of these things in more detail soon once I've downloaded photos and sorted them:

- Wayne Swietoslawski

- Canemasters

- Krav Maga

- Capoeira

- Iai