07.07.05 - T.K.I Welcomes Larry Lauer
Larry is a 4th degree black belt in Chinese Kenpo through the IKCA. He recently moved from Canada to Connecticut and was in our area visiting family. Bill and Larry frequently communicate over an internet message board on the topic of Kenpo.
Larry started out with us by teaching us a drill, or part of a drill, that comes from the Arnis system. He called it “hubud” and it is a focus drill that teaches speed and proper technique. He stressed that it was not a power drill, and Alexandra and I (the two white belts) were told to practice the exercise in a slower motion for accuracy and the speed would come through repetition. The movements themselves are relatively simple and repeat back and forth between two partners in a sort of circular motion. After we did this for several minutes, Larry added another step to the exercise; a sort of take down or arm drag coming out of the block and parry motions. While Alexandra and I were doing this, he taught a more advanced version of the same thing for Bill and the purple belts.
The purple belts were doing the exercise and one side would randomly decide when to do a the take down. After the take down, they resumed the hubud drill and the other side chose when to do the take down. We did this for several minutes more before Larry stopped the drills.
In reviewing the hubud drill, he stressed the importance of the 45 deg angles of the arms and hands and explained why it was important. He also reiterated that this was a speed drill – not a power drill - and it takes some people many years to master the exercise.
At this point of the class, Alexandra and I stood to the side and watched Bill and the purple belts go through several techniques. Larry watched them all go through a line and then gave his opinion and pointers from his perspective. There were a few times that he quickly determined that he simply teaches a given technique slightly different than Bill does, and that is fine. It was clear that he likes several of the concepts that Kenpo uses such as “marriage of gravity” and “opposing forces”. During several of the techniques he gave examples of how these concepts are applied.
While Alexandra and I were observing, I took several pictures of Bill, Larry, and the purple belts. At the end of the seminar, we all thanked Larry and there were some more pictures taken of the class, as well as Bill and Larry posing together.
Larry started out with us by teaching us a drill, or part of a drill, that comes from the Arnis system. He called it “hubud” and it is a focus drill that teaches speed and proper technique. He stressed that it was not a power drill, and Alexandra and I (the two white belts) were told to practice the exercise in a slower motion for accuracy and the speed would come through repetition. The movements themselves are relatively simple and repeat back and forth between two partners in a sort of circular motion. After we did this for several minutes, Larry added another step to the exercise; a sort of take down or arm drag coming out of the block and parry motions. While Alexandra and I were doing this, he taught a more advanced version of the same thing for Bill and the purple belts.
The purple belts were doing the exercise and one side would randomly decide when to do a the take down. After the take down, they resumed the hubud drill and the other side chose when to do the take down. We did this for several minutes more before Larry stopped the drills.
In reviewing the hubud drill, he stressed the importance of the 45 deg angles of the arms and hands and explained why it was important. He also reiterated that this was a speed drill – not a power drill - and it takes some people many years to master the exercise.
At this point of the class, Alexandra and I stood to the side and watched Bill and the purple belts go through several techniques. Larry watched them all go through a line and then gave his opinion and pointers from his perspective. There were a few times that he quickly determined that he simply teaches a given technique slightly different than Bill does, and that is fine. It was clear that he likes several of the concepts that Kenpo uses such as “marriage of gravity” and “opposing forces”. During several of the techniques he gave examples of how these concepts are applied.
While Alexandra and I were observing, I took several pictures of Bill, Larry, and the purple belts. At the end of the seminar, we all thanked Larry and there were some more pictures taken of the class, as well as Bill and Larry posing together.
Bill Parsons & Larry Lauer
posted by Bonzai at 7/07/2005 10:00:00 PM
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