Martial Arts Festival MAF

Start of a busy week, off to MAF this weekend as exhibitor to launch Stealth Multi media. James and I have created a fantastic system that will benefit any school that comes on board. I know it will be well received and can't wait to demo what we are all about.

Last week ended on a high after the Fight Night on Sat. One of the best so far, apart from one incident that I will be addressing later today.

Even though I know this week is going to be stressful with the deadlines we have to make, I'm feeling really good, and worked hard yesterday. For some reason Ideas kept pouring into my head, was a day of brainstorm overload. Just need to get them all down and put the right people in the right places to act on them. One of my limitations is that I'm a great thinker but not so great at the doing. We are in a period of shrinkage team wise with the departure of Shabs and the imminent departure of another! but one thing the last 3 years has taught me is that people come and go, but the good ones, ....... the ones with the connection...... the ones that share the dream..... and the ones that are true and loyal will always be here and for that camaraderie I thank them. (you know who you are!) 

So time for a re-organize of the ones I have, and the search for the next batch begins.

Tag Test

It was a busy night on the Martial Arts Class front last night, as it was tag night. I decided to include all the instructors on the Tag planning in the Staff session so that it would give them some degree of ownership as well as giving them an idea of what was going on so that they could assist more effectively.

The Jedi's was well attended and it ran far more smoothly than the last tag test 2 months ago. The Tag system is still a new concept and is being constantly refined. By now only doing one drill at a time for the whole group, it makes it far easier for the kids to understand, as well as me to make comment. Matt and I did come up with an improvement that we will implement for the next tag though, from now on we will select 4 teenagers to be pad holders, this will help improve the quality of techniques not to mention having a mini coach on each station.

The next 45 min after Jedi's was spent with one of the parents that is majorly disgruntled with me about her child failing. To be honest after 45 min of trying to help her understand that we are not a belt factory and that her child failed a senior belt because 1. she is nowhere near fit enough. And 2. because her attitude is lousy she still feels that it is my fault, some peoples brains just will not allow them to take responsibility for their own actions and sadly this is passed on to their children. I left the meeting making the promise that if the child truly wanted to succeed I would give up my own time 3 times a week to help her achieve it. The parent left by saying that it was unfair that her child was now behind other kids that started after her! god help me!!!

Next was Adults, good turn ot and excellent work rate, it was nice to see (in both classes actually) that there had been some real technical improvement. The Adult Martial Arts is one of the most knowledge demanding but easy classes to teach as fundamentally they are all their to improve, and train at 100%. after the Tag 4 very tired guys went on to re-grade in the slip test. as one was going for brown and white I put my kit on and did some LC Sparring with him. Although I wasn't particularly in the mood for a fight, I enjoyed the moving around until I dropped him then I thought oops better back off. Afterwards I introduced him to the BRIDGE.... I joined in to and did 20 elevations getting up there in a variety of ways. Very scary coming down in the dark

Krav Baby

Had a good Session on Saturday, went down to Brum with Steve Clews to Train with the Krav Maga boys. They had brought over Zevik Cohen from Israel (one of the top Krav boys and Ex Israeli special Forces) first off it was a two hour seminar with him and then it was their six monthly grading.

The drive down gave me the opportunity to talk to steve and maybe just maybe help him to see the simple facts that are just beneath his nose yet fear of the unknown prevents him from seeing or wanting to see. Hopefully after an hour of me ear bashing him it might have sunk in, So when you read this Steve "MAY 31ST".

The drive down was also a funny one Steve having not done an awful lot of reality stuff, was....... well only can be described as shitting himself lol. made the trip down fun though it was like being in the que to the big dipper with a 5 ear old lol.

When we got there the training was fun I was surprised at just how unfit the majority of the Krav boys were though, after what I would describe as a mild warm up lasting 10 min or so most were hanging out of their arses, yet Steve and I had barely broke a sweat, and i'm unfit.

next we partnered up I trained with quite a big guy, I chose him because I wanted to play, when I go to different seminars I always like to partner with someone I don't know. Not only to meet new people and get their insights into their art but also because it adds an air of reality as you don't know what they are going to train like. Unfortunatly all though a really nice guy my partner was new to Krav and after almost killing him with aneck blow I calmed it right down and slipped back into instructor mode. It wasn't till near the end when we were asked to get into 3's that I got to work with Clewsy and his partner aka MAN MOUNTAIN. He had been training for a long time and could hit like a train, I had seen Steve getting bashed from pilar to post throughout the afternoon and in-between wetting myself with laughter, really fanced having a crack at this guy. I must admit he did hit me harder than anyone has in the last 5 years but the might of the Stealth was too much and he tapped within minutes.

I got quite a lot from the Seminar, Krav is a very simple system that is also incredibly practical and devastating at the same time, because of the simplicity. I's not as fancy or flowery as some systems but it doe's do exactly what it says on the tin lol.

Big Thanks to Steve Hay for inviting us to train with them

www.krav.co.uk

Hard at it

Had a busy old day today, absolutely beasted the Squad this morning followed by an hour on the bike for me. Then spent most of the day sorting out the new Sports Bar. 

Decided the Squad needed a wake up call so we did an outside session, basically sprinting, bouncing, hopping and jumping over the railway bridge. Having done it myself I can tell you it is seriously not nice!!!

Blog is Back

it's almost been 2 weeks, since my last entry. My only excuse is that I couldn't be bothered.... So reprimanded myself and I will now commit to a minimum of every other day or I will do 20 sprints over the rail bridge for every missed entry.

Been a busy couple of weeks though took my first  First Aid course and must say really enjoyed it. I thought it best to do one for my guys initially to find my feet, so the usual amount of Fat, Ginger, big nosed, pecker chest,  ugly jokes were a must!!! Also had the runners from the Hermitage Harriers down for a training session after a 2 mile jog down here and an hour of hell thanks to yours truly to of them still managed to get past level 16 on the bleep test WOW

Finally started to get the gym equipment in, although if i'm honest I'm a little disapointed maybe it's because I'm used to top of the range equipment down the gym I usually attend. For now though I'm just going to have to rough it. Have come up with a brill new training aid though! it's called kill to birds with one stone. I put one of the bikes in reception and beast myself whilst watching a Mentoring DVD, so not only does my body get a work out but my brain does too.

This is one of the reasons I feel great at the min, when everyone around me is down in the dumps. gonna make it my mission next week to lend them all a coat and get them to at least a 9. 

Mandy on the other had, apart from still being a raging maniac has been brilliant and a real source of innovative marketing ideas, I need to bring her back into my circle of advisors, when she worked for me not only was it great for our relationship but I remember she has a acute ability to think outside the box. This is something we all need to do occasionally.

Really looking forward to the weekend Off to train with Steve Hay on Saturday at www.krav.co.uk should be a cracking hardcore session, then when I get back it's the innorgural Stealth Gentleman's evening YEY!

Getting back on top of it all

The blog is not the only thing to take to the side line this week. After my routine being thrown out of the window by the First Aid Instructors course last week, I was determined to get back on track this week. 

The week started off fantastic with myself and Steve Clews traveling to Mansfield to train with Zara Phythian and her Total Combat Fight System. Zara is a fantastic publicist as well as a fantastic Martial Artist. Her online videography is one of the reasons I enrolled on my college course. She is incredibly pro-active in getting her art "out there" and this is something I feel we at Stealth need to get on top of.

The training session itself lived up to expectation, and in-fact in many areas exceeded it. Mandy and George Johnson, were incredibly knowledgeable about their field and I was truly impressed in what they taught. TCFS is a program I defiantly want to explore more of, and intend to attend any further seminars they hold. My only criticism was that at 3.5 hours it was a tad to long not only because of my being so knackard and bruised I could barely stand, but the amount of techniques taught was hard to soak in.

Monday was a massive buzz day, felt great about the weekend but must admit my body was proper broken. Matt reported to me that Stealth Scaffolding was exceeding all expectations. 

Then Tuesday came............. Lots of bad shit, and to be honest has put me in a downer mentally which in turn has caused my back injury to flare up again, which in turn has stopped me from training, which in turn has left me feeling like shit and so the downward spiral continues.......

At the min I do feel really down and alone bearing the brunt of all the problems as usual, however as a keeper of the Secret I do know this pattern must be stopped and the cycle broken.

At times like these I normally turn to Gerrard, but for one reason or another I am compelled to call Jon Jepson, so I have arranged to meet up with him tomorrow. Jon is one of the most positive and successful people I know, and I also know after our Lunch date I will walk out feeling reborn. His personalty is infectious and to be honest is a mentor I would like much more contact with along my path to 4th Dan. Bring on the 10 coat.