Yesterday we posted an interview Paul Cox gave for the youth charity SpunOut.ie , this video is the demonstration we gave.
In the clip you’ll see how we put the Filipino Martial Arts and Kenpo karate together to form a complete self defence system.
Enjoy
Regards
Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com / www.WG-Fit.com
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Wild Geese Martial Arts founder and chief instructor, Paul Cox, has just been interviewed by http://www.spunout.ie/, supporting and empowering young people.
SpunOut.ie offers young people a platform for personal and social development leading them to increased all-round wellbeing in their own lives and in how they engage with society as citizens. . SpunOut.ie is youth-led in design, development and content, ensuring it reaches young people in a way that appeals to them. Using the pull factors of youth written magazine-style articles and a vibrant online forum for discussion and debate, SpunOut.ie provides a safe online space for young people to realise that they are not alone in the issues they face whilst growing up and, importantly, that they can make a positive change to their own wellbeing and to the world around them.
Since its launch in mid-2005, SpunOut.ie has received over 400,000 website visitors, directly involved 100s of young people in its development, reached millions through the media, and received awards and widespread praise from young people, parents, educators, youth workers and health professionals. This ongoing success is testimony to the demand that is out there, not only for ways of addressing our young people’s health needs, but also for the provision of innovative and meaningful platforms for catalysing social change.
Only by taking new approaches to engaging and involving young people can their needs, and the needs of the wider society, be understood and met. SpunOut.ie is leading the way in this regard and signals a powerful opportunity that, with the right support, can only get better.
See our blog for all the latest news on SpunOut.ie MAKING A DIFFERENCE!
SpunOut.ie is developed and managed by the youth-led Community Creations charity, is endorsed by key youth, health and community bodies and receives funding from a range of public, private and philanthropic sources
Now here’s the interview:
Regards
Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
Facebook / Twitter / RSS feed
That is a quote from one of my students today.
A little explanation needed. In the previous incarnation of the martial arts academy, I was bound by the syllabus and had to teach Kenpo in a certain way. Now as Paul and I have taken over the academy, we can teach it as we see fit.
Today I based the Kenpo class around a Filipino Martial Arts drill, and then brought various strikes into it. Then I told them to do whatever they wanted.
Interestingly enough they started using simplified kenpo techniques, naturally and finding the combos that worked for them.
It was after the class that a normally nervous and quiet kenpo student came up to me and said how much they enjoyed it and asked why they’d never been shown kenpo in such a manner before. It was then they said the immortal line:
“Kenpo is wierd, it’s lke you can’t really use it, I already feel more confident”
Is this the general view amongst the student? Has kenpo become just another art already? Parker hasn’t been dead that long, there’s no way his art has gone the way of the karate’s and kung fu’s.
Well in the martial arts academy it’s back, the syllabus is under serious review and the martial is being put back in the art.
Ed Parker would turn in his grave if he could see some of the kenpo I’ve seen, if he could hear some of the things students get told.
It is my intention to bring the art back in line with the way Parker intended it to be when he developed it.
An effective street self defence system
NOT an endless succession of techniques and forms.
Dave
Wild Geese
www.wildgeesema.com
www.wg-fit.com
any cause but our own
I was covering a Kenpo class there yesterday, I wasn’t too familiar with the student as he belongs to another instructor.
The lad is dedicated and bright, but when I asked him to show me which Kenpo techniques he wanted to go over, I was frankly gobsmacked!!
One of the things that I have always loved about Kenpo, since I first came across it in 2001, was the speed, power and efficiency involved in it’s movement. I’ve always disliked the overly complex syllabus, but we can’t have it all our own way.
Now watching this lad show me a few of the techniques from the green belt, i could barely believe what I was seeing. Now just to clear this up, the lad is able and dedicated, he does what he’s been shown. So the mistakes he was making are purely down to the instruction he has received.
Here’s a fella, comes in 3-4 times a week, is in the intermediate stages of the syllabus and has no concept of body mechanics, power, moving from the hips, pushing from the ground and poor balance. How did I remedy this, simple, introduced a thing called contact.
I took the fella over to the bags, broke the techniques down to simpler combinations and had him spend about an hour repeatedly executing these combo’s with power on the bag.
The result.
1 a greater understanding of the techniques
2 the ability to balance
3 moving from the hip
4 strength delivered from the legs
5 no longer leaning away when striking
6 a big boost in confidence
This lad, like countless other around the world has suffered due to instructor laziness and lack of imagination.
Traditional martial arts already take enough of a slagging because we spend our time waving our arms in the air doing forms and kata. And to a degree it’s deserved. If you teach a class invest in some strike pads, focus mits, punch bags, whatever you have the funds and facilities for and have your students spend some time hitting things, the founders and fighters from your style/system certainly did.
Your students will thank you for it.
Wild Geese
www.wildgeesema.com
www.wg-fit.com
any cause but our own
True. But don’t forget that 90% start on the feet.
The truth is, if you’re awareness has failed and you find yourself in a situation that you can’t talk yourself out of, the chances are you’re on your feet (as are the antagonists).
This is where preemptive striking, power and accuracy will come into play. You want to know that when you make contact, it counts. The ground is the last place you want to be.
For this reason the majority of traditional martial arts are all stand up based, including kenpo and eskrima. Many Filipino’s have a very simple viewpoint of ground fighting, if you see people doing it, go over and stab one of them, or kick a few heads.
Does this mean we shouldn’t learn grappling, absolutely not. It is a very valuable skill, and great conditioning, but it is far from being the be all and end all I often see it touted as.
You won’t see finer grappling than in the octagon of the UFC. But on many occasions I’ve heard discussions with various mma’ers that go the way of “but most fights go to ground……”, “submissions are best….” etc, please note I hold mma in the highest regard and have a few of my own students actively involved in mma. But on the street these arguments are highly flawed.
My personal favorite UFC fighter is the former champion and UFC legend, Chuck Liddel.
Why?
He fights similar to a street fighter, avoiding going to ground and instead preferring to knock out the majority of his opponents. That and the fact that he’s also a Kenpo man. Chuck has great takedown defence and awesome striking power.
Rolling on the ground is great training, but do so for more than a second or two outside and you’ll have people putting the boot in on you from all sides. Submissions on the street are dangerous, it is much safer to strike with all you have and get the hell out of dodge.
Spend time on the heavy bag, incorporate power training (kettlebells are great for this), learn to hit from any angle with all your natural weapons (hammer fist, palm, knuckles, forearms, elbows etc..)with no wind up and full hip and body involvement. Train to strike from compromised positions where you have no space to swing, no leverage from your legs or one limb disabled.
And train to be accurate and relentless.
Wild Geese
any cause but our own
If you work in the security or Law Enforcement industries you will from time to time have to get hands on and physical with some very uncooperative people.
The Wild Geese Control and Restraint course addresses this.
Learn simple, easy to retain and real world effective joint locks, pain compliance, takedowns and weapon disarms.
There is no fluff or BS, the classes are informal, the information is relevant, tried and tested and questions are encouraged.
The course runs from 12noon to 1430 on the 11th, 18th & 25th May. €100/person.
We require a 10% deposit by Fri 25th April to hold your place.
Call (087 672 6090) or email info@wildgeesema.com
Don’t forget the upcoming Steve Tappin seminar, if your interested in control and restraint, work in the Security industry or just enjoy practical martial arts, you’ll benefit greatly from this man.
Expect to learn how to deal with edged weapons, blade awareness and practical self protection tactics, all from a man who is in great demand throughout Europe to instruct elite Police units and security agencies.
More info on the seminar click here, or to visit Steve Tappin’s Homepage click here
Wild Geese
any cause but our own
Quick note, Steve Tappin of Escrima Concepts has confirmed he will be coming to Ireland to teach a seminar for us.
If you’re an eskrimador, martial artist or security professional, don’t miss this opportunity to train with one of the best in the industry.
Steve agreed to take time out from his busy schedule (check out the calender page on his website) travelling to teach all over europe, to come to us for the weekend of May 2-4th.
Call back for more info, as soon as I get the artwork sorted out I’ll have info posted here.
Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own
Paul Cox, co founder and chief instructor of Wild Geese Martial Arts was recently in Mexico and Cuba.
It was a few years since Paul and I were in Cuba to grade 2 lads up to Black belt in Ed Parkers Kenpo, the first of their kind in Cuba. Paul had spent a lot of time in Cuba training the already talented Miguel and Chino his brand of Kenpo/FMA, so he and I went over to Grade them and perform a few demo’s.
Miguel has subsequently moved on and set up clubs in Mexico. Paul was invited over to teach. He was extremely well received by the local martial arts fraternity and by the LEO’s that attended his seminars. Paul was also asked to Demo at a police training center where they were very impressed with the adaptability of FMA/kenpo to almost every possible scenario from civillian self defence, through police arrest and control to military extreme combat.
We are working on updating our website (http://www.wildgeesema.com/) to include sections dedicated to our Cuban rep (Chino) our Mexican Rep (Julio Loaiza) and Miguel Arroyo. Keep an eye out for updates.
Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own
We’ve just opened a new class due to special request.
A few of the lads I work with on the door had just seen the Bourne Ultimatum and were asking me about Krav Maga, I explained the similarities between KM and FMA/Kenpo, plus the fact that in the previous films Bourne had been using FMA so we opened a new class.
Every Monday at 4.30pm we will be teaching FMA/Kenpo at the Pinnacle Gym off Camden St, just behind Copper’s. The class format is based around empty hand and street defence. The ceilings are just too low for full on stick swinging, but we already have 3 classes based around the stick/weapons, so it’s about time we taught empty hands and unarmed vs armed on a regular basis.
So far, my students (largely due to the class time) are security and Garda, this suits us as the Wild Geese are active in the securit field and love teaching to people who may actually find themselves in the situation where they need some of this training. However we are open to everybody.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get some youtube footage sorted out soon showing all aspects of our training.
For those who don’t know pinnacle, it’s a proper Gym. Mick has set this up as a gym for people who want to train, he has plenty of free weights, a selection of machines, an outdoor (covered) section with a powerlifting platform, maize bag, punch bag and boxing ring as well as an upstairs room for martial arts classes, one end of the room features half an octogon for all you mma’ers.
Oh there’s also a treadmill and rowing machine, although they’re a bit dusty!
More on Pinnacle on http://www.irish-lifting.com/
Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own
Wild Geese Martial Arts are are the Irish Reps for Rapid Arnis, Guba Doce Pares and Doce Pares “Original” Eskrima. Although we love all FMA, and martial arts of every style. We’re not into politics and ego’s just training, teaching and promoting martial arts, fitness and health.
The Wild Geese are Paul Cox, 3rd dan Ed Parker’s Kenpo, 2nd Dan Shaloin Kempo, 1st Dan Doce Pares. And myself, Dave Hedges, 2nd Dan Ed Parker’s Kenpo, 1st Dan Wado Ryu Karate-Jutsu.
Our official site is http://www.wildgeesema.com/.
In the near future (as when we get time) we will be putting together an Irish Council of Kali, Eskrima, Arnis Instructors. This will be based on the British council (http://www.bckeai.co.uk/), which in turn is based on the Philippine Council of Kali Eskrima Arnis Masters.
The idea of the council is to be a non profit, non political council, made up of genuine FMA instructors, with the goal of promoting FMA in all it’s forms and ensuring that the public is aware as to who are the real instructors.
If you have comments/suggestions/questions put em down here.
Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own