Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

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Bill Glasheen
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Raffi Dierderian, Uechi godan practitioner who also teaches kali, escrima, Phillipine knife, kubotan, etc will be visiting our dojo as part of a reginal swing of his seminars. Raffi made buddies with several in my Richmond dojo and so we try to touch base whenever. We'll be swinging the sticks, knives and kubotans for 3 hours tonight. Rumor has it that Rich is bringing him down to the firing range before class.

Ahhh, boys and their toys.

Film at 11.

- Bill
gjkhoury
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by gjkhoury »

BE CAREFUL!

UGH! You boys play so rough!

Have a good time, Bill, and please say Hey! to Raffi for me!

Maybe you'll host a loud-mouthed, self-proclaimed sparring "expert" someday?

Let me know.

Gary

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Gary J. Khoury
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Bill Glasheen
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Gary

No, we won't be hosting any loud-mouths or self-proclaimed experts, but we WOULD like to have you down. In fact....I just sent a note out - this morning - to our regional group asking them about having a regional tournament. Imagine that! Looks like we have an opportunity ahead.

I'll say "Hi" to Raffi for you.

Oh and by the way, there will be another Rhode Island native that we'll be gossiping about over beer because HE CAN'T GET OFF HIS LAZY MARINE *** to answer his mail. We'll drink one in his honor too!

- Bill
Scaramouche
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Scaramouche »

Hmmm. I'm not familliar with Guro Raffi. Who was his teacher? What system (or systems) does he teach? What is it's main focus?

Scaramouche
Allen M.

Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Allen M. »

Scaramouche,

You can garner all sorts of info about him from his web page at: http://www3.edgenet.net/cooter/mfs/bio.html

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Allen - [email]uechi@ici.net">uechi@ici.net</A> - <A HREF="http://www.uechi-ryu.org[/email]
gjkhoury
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by gjkhoury »

Well....

How did it go, guys? Don't keep us northerners in the dark, huh?

And, Bill, were you serious when you mentioned having that certain someone to your school?

I think that's AWESOME! The walls are continuing to crumble! Thanks to guys like you, politics stateside are eventually going to be a moot point.

And if you're serious about widening the ethnic spectrum at your dojo with the appearance of a Labanese guy, please let me know. I'd LOVE to visit, and will bring a year's supply of Bubba Ganoush!

Regards,

Gary

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Gary J. Khoury
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Bill Glasheen
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Bill Glasheen »

A quick report....

Raffi got to Richmond a little early. As promised, Rich brought him (and myself) to the local firing range. Rich brought along a few pieces to work with with including a refurbished M1 rifle (an awsomely powerful and accurate piece), as well as a Glock 45 and and S&W 357 Magnum. Raffi has all the pics in his camera. He promised to send me some JPEGs.

We had about 15 in attendance for Raffi's seminar with us. All of our UVa people were on vacation, but we had a fairly decent Richmond turnout of students who were advanced enough to appreciate what Raffi does. The 3 hour seminar started with some single stick and knife work. Since Rich and I had worked with most everyone before Raffi came, we got down to some fairly good prearranged kumite work quickly with both single stick and knife. Unfortunately because of a huge oversight, we didn't have enough sticks available to work on double stick technique.

The way Raffi approached the class was commendable. As I said, everyone in attendance had a rudamentary knowledge of how to work stick and knife. Almost everything Raffi worked on was applicable with stick, knife, or empty hand. As a matter of fact, we spent the last 45 minutes or so putting the toys away and showing how these same weapon fighting methods worked with empty hands. The emphasis, of course, was the Phillipine fighting methods that the stick and knife were based on. I am a big believer in looking for parallels between the empty-handed and weapon methods so as to minimize the amount of total knowledge needed to apply oneself in may different mediums. This fits in with the principles of a kata-based system. As an aside, it was also interesting how Rich was getting on Raffi and I to use our right Sanchin stance earlier in the day to fire the weapons. It worked, and we each had some good shots as testament to the link between form and function.

The thing that Raffi brings to a group of "karate folks" is an ability to step out of the stiff karate box and into a more flowing method. It's not that good karate doesn't flow, it's just that most people who practice karate don't know how to flow. Raffi and I had a few sidebar conversations during the seminar talking about various stylists he works with. Our conclusion was that karate gives a great foundation, and the JKD and other Phillipine methods are great at fluid flighting, but the combination of the two (karate first) gives the most devastating result. That would be fighters that flow well and yet deliver devastating blows. Raffi and I also see eye-to-eye on the application of grappling methods (jiu jitsu, aikido, etc) to "finish the job".

And on the subject of flowing well, Raffi and I also noted how virtually everyone in attendance (all Uechi and Goju karate people) were so "upper body" oriented when applying what Raffi was teaching. And this was after watching Raffi demonstrate his methods using whole body motion. This is one of my own pet pieves. Even the Goju instructor there couldn't get the legs to drive the hands and do all the body shifts. Shame! But we can work on all that with time... The point is that good fighters have a whole body method that few seem to grasp. And - yes - it's in your sanchin if you know how to apply it.

In the final 20 minutes or so, Raffi pointed out how the Phillipine methods work at delivering what he called "nerve strikes" at their most advanced levels. This is their own version of kyusho. Between Raffi's encyclopedic knowledge and my following him with an anatomy critique, we had a good thing going. Too bad we can't steal him.

When we finished at 10 PM ++ (the folks who run our gym were most gracious for the extra time), all the others wimped out and went home. It seems that my wife, my six year old, and my 7 month old were the only ones (wo)man enough to go out afterwards. But Chad and Sterling had to stick to the rootbeer.

Raffi's off today to teach a 2 day seminar in Northern Virginia. But before he left, we shook hands on making this a bi-yearly event. And I bought all his tapes, so we're all set to bone up on our work before we next see him.

I highly recommend that folks visit Raffi at camp this year. Yea, he'll say a few contraversial things about getting you our of your classic karate positions. But in the end - if you really know your karate - you'll see how it all comes back together again. I'm certainly able to keep all my basics about me and flow with what Raffi has to offer. But sometimes you need to stir the dust up a little before it settles again in a better place.

-- Bill
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Bill Glasheen
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Gary

When you come, bring some good Lebanese food while you're at it. George and Susan know how much I love this version of ethnic food. They always bring me by one of their favorite restaurants whenever I visit!

We'll work on the details later.

- Bill
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by RACastanet »

Gary: If you visit, I'd love to take you out to the 'Black Creek Shooters Association'. The ammo is on me. A little cross training never hurt anyone.
Regards, Rich
Allen M.

Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Allen M. »

Bill,

Did Raf do any sparring with youse guys?

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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Allen

We did a kind of hybrid yakusoku/jiyu kumite with knife and then empty hand. It involved a repetitive pattern with offensive and defensive sides where the individual could throw one of a number of offensive techniques at various points in the pattern. There were options to block, but counters to the blocks.

There is jiyu kumite with the knife and stick, but you need to have the right equipment. All this Phillipino knife/stick/empty hand work starts with assaulting the fingers/hand/wrist/forearm (de-fanging the snake), and then working your way up the arm to the body. It's similar to some of the principles of kyusho - an attitude where every block is really an attack. To do this with knife (even a dull wooden one), you need special gloves, as well as proper eye protection, etc. Raffi tells me that they already have competitive knife fights now, and several such tournaments have occurred in the New England area.

-- Bill
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Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Raffi Derderian »

Bill,
I just got in a few hours ago from the rest of my trip. I would like to thank you for the very kind words indeed. You are being very generous in your praise.
As always, the group that you and Rich teach is a pleasure to work with. They are open minded and work very hard. I hope they keep on practicing what we worked on. And yes, I am looking forward to the fall when I am again in that area for seminars so I can work with you all again.
Rich Sensei- thanks for the trip to the shooting range. I think it was obvious that I am a little better with sticks and knives than firearms. Next time I buy the ammo.
Bill- bringing Gary down would be awesome...but if you fight him-use the stick techniques I showed you! I have seen Gary fight and the only way I would fight him is with my sticks and knives-that might give me a small chance!!
See you guys at summercamp.
Raffi
ps. Rich, I sent you a gift in the mail, be looking for it in a few days
Allen M.

Raffi (Phillipine arts) visiting Richmond

Post by Allen M. »

Hello Bill,

My dad once said "The arms and the legs are the soldiers and the body is the king. The way to get to the king is to kill the soldiers."

Filipino martial arts and Uechi-ryu is an awesome combination. BTW, glad that Raf left a few of youse guys ok for the summer camp.

Cya there.

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Allen - [email]uechi@ici.net">uechi@ici.net</A> - <A HREF="http://www.uechi-ryu.org[/email]
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