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Alain Burrese Seminar: A Report
Article and pictures by
Danny “Szczepankiewicz” Rowell
Ever been to Mayberry?
Ever seen the Andy Griffith Show?
If you have (and Im betting you have) you know about Barney Fife.
Ol One Bullet Barn. Well,
Spanky can relate. Sometimes Mr.
Szczepankiewicz tends to get a little too big for his britches (sniff). After five long years of training Spanky gets to feelin a wee
bit overconfident is his martial prowess.
Thats where guys like Alain Burrese come in
And the next thing you know, Spanky is face down eating
canvas, desperately trying to get part of his body to function in a tapping
type motion before the little girlie-man sounds start pouring out.
On July 12th of this year, Alain Burrese
traveled down to Boise to instruct fellow martial artists in a Hapkido Joint
Locking Seminar. Thats when the hurting started!
The warm summer day started off with some independent
stretching and warming up while we awaited the arrival of all six students.
The formal instruction began with Alain leading the group in a
traditional Hapkido bow. Sabom
Burrese then outlined the ground rules and gave the group an
overview of what was going to be covered.
Then
we were off. We spent the next
two-plus hours working on techniques to hyperextend someones elbow joint. Alain explained in detail how a hinge joint works and
highlighted how, when said joint is bent in unnatural ways, intense pain tends
to follow.
Granted, anyone with even basic grappling skills has a
simple understanding of arm bars. Sabom Burrese expanded on this topic explaining, demonstrating, and then
coaching the seminar participants in dozens of variations on this theme.
Indeed,
the entire seminar consisted of 10- to 15-minute segments that followed this same
pattern. Alain explained the
technique, demonstrated on Spanky (or some other volunteer), and coached the
participants in proper form. This
was pretty standard behavior for an instructor.
However, Alain always seemed to be in the right place at the right time
correcting minor
misunderstandings, answering both mechanical and tactical questions, and
suggesting better ways to perform. We
had a wide range of student backgrounds (Taekwondo, Hapkido, Kempo, Jujutsu,
etc) and Alain adjusted his focus to meet the needs of each individual
student.
After
attacking the elbow, it was time for lunch.
Alain spent 90 minutes at lunch relating old war stories and the
different sociological aspects of his varied martial arts background.
After some delicious bean and beef burritos, we quickly headed back to
the dojo, did a little more stretching and warming up, and dove right back
into the action.
For the next five hours, we covered wrist, shoulder,
finger, and the ‘oh so entertaining come-along techniques. Throughout the seminar, Alain made sure that everybody was
keeping up and that we all understood what he was teaching us.
For some of us (read: Spanky) he had to repeat himself numerous times.
Sabom Burrese also made sure that we took plenty of breaks to stay
hydrated in the 105o weather.
Alain introduced new topics with jokes or anecdotes, adjusted the pace
of his teaching to keep the students busy but not overworked, and provided
situational scenarios in which these techniques could be used (while providing
examples in which they should not).
As Sabom
Burrese explained, Hapkido is a Korean art of self-defense.
One must understand that the effectiveness of this, and many other
styles, is the balance between the martial and the art.
Some of the techniques are more practical for actual combat, whilst
others are more practical as teaching mechanisms, practice patterns, or
simply part of the heritage of this style.
He also pointed out that nothing works all the time, so be prepared to
constantly adjust what you are trying to do against what your opponent is trying
to do to you.
After the seminar, Sabom
Burrese joined the seminar students in a barbecue, wherein
Spanky tried to infect him with E. Coli Ukeburgers. The students who came
to eat pestered him for a few more hours with “what ifs” and “this is
how we do this” type conversations.
Throughout the entire adventure, Alain Burrese was always
respectful, encouraging, insightful, and entertaining.
In the beginning of our story here, I told you how many students were
able attend. Sabom Burrese traveled over 700 miles, suffered through hot temperatures
in an un-air-conditioned dojo*, and spent all day teaching, laughing, slamming,
and sharing with just six people hed never met before, the whole time
keeping a smile on his face. If
this doesnt make it crystal clear that Alain Burrese is a man of great
character and integrity, not to mention martial skill, I dont know what
would.
*The dojo where we trained did indeed have air
conditioning. However this was never pointed out and Spanky was too dense to
ask instead of assuming
I cant wait to get him back down to Boise next spring
for some more excellent training.
Until
then, Ol One Bullet Barn, err
Spanky will put his bullet back in his
shirt pocket and cogitate on some excellent learnin.