St. Nicholas Budo Seminar 2007

Spent the whole weekend of 8th & 9th December at the St. Nicholas Budo Seminar (Nikolaus Budo Lehrgang, abbreviated NBL) in Forchheim, Germany. The seminar had been organized by Michael Kann in favor of Weisser Ring, a private organization supporting victims of crime. The participation was free of charge but everybody was asked to donate a bounty which in turn was handed over to this organization. There were workshops by several instructors representing their style such as BJJ, Capoeira, Krabi Krabong, Muay Thai, Submission Wrestling & Freefight, Kickboxing, Italian Knifefighting, Krav Maga and many more. Three halls were available so that one could choose between one of three simultaneous running workshops from 10 in the morning to 8 in the evening, each about 1 3/4 hours. This concept has been quite successful for several years now.


Left to right: Bobi, Chris, Roberto, C - Red Dog

Early in the morning I began with a double stick lesson in Kaliradman with Julio Felices. I was very surprised when we began with the first drills as the material presented reminded me of what I had learned within the Krabi Krabong material from the Dog Brothers. Very fluid and natural movements with the capacity to bridge huge distances and deliver strikes with a lot of power putting high pressure on your opponent. There was one special technique in which the second stick was held upside down and used like the sheath of a sword. You can see a short excerpt of the core drill in the first vid with Chris in black and me wearing green. In the second clip you can see how the sheath-sword combination is used to parry the incoming thrust. It's also possible to use this technique to block a forehand strike with a movement reminiscent of a roof-block. This is being demonstrated by Julio and one of his students in the third clip.




Later that day I was in the mood for trying out something new and joined another class with Julio for learning the basics of Capoeira. Man, I sucked big time! I really thought I was in shape but boy, did I cramp up trying to do handstands and rolling away from the kicks! Still I enjoyed this lesson very much since Capoeira makes playful use of combining martial arts movement with dancing rythm and made me do things I haven't tried out for a long time. It strung a chord within me. I guess everybody marveled at least once at the agility of Capoeiristas, you know how cool this can look like. Think I'll incooporate some of this material into my workouts to establish some new skills and get out of the slack of routine.

I finished the day with a lesson in grappling with Frank Burczynski. Learned a new way of escaping from the Front Mount. Great workout and loads of fun rolling on the floor with my man Bobi! Another grappling session on Sunday focused on the Half Guard and how to work from here. Good stuff!


Sidenote: at the end of a long day we found out that there was a massager around offering a quick tumble for little money. Just the right thing to relax but ouch, did we groan! Picture: Bobi gets realigned. Can you hear that spine cracking? ;)

With about 250 participants this year compared to 400 the last year the seminar had lesser attendance. Despite this the funds raised actually were higher than the year before. I interpret this in such a way that all those who came there to leech free training without giving some in return stayed home while those serious about martial arts came spend to a great weekend with some topnotch instructors and their arts. We had a lot fun and each of us will bring home one or the other newly learned skill. Not to forget that this seminar is organized for a real good cause and truly deserves wider attention. Until next year!