My trip to Boston was great! I left Wednesday evening on a red-eye and arrived Thursday morning – sleepy and disoriented. After a stop at Starbucks (I don’t normally drink coffee!), I spent the day with my Kenpo instructor, Mr. MacDonald. He was conducting testing this week, so I had a chance to see his junior students at performance level. At the end of the night we worked on some of the curriculum that I need to earn my 4th degree (very cool!) and then went out to dinner.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday I spent with my Eskrima instructor, Mr. Silverman. We spent Friday morning and afternoon training privately and then welcomed 3 of the top eskrimadors in the world to his school; Grandmaster “Diony” Canete, Master “Dong” Cuesta & Master “Val” Pableo. I had the honor of assisting with the kids seminar they conducted Friday evening which was great! One of the highlights for me was the question and answer session GM Diony had with the kids. I learned tons!
After a good night’s sleep we returned to the school Saturday morning for the adults seminar. I am always inspired working with GM Diony. He is 68 years young, has been studying Eskrima since he was 7 years old, and is filled with joy every time he is on the mat. We arrived at the school early and ended up participating with GM Diony in an impromptu cha-cha/eskrima session. When the adults seminar officially began and we were treated to another day of great instruction. Two things that stand out for me are a new lock flow Master Cuesta showed us and a new striking pattern GM Diony taught. I am also proud to say that I was promoted to 2nd grade Black Belt in Doce Pares Eskrima by Mr. Silverman at the end of the seminar.
I spent Sunday morning with Mr. Sliverman and his wife and then headed to the airport and back to Seattle.
Thank you to Miss Gwen, Mr. MacLaren, Miss Mackenzie and Mr. Ness for covering classes at the school while I was away and thank you to all of the students and families for your support.
Sincerely,
Mr. Herrman
