Dragon Dance Team practice for Chinese New Years 2013

I am looking forward to this year's Chinese New Year and another Dragon Dance with Dr. Lee and all of our friends.  Last year I was able to enjoy the awesome event and this year is going to be more exciting for me because Heide and I are participating with some of my students.  We had a practice today with the terrific team and Sifu Lee had us practicing basic steps and formations.  I helped keep the mood light although we worked diligently and all want to do our best to put on an excellent dance in February.

Christmas Celebrating

Christmas was a beautiful celebration with family and friends this year.  We started the merriment on Sunday with Tom and Lisa Hybiske's party with their family and friends.  The party was terrific - wonderful people, great food. The children were so excited and especially enjoyed singing and dancing.  There was even some laser sword play later that night in the front yard.

It was followed by Christmas Eve the next day with visiting Heide's mom, dad, brother and sister, niece and nephew, followed by my mom and my son Randy coming to our house for a delicious traditional fish dinner.  Everybody was having a great time, our animal friends included.

At 10 pm we decided to exchange our gifts and enjoyed simply being together.  On Christmas Day we went to see my family as well as visited Heide's 97 year old grandmom in Pennsylvania.  Christmas should last a week instead of only a few days.

December 14th Testing

5:45 pm Elyas and Ethan tested for their yellow belts, going through basics, form and techniques, looking a little nervous but confident. Awesome job guys!  Keep up the great work and congratulations on your advancement.  Keep practicing.

7:00 pm we started on schedule for 1st Kyu testing with Sempei Matt. Testing started with grueling and fast paced basics. Mark and Andie followed all the basics giving their best on the advanced. Great job guys.  Sempei Matt exemplified near perfection going through all the Kenpo Forms requirements and a Black Belt Form as well. Soon after we jumped in to all the basics with a verbal quiz as well as physical delivery, which was impeccable.  Excellent job and I am very proud of you and am glad to be your friend and your instructor.

Congratulations to all.

Toys for Tots Benefit Tournament December 9, 2012

It was a pleasure to take part at the WKU's Toys for Tots Tournament at the Chateau Resort in the Poconos today.  The event was great.  It was awesome to run into all the people I love, admire and respect including Master Bridget, Master Stephanie, Justine Wollman, Pat and Josh, etc.

The Christmas spirit was around us, everybody was in the spirit of giving and Sandokan donated a Japanese sword set to the winner of a raffle drawing.  The Chateau was beautifully decorated with lighted 10 to 12 foot Christmas trees and Santa even visited for the kids.  Once Santa took a break, Heide and I decided to keep his seat warm. (I am sure the jolly old man would appreciate it with his old bones).

The spectators and competitors were wonderful, including members of the Marine Corps who took part in this event. Special thanks of gratitude to the Tasetano family for being dedicated to this charitable event people and for being marines! Congratulations to all the competitors and kudos to moms and dads, family and friends who support them and together have helped this worthy cause, after all that is what it is about.

Yellow Belt Testing

Monday, December 3rd started off with great classes including cardio. At 7 pm, Adult Yellow Belt testing began. Class was fully stocked with Advanced Belts supporting the Yellow Belt Testing students.

I decided to sidestep a little bit after the excruciating stretching and we put the Yellow Belt candidates through rigorous basics such as kicks, punches and combinations.  Andie Soma and Mark Ingrum were motivated and very dedicated as well as driven to ace the belt testing.  Through indomitable spirit they persevered and passed with flying colors.  I would like to thank my advanced belts as well as congratulate the yellow belt students.  I am very proud of everyone, and look forward to next testing.

Another Excellent Workshop at World Karate Studio

The seminar started at 12:30 pm. After a good review we went into 5-6-7 drills.  Everybody was focused, determined and driven as usual to get the drill's footwork and techniques down right. I always have a great time teaching great people.  Dr. Buzz, as usual, not only being an awesome person and friend, is always a Class Act.  Looking forward to stick and knife fighting next month.

Great Sparring Night

Everyone had a lot of fun, laughs and comraderie in sparring class tonight.  Those that showed up included: Jr. Sensei Pat Rybakiewicz, Sempei Matt Van Horn, Heide Clouse, Lizzie, Charlie and Tom Hybiske, Trish and Nate Devito-Moore.  Everyone tested their skills of basics, timing, blitzing and combinations against each other. At one point Lizzie Hybsike, instead of closing her eyes, decided to spar blind folded and covered her face with her hair.

All students including me, had a lot of fun, laughs and great time with the martial arts family.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Had a great day today, it was awesome.  Classes were great - one class that stood out in particular was junior sparring. Four year old Charlie Hybiske is like a tiger - unstoppable and does not back down or quit while sparring everyobody and he was disappointed when class was over, he wanted some more.  Nate Moore although he hasn't sparred in a while, proved to everyone including himself - when you got it, you got it!  Way to go Nate!  Lizzie Hybiske exemplified warrior spirit by going after a 2nd Kyu brown belt.  Marcus Van Horn showed everyone what it is to be a 2nd Kyu Brown Belt by exemplifying control and in the end making everyone work hard so they can improve their skills.  Excellent job everyone - I am proud of you!

Saturday, September 22nd Sandokan Seminar

Had a great seminar at Dr Buzz's Karate Studio. Seminar was opened by review of last month's forms and 12 angles of attack followed by single sinawali, single cane in the right, single cane in the left and single sinawali with double cane which flowed into rodonda strikes and double sinawali.  The drills lasted for about an hour switching from sinawalis form single to double to rodonda and so forth.  The group was right on and doing an awesome job without any hesitation. After the drills we started on number 1 strike and absorbtion block, followed by the tip control strike to the nerve cluster on the thigh and a wrist smash to fulcrum disarm with fanning strike to the head.  Everybody's footwork, hip torques and body positioning was right on the money so we decided to go into a lock to disarm from #2 strike to block-check and counter.  The seminar was assisted by Sempei Matt Van Horn whose stick techniques are immaculate for his rank.  I would like to thank everybody for an awesome job and giving 110% and a special thanks to Dr. Buzz who was presented with a Life Time membership to Sandokan International Federation.

Disciple Ceremony at Dr. Lee's Academy

Everybody arrived early to prepare for the first US Disciple Ceremony in the White Crane Kung Fu system.  Sifu Mel R, Sifu Khadi M, Sifu Chris V. and I were witnesses during the formal ceremony.   Dr. Lee began with a history lesson on the White Crane Kung Fu system and the ceremony itself was very traditional and myself along with the other witnesses were honored to be a part of it.  The small crowd of spectators for the intimate event included family and close friends.  After the ceremony, Disciple Bob invited everyone to a cookout at Dr. Lee's residence.  Good food and laughs were shared as we celebrated martial arts family togetherness and history was made.

Happy Birthday Sempei Marcus

It was great to share good times with the Van Horn family as they celebrated Marcus's 10th birthday and had a barbecue.  Good people, good food, good times!  Bud was flying his new rc helicopter outside and there were two games of washers going on.  Everyone had a fun time.

Day Off in China Town

I took Heide on a walking tour a China Town and showed her places I spent many hours training, working and relaxing at in my favorite part of Philadelphia.  Many memories of times spent with family and friends came back as we walked the streets. Then we met up with our good friend and student Sempei Matt Van Horn for a relaxing lunch.

 

Terrific class at American Karate and Arnis Academy

The classes started awesome with Sensei Patrick Shay as guest instructor before he goes away to college tomorrow. He also brought us a surprise - an awesome martial artist named Scottie Smythe.  Sensei Pat started class with warmup stretching which afterwards I took over into basic drill combinations which was then followed by self defense technique review.  Sempei Matt Van Horn was assisting with teaching the green belts as I kept the review of techniques as far as time allowed.  Everybody was focused and enthused such as Kathy Clouse, Heide Clouse and Sempei Marcus Van Horn.  Just before class we found out Marcus turned 10 today - so naturally, in the martial arts spirit and because we love him, once we bowed off the matt, we proceeded to circle around him to deliver 10 strong birthday punches (Happy Birthday Marcus!!).  Sensei Pat and Scotty Smythe stayed after class to do strength training and Scotty dazzled us with his awesome skill in freestyle wrestling techniques.

Another great day at my favorite lake, Lake Oswego.

We arrived at the lake around 10:30 am so we picked our favorite picnic spot near the water under the cedar trees  As soon as we set up we heard thundering noises in the sky and at first thought it was thunder. The noises got closer and we noticed three F16 Fighter Jets which were obviously on training missions. What an awesome sight - we had a front row view sitting in lawn chairs looking at fighter jets going through drills. It went on for about 2 and a half hours while the picnic area was filling up with people.

As they enjoyed the training, Mallori and Kathy were enjoying cedar water practically by themselves except for a few people - the water was a bit chilly today.  I went on a quest for small pygmie pines which only grown in the state of NJ, to try to dig one up to try to plant it at home. While I was gone the girls went turtle hunting and caught a tiny paint turtle. While I was hunting for the pines I noticed a lot of mushrooms and gathered some up to educate the girls about which were edible or not.  On my quest I ran across some cute little green and brown frogs in a puddle. I got back with two mushrooms and told everyone about them then Heide and Kathy went on a 40 minute quest of their own to look for frogs and mushrooms. After what might have been a lunch break or to refuel the jets came back flying much lower and closer.  I felt the vibrations from the jet engines.  Then I looked down the walking path and I see Heide coming pack with a big Ziploc bag full of mushrooms.  We studied them on the table to see which might be edible or not. It was an awesome day and we were thankful for the free airshow and for studying botanical and zoological biology as well as spending time with great friends Mike and Lori and their daughter Mallori.

Opening Weekend NY Ren Faire 8/5/12

The NY Renaissance Fair is always a terrific event and we look forward to the Medieval fun yearly; this year was again superb.  Upon arrival we quickly found my son Randy Kiersnowski who is portraying one of Robin Hood's men, outlaw and tracker Alan-a-dale, then the fun really began as we followed Randy's performances!  

Randy is such a versatile actor, we were thrilled to watch him throughout the day as he fought the Sheriff of Nottingham's men, or enchanted children with his guitar playing, and made the audience laugh with hilarious songs and dances in hysterical skits with the other performers.  It is non stop fun as soon as you arrive and every performer makes the entire day an adventure so that we didn't want the day to end.  Love you Randy and I am so proud of you.

Dr. Buzz's seminar

We just finished a terrific introduction seminar to Modern Arnis and Sandokan at Dr. Buzz's Martial Arts dojo.  I loved working with everyone and everyone was awesome.  We concentrated on basic strikes one through twelve and two Forms in the time we had together.  I think classes like that could last all day because the students were great and their enthusiasm and energy makes the time pass so quickly.  It was awesome that the group was so focused that they even learned to count in Tagalog and we covered a second short form.  A big thank you to the group and I can't wait  to work with them next time.  I am so thankful for everyone because as an instructor I learned a lot from the students as well.

 

All Ages Sparring

All ages all ranks sparring began.  After brief stretching everyone geared up including Charlie Hybiske, age 4, Lizzie Hybiske, 8, Sami Van Horn, 15, Kathy Clouse, 11, April Schultz who is an enthusiastic  visiting friend from Oklahoma age 11, Tom Hybiske, 35, Sempei Marcus Van Horn, 9, and Sempei Matt Van Horn who got down to business.  Everyone had a great time and practiced sparring technique, speed, and accuracy while learning from each other, as well.  It was exhausting to some but always worth the effort.  Awesome job!!

What a perfect day, the weather was beautiful, the breeze was great, there wasn't a cloud in sight.  Family, friends, students caravanned to the lake and after our traditional stop at Nixon's on the way, we arrived at the lake before 10. We were the only ones there - the lakes was all ours!

Our favorite picnic table waited for us, we had a firepit next to us, and the inviting lake in front of us.  The kids splashed right in, Lizzie, April and Charlie were first timers and did not mind the warm refreshing cedar water at all.  Rudie, our yorkie, enjoyed the boogie board and swimming with everyone.

Next we went blueberry picking and filled the bags between tastes, the children ate more than they picked, and Rudie grabbed some from the bushes, too.  She tried to stick her face in the bag once but we had to stop her, what a dog!  Wish my mom was here as in years past but she is galavanting in Europe until November!

Looking forward to the next time and karate at the lake!

Fun at the Lake July 8th

It was an awesome day at the lake July 8th. Family and friends and also our 2 little doggies, a yorkie named Rudie and a mini poodle named Gigi, came with us to share the day.  The weather was great and the water was warm and so were the people around us.  We met a lot of interesting folks including some that brought guitars, basses, and banjos.  Everyone enjoyed swimming, tanning and kayaking or rafting, and so did our dogs. Ellie and Heide floated around while I paddled across the lake, and Ellie's two sons, David and Daniel, our neighbor Chris and his girlfriend Tiffany, and our kids Chris and Kathy had chicken fights in the water.  What a tremendously active yet relaxing day.

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July was an exciting and amazing day. It started off with morning coffee and spending time with Heide and Christopher, then at noon we had an awesome karate class with Matt, Marcus and Samantha Van Horn.  Afterwards we prepared to go to Dr. John Lee's annual 4th of July bash on the river.

The cookout was, as usual, filled with an overabundance of international foods and it was a lively fun filled time with great people including Grandmasters and Masters and Mataw Guru Luelle Lledo, Sifu Mel Roberts, Master Allan Cheung, Master Sabato Trent, Sifu Joy and Sensei Elisa Greene and other excellent martial artists and Dr. Lee's wonderful family. Everyone was having fun on the river with canoe jousting, speed boat runs and getting rides on the Waverunner.  Heide Clouse had a wonderful time going full throttle for the first time in her life (what a rush!), she can't wait to do this again as soon as possible.

Dr. Lee started off karaoke and it was definitely a great party with great people.
 

Then, after 4 hours of food and fun Heide and I went to see Tom, Lisa, Lizzie, and Charlie Hybiske.   Tom's parents were visiting from Massachusetts, so we decided to start a bonfire while Heide, Lisa, Lizzie and Charlie were enjoying themselves in the pool.  Tom and his parents and I were sitting by the bonfire discussing martial arts and bladed weapons while Griswold kept us busy by bringing back his ball we threw for him (what an amazing dog).  Fun at the Hybiske's lasted until a little after 10pm and neighborhood fireworks ended the evening. We are all looking forward to this Sunday the 8th, for our trip to Lake Oswego where we have more fellowship, martial arts outside, and summer fun with students and family and friends.