Brian & Dr. Dan Netherland at the awards ceremony.

 
Dr. Dan Netherland inducts Ljubomir's daughter Anna, who teaches martial arts to women in war zones throughout the world.

 
Dr. Dan Netherland and Jennifer Oh from Tiger Claw Martial Arts at the awards dinner.

 
cMarc Shuey Sr. and Jr., (outside left and right), alongside Russell McCartney.

  
Marc Shuey Sr., Russell McCartney and Wayne Carmen.

 
Marc Shuey, Sr. and Russell McCartney cross cane and katana!

 
Russell McCartney crosses katana with his student.

 
Demonstration of a very familiar off-line technique by Russell McCartney

 
The results of stepping off-line!

 
Bill "Superfoot" Walllace teaches a class

 
Dr. Dan Netherland gives instruction to Serbian Ljubomir. I broke 4! :-)

 
Fred T. Mastison teaches the law enforcement course, doing a familiar step-off-the-line gun takeaway. 

 I was a bit surprised, and honestly a little cautious when I received a notification that I'd been nominated by Professor Marty Cale for his United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

Too many of these things are simply aggrandizement for the organizers, a way to run an event and make a quick pile of money, like so many things in the martial arts community. But I'd had very good email communications with Professor Cale, who is 10th dan in White Tiger Kenpo Karate and holds numerous other black belt rankings. We had been corresponding concerning his primary organization, the US Martial Arts Council, which seems to hold goals similar to those that the Schola has, and so I decided to go and check out not only the Martial Arts Council, but more importantly, the people who made up the council as well. WIth luck, I would get the chance to demonstrate our arts a bit, too.

The event was surperbly organized and took place in Nashville, TN near the end of July. After an uneventful flight, I arrived Saturday morning and was very warmly greeted by the staff and by Professor Cale himself--we spent a few minutes talking before he graciously offered the Schola and the Chivalry Bookshelf a table next to Dr. Dan Netherland, holder of the Guiness Book of Records for two separate Breaking feats, records that were not in doubt of having the pleasure of watching the Doctor at work with students during his breaking seminar.

Like the WMA events we'd had the pleasure of hosting, this event featured instructors from many different branches of martial arts, all accomplished and ranging from the purely practical to the more flamboyant. Throughout the weekend, in between seminars, I had the opportunity for superb conversations and a bit of work with Fred Mastison (who taught an excellent Law Enforcement course throughout the weekend); Grandmaster Russell McCartney (who taught an extremely good course on test cutting with the Katana); Grandmaster William McDonald (Tong il Lo); Sensei Mike Morris; Grandmaster Mark R. Sr. and Sensei Mark Shuey Jr. (CaneMasters); Grandmaster Ljubomir Vracarevic (Real Akido, plus his amazingly talented sons and two daughters--more about that later); and Bill "superfoot" Wallace.

There were many others in attendance, but most of the attendees were of black belt or higher, many of these were 4th dan and up. Unusually, there was very little ego at the event; indeed, it felt more like one of the WMA events in that there was virtually no politics that I could detect, and everyone was keenly interested in the quality of what others where demonstrating. Of course, like most of this kind of training event, there was insufficient time for any one track, but I had a great time taking the test cutting courses with Russell McCartney, the Real Akido classes with Ljubomir, and some cane classes with Mark Shuey Jr.

All three instructors were extremely impressive in their own way. Grandmaster McCartney taught two courses in Tamshigiri test cutting, and this nicely augmented the work we did in California. Grandmaster McCartney's team was also excellent, and I senses much the same dedication and camaraderie as we expect from our own Schola students. In their art, Ishi Yama Ryo Battojutsu, practical sparring is key to the development and testing of refined skills, much as in our own Schola. I think there is an excellent synergy here, and perhaps more will come of our knowing of Grandmaster McCartney and his school.

From a martial point of view, perhaps the most impressive thing I had the pleasure to both witness and participate in was the Real Akido work of Grandmaster Ljubomir Vracarevic and his family, all of whom were exquisitely refined, polite, and dedicated to their art. Their Real Akido techniques, which form the core of the material taught to law enforcement and militaries throughout the world, are nothing like the more sedate and deliberate Akido I've studied and which I've seen. This is far more like combat Ju-Jitsi, which should not be surprising as the art has grown up in a combat zone (the family is from Serbia). Ljubomir's senior US instructor Vladamir Djordevic teaches in Chicago, while his eldest daughter--herself made a 6th dan at the event--has taken Real Akido into war-torn countries throughout the world teaching self-defense for women. She is quite beautiful, and I has very happy not to mistake her beauty for softness; her techniques are swift, accurate and sufficiently forceful to be a threat in any melieu. Vladamir did a practical demonstration, wearing a tuxedo, during the dinner, where his opponent came at him free form for several minutes. At the break, Ljobomir asked, "who thinks he's giving it to him?" Laughter ensured, but no one ventured to support the idea. Vladamir had hardly creased his tuxedo, while his opponent was----disheveled. I strongly recommend these folks if you ever have the chance to train with them, and I look forward to the opportunity in the future, as we seemed to have a very good rapport.

In the Schola Saint George we often say that none of our students will ever have to have to defend themselves with a longsword (or a poleaxe!), but that should not denigrate the self-defense applications of the art. At the event I had the pleasure of working with both Mark Shuey's, Jr. and Senior, on different aspects of the cane. This is a completely contemporary martial art, one that employs the walking cane for self-defense much like the 19th century references we have found so interesting. Canemasters kinesthetics are very close to our own, and indeed the cane can be viewed as a very short poleaxe--so most of the techniques transfer. Both of the Shueys teach their art and encourage the cane not only for able-bodied students, but as an ideal--and completely legal--weapon for the retired. Indeed, you can EVEN TAKE THEM ON AIRPLANES!

I hope that we can continue to integrate other martial arts into the Schola Saint George curriculem, and I came away from the event with the thought that perhaps we should be integrating fundamental defenses against knife, gun, stick and unarmed attacks into our lesson plans and testing. Plus, we might want to integrate some of the cane material as a matter of practicality.

During Dr. Netherland's breaking class, I was able to break 4 boards with my left hand. Honestly, I used to think that this breaking thing was a bit over the top, but of course it turns out to be a superb exercise for the generation of focus and for the development of confidence. Every person eventually reaches a point where they think they can break no more boards, but the magical part is that with proper focus, and the same lack of tension we teach in our test-cutting sessions, and the same through-the-target focus translates directly. Although we work in the Schola primarily with the sword, this can and perhaps should be integrated too, or at least these lessons should be included as part of the intermediate / advanced curriculem.

Over the course of the weekend, I had the extreme pleasure of introducing our philosophy and the historical material (I brought a ton of books) to many of the assembled Grandmasters and there was a great deal of sincere interest. Of course Fiore's unarmed abrazzare looked very familiar to students of arts that make use of joint locks, and the elegance and conservation of motion between the longsword poste seemed to appeal to many; I received many exceptional compliments on the form, gifts that it is very hard to repay--either to the giver or to Fiore.

Friday night, after the sessions, there was testing for various levels of black belt where circumstances consipired to withhold the opportunity from candidates. Their grandmaster council, led by Dr. Netherland, tested several candidates. Of these, two deserve special mention, for they are youngsters who displayed amazing courage and resolve. These are the Standish children, from Washington ( I wish I had their first names now, so long after the event!), and they were testing for different levels of black belt. Due to a glitch in the rules, it turned out that they could not test as expected, and this threw both young martial artists off their base with awkwardness. But, as the best do, they each rose to the occasion, and exceuted the forms of their test anyway, an act that took great courage and that is hard to relate in words. You had to be there, I guess, but it was IMPRESSIVE. If this is the kind of courage the Standishes are teaching in their Washington State dojo, then I applaud them; these students exhibited the finest qualities that the martial arts have to offer, proving that the refinement to character is the main benefit to any martial art.

Finally, I had the opportunity to spend excellent time with the Netherland family, to meet Professor Cale's beautiful and intelligent wife, and a host of others. The dinner was black-tie, and attended by approximately 400 people, so going up on stage was a far greater honor than I'd expected. I was recognized as "Master of Medieval Weaponry" (kind of funny considering the hue and cry in the WMA community over the title Master), but for me the important thing was that it represented a small first step into the larger community of martial artists, artists who seem to understand that these arts are more than breaking stuff (including each other), that these arts create better people--and I'm happy to be considered a member of their community.

--Brian R. Price
July 2004