I want to thank everyone for attending the seminar and picnic honoring Grandmaster Emil Bautista. He had a great time, as we all did. Sijo told me the training was good and he really enjoyed himself.
The seminar turned out great. We had a pretty large group. I'd say over a hundred participated, counting the kids. From what I could see, everyone really enjoyed the training.
Besides the Kajukenbo techniques we offered, Prof. Ron Lew taught doce pares. For those who had an opportunity to train from Prof. Lew, I'm sure I can speak for you in saying he is a great teacher with excellent material.
For the ones who trained the Alphabet Techniques with me, I like to say a special thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. A lot of people told me we'd never get through all 26 techniques, but the diehards like Sigung John Bishop, Pat Tyrrell, Mark Davis, Ray Anderson, George Briones and many more proved the nay sayers wrong.
Sunday was a very special day, with Sijo, GM Dechi Emperado, Great GM Al Novak, Hanshi Thomas Mitose, GM Ming Lum, GM Charles Gaylord, GM Joe Davis, Prof. Jon Loren, Prof. Greg Harper, Prof. Joe Bautista, Prof. Ron Lew, Sigung John Bishop, Sigung Woody Sims, Sigung Tony Yadao, Sifu Ray Anderson, and on and on joining GM Bautista and the rest of us at KSDI, Vallejo to celebrate 35 years of Kajukenbo at GM Bautista's school.
GM Bautista, Prof. Joe Bautista and I all promoted students at the event (Clarence Isadore, Albert Saddler and Tami Whelan to 5th degree, Dennis Peterson to 4th degree, and Sam Carter to 1st degree).
GM Bautista then presented Prof. Joe Bautista and me with certificates signed by all the dignitaries honoring our promotion to the rank of Professor, which we received at Sijo's seminar in Las Vegas. There are no words for such an honor like that.
Prof. Jon Loren, one of his students, and those black belts who received higher rank all performed in front of the dignitaries to honor GM Bautista, as did Prof. Ron Lew, who demonstrated the whip, and Serene Terrazas who performed Palama Sets to island music. Everyone was fantasitc!
Prof. Loren presented GM Bautista with a humanitarian award for promoting and maintaining the integrity of the martial arts.
Another special tribute to GM Bautista came when JC Cooper and Jessie Reyes, the first and second black belts GM promoted came to show their support and appreciation. Their friendship goes back decades!
The highlight of the event though occurred when Sijo promoted Joe Davis from Professor to Grandmaster. GM Davis received his black belt in 1966 from Aleju Reyes and has been a driving force in promoting the original method of Kajukenbo throughout the US.
For those of you who received the Alphabet Techniques and enjoyed them, thank GM Davis when you see him because he's the one who dusted off his old bible and taught those techniques to me.
I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. The Ohana spirit brought us all a little bit closer, and some new friendships were formed. Sijo was very proud of all of us, and I think all of us demonstrated our appreciation and respect to GM Bautista, who has dedicated his life to promoting Kajukenbo.
We hope to see everyone at future events. Many of us will be in Oakhurst at Master Jerry Hyde's seminar.
Mahalo,
Prof. Mitch Powell
KSDI, Vallejo
