Dragon Tang Soo Do

Chris Crudelli Seminar - 28th November 2008

Many of us were not sure what to expect out of this seminar conducted by Chris Crudelli to show us moves from his JFM system…..but we were in for a fun time!

The seminar started off with a "gentle warm-up" with Chris asking us to do a 1,000 Press ups!.....oh well... lets see how many I could actually do! I was well chuffed I got to 73, going continuously until we were told to stop, and without cheating! Remember you only cheat yourself.

Straight onto the "Elephant Neck Exercise", which I definitely didn't enjoy…..did I want to ever give it up…..no….No…..NO…..NOOOO!!! , and as Chris said "PLEASE!" so nicely I didn't feel I could let the side down! But did it hurt! My Abs certainly ached a bit the next day. It was a case of grit your teeth and dig in, because just when you thought you could do no more, EVER, it was time to stop. Collective sigh of relief!

Next exercise was the "Horse Riding Stance" - Yep, the one that burns your thighs and makes your knees wobble like jelly!

It was pointed out that once one of us failed, we all failed! It made you want to yell out to everyone, keep going….not too much longer, even though you had no idea how long that would be! It was certainly true - once you saw one person struggling it made you aware how much you were aching. The idea was to test your mental attitude and inner reserves of strength.

Situations occur in life which requires self defence methods that work, so Chris and Guy focused on showing us the quickest ways to strike and block, using methods of deception to distract the opponent prior to striking. We went through "One-step elbow techniques 1 to 9 " - to develop timing; speed; co-ordination & focus.

We were shown effective areas of the body to strike, and pressure points to aim for. This also incorporated the physics of body alignment in the issuance of force. When you talk about slamming an elbow into someone's temple, the question of size and strength become irrelevant. The key was how to enter the trapping range effectively. Using head butts, knees and elbows, and grappling at close quarter range. It was stressed to implement the techniques with meaning, as we are so used to training with persons from our own clubs, the attitude could get a bit blasé. Therefore if we had to do the technique quickly and effectively, it probably wouldn't work, and you don't always get a second chance.

We had lots of encouragement from Chris & Guy, and plenty of one to one tuition to show techniques we couldn't quite get right.

It really was a great seminar with plenty of enthusiasm. Chris sent a message thanking everyone at DTSD, he was really pleased with how hard we all worked.

Coming from Mr Crudelli I think we can take that as a very great compliment - well done Guys!

Tang Soo!

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