Crossing The Pond Seminars

Did anyone attend the Crossing The Pond seminars-good or bad?,and what were the impressions/feedback of Marc Macyoung's teachings?

Marc

Marc1978 wrote:Did anyone attend the Crossing The Pond seminars-good or bad?,and what were the impressions/feedback of Marc Macyoung's teachings?

Marc

Yep, loved it. The first thing that struck me was how approachable all of the instructors and assistants were. Lots of smiles and a genuine enthusiasm for what they were teaching. These instructors came with big reputations and you could be forgiven in thinking one of two might have ego's to match but no.

I stayed at the same hotel as the instructors and they were as approachable there as at training. In fact keen to not 'bug' them too much, and conscious that they may want some down time on Saturday evening, my training partner and I sat away from them in the hotel bar. Not for long though as Marc MacYoung pulled some tables together and invited us over. Had a lovely evening chatting, drinking and enjoying the company (Dianna MacYoung especially made us feel welcome)

So you get the idea, not at all intimidating (well not while they're smiling ), friendly and enthusiastic bunch. I'll talk about each instructor without going into the detail of what was taught over the weekend.

As it's kinda his turf I'll start with Al Peasland and his able assistant Mick Tully. Nobody wants to get hurt so you don't 'muck about' when training with a partner but around the seriousness of the training I think there needs to be humour. One of my personal beliefs is that the more aggressive you train the more humour you have to bring with you into the training arena. It's easier to 'get over' being clocked if you can all laugh about it. Good news was that Al and Mick are funny guys and taught everything in a humorous and intelligent way. Simple but very effective techniques, drills and of course hitting things hard. I love this sort of training and training with the two of them was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. So much so that I'm in the process of reorganising my life to get to train with Al and Mick on a more regular basis. I can't rate them higher than that.

Next Iain Abernethy. I've been a big fan of Iain for quite a while and when I've met him in the past have always found him to be genuinely enthused by what he does. I'd never trained under him before so it was something I was looking forward to. He did not disappoint. An amazingly knowledgeable and insightful guy with a good self deprecating sense of humour. If you've seen any of his DVS's you'll know to an extent what your getting but one thing that stood out seeing him 'live' for me was his movement and power. Definitely be looking out for his seminars next year.

Kris Wilder. Another chap whose books I've purchased in the past so I was interested to see him in action. Again a very approachable guy. He has an easy teaching style and for a big guy he's impressively and deceptively fast. I picked up a lot from the time I had with him, some of it I've used in the dojo already, and would be in the queue for any seminar he was teaching.

Marc MacYoung. It would be easy to write Marc off as just another a loud American and that would be a mistake. He's certainly loud but also immense fun, intelligent and very knowledgeable. I've read a lot of Marc's stuff so was really looking forward to getting the chance to get some instruction from him. His stuff was mostly about social violence against asocial violence and the mistakes martial artists make by confusing the two. Some of his training drills were interesting and definitely worth incorporating into ones own training.

Lastly Nick Yang. Nicks quite an athlete and on day one he had us all sweating like loons. His session was the most painful as I had broken my little toe two nights before and he incorporated a lot of fast foot movement on day one. Nick stands out in this company as being much more reserved and quieter than the other instructors. His sessions were very much what one would expect from someone with a good solid traditional background. I've always trained in hard styles, they suit me, so the softer style of White Crane on the second day gave me some problems. While plainly not the style for me, the pictures prove that lol, it was fun to do something completely different.

So a very rewarding and fun weekend that I'd do again at a shot (it's in my top 3 of courses ever done and £75 for 10 hours training with internationally acclaimed martial artists you feel like you're mugging them). Was it perfect, not entirely, and using a food analogy as it was not really full course meal but more of a buffet. A bit from the plate of each instructor that left you feeling very full (five hours of pretty solid instruction) but wanting more from each. Great for the opportunity to meet and training with them but to really appreciate these guys you'd want to spend more time with each of them.

Stu

Hi Stu

Wow - thanks for the review of the seminar. I'll be sending a link to the other instructors so that they can all take in this feedback.

Really appreciate your kind words for all the instructors, including Mick and myself.

This was a bit of a learning curve for all of us. 3 of the instructors I hadn't even met before let alone trained and taught alongside.

For me, this was a slightly different seminar to my usual target audience, ie, far more traditional than usual - especially in the state side sessions.
But froma traditional background myself, I was able to relate to the class and hopefully they could appreciate where we were coming from with our approach and the foundations behind our techniques.

The format worked quite well. I appreciate the lack of time spent with each group/instructor. However, having the group split into 2 so that we could teach to a smaller audience worked well I think.

The venue's were great for both sides of this seminar.

I guess the dilema for the future is how we get each instructor to spend more time with the attendees without making the seminars run on for hours and hours, where people always get to an overload and tired state.

I was totally impressed with everyone's attitudes. Their openess to new ideas.
All too often we see groups who are too blinkered and take it as a personal assault on their own arts and backgrounds when you dare to suggest trying something slightly different - when in fact you're just offering alternatives in a hope that people can expand rather than stay too insula in their own arts.
I am pleased to say the groups on both sides of the pond were very receptive and relaxed about trying out new ideas. - Very refreshing indeed

And to see the whole group giving just as much effort in session 5 of day 2 as they did in their first session - was wonderful

Thanks to everyone who helped with this event.
I hope everyone enjoyed it and hope we can do something again in the new year - if the interest is there.

I think there needs to be far more joint seminars where arts are blended and martial artists get to taste other styles they wouldn't normally consider.

Thanks again for the write-up Stu

Hope to see you at training soon my friend

Al

Al Peasland wrote:Hi Stu
I'll be sending a link to the other instructors so that they can all take in this feedback.

Pretty glad then I had nothing too critical to say

I completely agree with you that there needs to be more joint seminars where we can blend the arts. There's always something to learn from good practitioners regardless of style etc. I'd love to go to a seminar where you could go from traditional to modern, from punching/ kicking to throws, grappling and ground work. To do a weekend where I was doing say karate, judo/BBJ, reality base etc would be pretty cool.

Al Peasland wrote: I guess the dilema for the future is how we get each instructor to spend more time with the attendees without making the seminars run on for hours and hours, where people always get to an overload and tired state.

It's a tough one and I don't think there's an answer. It's always going to be a time/info compromise when you have 5 instructors on the same day. Going back to my previous analogy there's nothing wrong with a buffet, it serves a purpose. For me it was a way of training with top instructors in styles etc I probably would not have gone to had they been running individual courses. Like the buffet analogy I got to try a portion and found that there were new things I liked.

After this one I'd be very surprised if it was not a hot ticket for next year. p.s. Just make sure you have enough medium t-shirts as there were only XL left which look like night gowns on me


Stu

p.s. Just make sure you have enough medium t-shirts as there were only XL left which look like night gowns on me

I had plenty of CSP Real Combat System Mediums left

They don't call me Al "Promotion" Peasland for nothing

Al Peasland wrote:

p.s. Just make sure you have enough medium t-shirts as there were only XL left which look like night gowns on me

I had plenty of CSP Real Combat System Mediums left

They don't call me Al "Promotion" Peasland for nothing

Lol, I'll pick one up when I get over your way.