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Alain Burrese Seminar: A Report
Article and pictures by Danny "Szczepankiewicz" Rowell
Ever been to Mayberry? Ever seen the Andy Griffith Show? If you have (and I’m betting you have) you know about Barney Fife. Ol’ One Bullet Barn. Well, Spanky can relate. Sometimes Mr. Szczepankiewicz tends to get a little too big for his britches (sniff). After five long years of training Spanky gets to feelin’ a wee bit overconfident is his martial prowess. That’s where guys like Alain Burrese come in…
…And the next thing you know, Spanky is face down eating
canvas, desperately trying to get part of his body to function in a tapping
type motion before the little girlie-man sounds start pouring out.
On July 12th of this year, Alain Burrese traveled down to Boise to instruct fellow martial artists in a Hapkido Joint Locking Seminar. That’s when the hurting started!
The warm summer day started off with some independent stretching and warming up while we awaited the arrival of all six students. The formal instruction began with Alain leading the group in a traditional Hapkido bow. Sabom Burrese then outlined the ground rules and gave the group an overview of what was going to be covered.
Then we were off. We spent the next two-plus hours working on techniques to hyperextend someone’s elbow joint. Alain explained in detail how a hinge joint works and highlighted how, when said joint is bent in unnatural ways, intense pain tends to follow.
Granted, anyone with even basic grappling skills has a simple understanding of arm bars. Sabom Burrese expanded on this topic – explaining, demonstrating, and then coaching the seminar participants in dozens of variations on this theme.
Indeed, the entire seminar consisted of 10- to 15-minute segments that followed this same pattern. Alain explained the technique, demonstrated on Spanky (or some other volunteer), and coached the participants in proper form. This was pretty standard behavior for an instructor. However, Alain always seemed to be in the right place at the right time – correcting minor misunderstandings, answering both mechanical and tactical questions, and suggesting better ways to perform. We had a wide range of student backgrounds (Taekwondo, Hapkido, Kempo, Jujutsu, etc) and Alain adjusted his focus to meet the needs of each individual student.
After attacking the elbow, it was time for lunch. Alain spent 90 minutes at lunch relating old war stories and the different sociological aspects of his varied martial arts background. After some delicious bean and beef burritos, we quickly headed back to the dojo, did a little more stretching and warming up, and dove right back into the action.
For the next five hours, we covered wrist, shoulder, finger, and the 'oh so entertaining’ come-along techniques. Throughout the seminar, Alain made sure that everybody was keeping up and that we all understood what he was teaching us. For some of us (read: Spanky) he had to repeat himself numerous times. Sabom Burrese also made sure that we took plenty of breaks to stay hydrated in the 105o weather. Alain introduced new topics with jokes or anecdotes, adjusted the pace of his teaching to keep the students busy but not overworked, and provided situational scenarios in which these techniques could be used (while providing examples in which they should not).
As Sabom Burrese explained, Hapkido is a Korean art of self-defense. One must understand that the effectiveness of this, and many other styles, is the balance between the martial and the art. Some of the techniques are more practical for actual combat, whilst others are more practical as teaching mechanisms, practice patterns, or simply part of the heritage of this style. He also pointed out that nothing works all the time, so be prepared to constantly adjust what you are trying to do against what your opponent is trying to do to you.
After the seminar, Sabom Burrese joined the seminar students in a barbecue, wherein Spanky tried to infect him with E. Coli Ukeburgers. The students who came to eat pestered him for a few more hours with "what ifs" and "this is how we do this" type conversations.
Throughout the entire adventure, Alain Burrese was always respectful, encouraging, insightful, and entertaining. In the beginning of our story here, I told you how many students were able attend. Sabom Burrese traveled over 700 miles, suffered through hot temperatures in an un-air-conditioned dojo*, and spent all day teaching, laughing, slamming, and sharing with just six people he’d never met before, the whole time keeping a smile on his face. If this doesn’t make it crystal clear that Alain Burrese is a man of great character and integrity, not to mention martial skill, I don’t know what would.
*The dojo where we trained did indeed have air conditioning. However this was never pointed out and Spanky was too dense to ask instead of assuming…
I can’t wait to get him back down to Boise next spring for some more excellent training.
Until then, Ol’ One Bullet Barn, err… Spanky will put his bullet back in his shirt pocket and cogitate on some excellent learnin’.