[Click here for a '97 Summer Camp Application]
1996 Martial Arts Festival Feedback:
Dear Mattson Sensei,
Kimo Wall Sensei has asked me to express his thanks and appreciation for the really enjoyable
time he and Mr. Liu had at the '96 Summer of the Dragon, Tiger, and Crane Uechi-ryu Summer
Camp. We met many wonderful people and made many new friends. He particularly wanted to
thank you and the other senior teachers for the interest and enthusiasm that everyone showed, and
the respect and courtesy and hospitality shown by all.
Please share our thanks with all those involved with the '96 camp. Looking forward to another year
of hard training and good health, until next year,
Yours respectfully,
Giles Hopkins
Okinawa Kodokan Goju-ryu Karate & Kobudo Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst e-mail:
giles@physed.umass.edu
Sensei Mattson, I just wanted to say that I had an incredibly great time at Summer Camp. This was my first camp experience and I can't wait for next year. The highlight for me was being introduced to Kobudo through Sensei Wall. He was fantastic, as well as John Hopkins, his assistant. Thank you for your time and effort into making this a memorable experience. See you next year! Sincerely, Stephanie Veron
Great camp. Just what we've come to expect. It gets better each year.
If there are about 10,000 Uechi students in the US, getting 10 percent of them to next year's camp
should be an attainable goal. Let's aim towards that for 1997. I will help.
Meanwhile, it would be helpful if dojos would discuss your camp year around to build up
enthusiasm instead of waiting till the 11th hour to mention it. Students need time to plan and to save
for the event. So tell all the Sensei's out there to not wait until the applications are published to start
telling their students about it. Going to camp ought to be part of the whole Uechi-ryu training
process.
Thanks for all the hard work you and Suzie put into the festivities. And another thank you to all the
Sensei's and others who pitched in to help make it a fun weekend and a great experience.
Myrna Riquier
P.S. Suzie asked me to send her an emial reminder that I had ordered three copes of the new
Kanei Uechi photo. Great photo!
Thanks for volunteering to help make the '97 camp successful. Actually, there are more than
10,000 Uechi students in North America! And hopefully many more will take advantage of
the camp experience in the coming years. The only way the students will know about the
camp is if the instructors talk about it and encourage support and participation. Those
instructors who do support the camp, discover that students who go, become better students
and stay with their Uechi-ryu longer. Last year's preregistration process was very successful
and I will be doing it again this year. The best way students and teachers can help build
participation is to let your friends and fellow students know what a great time you had this
year and encourage them to make plans to attend in '97! GEM
Dear Sensei Mattson, I would like to extend my deep felt appreciation for all that you did for me, in particular, and for Uechiryu in general. Last weekend's camp was truly a martial arts EVENT. Sensei Wall, hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that he expected good martial arts, but was so very surprised to find the level of instruction to be equal to any found anywhere in the world. Quite true. I would like to publicly thank Sensei Kimo Wall, whose skill and knowledge of Okinawan Budo is matched only by his enthusiasm and love for the art. It was interesting to see an "outsider" to the Uechiryu system throw himself so completely into the camp... and be so warmly accepted. I would like to thank those all of the instructors that were so quick to adopt a newcomer within their ranks despite their very busy schedules. I would lke to especially thank all of you who joined my humble introduction to Iaido. I pray that you learned a little more about martial arts, Uechiryu, and yourself in the process. That was my intent. Several people asked me about contacting sword arts within the Boston area. Alex Markauskas is an Uechiryu dan training in Iaido. His phone # is (508) 692-2281 and e-mail is: < agm@swl.msd.ray.com > His instructor is Barry Poitras, phone # (508) 263-2768, e-mail: <BujinNews@aol.com> I believe he has one class on Mon. nights. Finally, I would again like to thank you, Sensei Mattson, for having the energy, skills, and forsight to host such a meaningful event. Sincerely, John Ray
Sensei Mattson: Just a short note to say that all of us from the Pepperell Dojo had a great time at
camp this year. This was the first time I could fit it in with my work/travel schedule and I plan to
block off time for next year as soon as I get my '97 calendar. I met a lot of great people and made
many new friends. The learning experience was terrific as well. I particularly enjoyed my first
accupuncture experience with Sifu Liu - what a demonstration he put on! The man truly has thunder
in his body. Thanks for bringing so many different styles and experience together.
Best, Alan Ventura
Great camp, great people, great content, great weather! Next year I am going to ask you to
arrange for that kind of weather for my family vacation. What was the size of the group at the
camp? By the way, are the camp camo pants cotton or a blend? Hope to see you again next year.
Regards, Rich Castanet Richmond VA
To get really great weather, you must hire Jim Maloney to perform his no-rain dance! .
Watch your mail for pre-registration forms for next year's camp and information about the
new camp uniform. GEM
George: . . ., my instructor, Dave Lamb, and the students who went to the summer camp last
weekend had nothing but praise for it. Those of us who did not go heard many a story in class last
night, as well as began to work through what they had learned. I was particularly pleased that Dave
and some of the students had attended the Kyu Kumite seminar and that Dave has decided to
incorporate it into the class. Dave had learned Kyu Kumite when he started in PanGaiNoon 15
years ago, but his instructors stopped teaching it soon after that, and I learned Kyu Kumite when I
was first in Uechi Ryu 11 years ago. Both of us enjoyed this exercise and felt that it had several
useful techniques in it, but found it difficult to effectively practice without a partner. Needless to say,
neither us remembered how to do it, although we had talked about trying to work through it from
the books, by the time I joined his class seven months ago. The Kyu Kumite seminar at your
summer camp has turned this speculation into reality, and with greater accuracy than > > would be
possible from the books.
Dave has said that the summer camp gets better every year and, by that token, that this year was
the best. He always has high praise for the quality and diversity of the camp that you run. My goal
is to attend the summer camps starting next year. Being an amature historian interested in the history
of Uechi Ryu and other Okinawan martial arts, I am disappointed that I missed the rare opportunity
to hear Dr. Li Yi Duan's discussions. I am confident that future camps will have equally informative
seminars however and look forward to attending them.
I also want to add that I think you do a great job with this web site. It is one of the most informative
and useful web sites I have ever seen on any topic, and it truly brings the Uechi community closer
together. Having work on a web site for a college instructor, I fully appreciate the time you must
spend to maintain a constantly changing web site of this complexity. Thank you for going to that
trouble. Glenn Humphress th20405@ltec.net Lincoln, NE
George, just wanted to express our appreciation for a TREMENDOUSLY good time at the
summer camp. The best so far, in my opinion- Evan was most impressed. It will long reside in his
memory, I think. On another note, with regard to the dojo list- Wayne Benfield in Spring City, PA
teaches Shorin Ryu and Ryukyu Kempo, not Uechi Ryu, and my Area Code is now 610 instead of
215; therefore the listing for me should read 610-287-8043. Thanks again for another inspiring
weekend.
Dear George:
FANTASTIC!!!! That's the best way to discribe your summer camp. My students, as well as I had
a great time. It was really nice to see old friends, such as: Larry Tan, Dave Mott, Al Worton,
Jimmy Maloney, Van Canna, Art Rabsea, Bobby Kaiser, Ed Huff, Mike Casanellie, Duncan
Macloud, so many others, and especially-- Bobby Campbell, and many others from the OLD
HANCOCK STREET DOJO.
It was also equally as good, making new friends. Such as John Ray, Noah Mandell, Mike Murphy.
You and Susan did a great job!!! Everything was first class. My students truly enjoyed themselves,
and had a great chance to meet many new people (New Friends).
Thank you again.
Respectfully
Jay Salhanick
1995's Summer Camp was a huge success. Martial artists from all over the world gathered on Cape Cod for three full days of seminars and practice. Here are just a few of the letters received from happy students and teachers following the camp:
This first article is reprinted from the "Traditional Okinawan Karate Newsletter", Aug/Sept,
1995:
While Sensei Ed was sweating down in Florida, several members of the dojo were sweating in Cape Cod, except for a brief rain shower during which we kept practicing despite the weather. Our dojo was represented by: Scott Morey, Deanna Seigel, Elaine Sewatsky, Sensei Barb Silva, and Sensei Jason Williams. We all had a fantastic time and I cannot stress how important this type of training is. We would like to have more members attend so that we can each concentrate on a few specific things, e.g- pressure points, grappling, sparring, etc. and get a good representation of everything to bring back to our dojo. The more of us who go the better.
As usual, George put on one fantastic show!!! It was simply wonderful. There were so many high ranking people there, yet all of them were friendly and helpful. Being in that company is certainly humbling. It was difficult to decide what to do during every time slot, and every seminar was instructive and informative.
Master Kanmei Uechi was visiting from Okinawa, and did a seminar refining Sanchin on Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday did one on Seisan. It is an honor to study with the grandson of the Grandmaster of our style. I was struck again as I was last year, by how friendly and approachable Master Uechi is. Sensei Barb, Elaine, and I each took several of Bill Glasheen's seminars on Superempi, the kata brought back from China by Simon Lailey which is a current candidate for the "lost kata" of Painginoon. Bill did a wonderful job and conducted three times as many seminars as he was supposed to, because Simon Lailey could not attend. He had obviously spent a lot of time preparing before the camp, and had a lot of insights to offer. Bill is a wonderful teacher and I recommend taking a class with him next year.
Sensei Jason took several classes on the Bo with Tracy Capone, with the intention of learning the Bo Kata over the weekend. Jason succeeded admirably in this goal. . .ask him to show it to you after class sometime. He developed an excellent understanding for such a short period of time. This is one of the values of this intensive type of training. You are really able to learn a lot in a short time. On Friday, Jim Witherall conducted a seminar on the art of flexibility which I am sorry to say, I missed. Unfortunately, he only taught the one class over the weekend. Had I realized that on Friday, I would have made sure to get to his class. I hope that next year, he will at least do one a day, preferably first class of the day. His flexibility is absolutely amazing, he is one of these people that can do a split with his feet on two chairs. I got a few of his techniques during one of Rob Buckland's seminars, and could see that if you performed these stretches faithfully, you would improve your flexibility in a short period. Apparently, Jim Witherall and Rob Buckland are going to produce a stretching video. I look forward to it.
Wes Tasker, as always, was amazing with his Jujitsu grappling techniques. Rob Buckland did a variety of seminars, one of them featured "Bam's Kumite", a short sequence that was very impressive. (Unfortunately I cannot remember all of it, maybe he will write the moves down and send them to me). Jim Maloney amazed and astounded his students with his pressure point techniques. Dr. Ann Doggart offered seminars on healing as well as appointments for individual chiropractic evaluations. Art Rabesa conducted seminars on his explosive fighting techniques, and people like Nancy Simoneschi, Victor Swinimer, and Larry Maher (among others) had seminars to refine various kata. There were too many instructors and seminars to mention them all, but one last person that I'd like to mention is Bob Bethoney. I took a few of his sparring and/or take-down seminars and I was impressed. Bob is definitely serious. I came away from his classes feeling more confident in a sparring situation and with a few simple "down & dirty" pointers that I can use now. I recommend that anyone who is interested in sparring spend some time with Bob.
Sanchin on the beach with George was wonderful as always, what a fantastic way to begin your day at 6:30 A.M.! I can't believe I forgot my bathing suit again this year. That's a martial artist for you. I'm going to a camp on a beautiful sandy beach in Cape Cod, and I don't even think to bring my bathing suit. You know what else? I didn't see anyone else swimming either. Can you believe it?
That was just the days. The nights were terrific as well. Friday night there was the customary bash in the gymnasium. Saturday, there was a meeting in the gym about how to improve the tournament for next year. A lot of people showed up and there were many constructive criticisms. It was obvious that a surprising number of people would like to see a Uechi Tournament be a successful yearly event and are willing to help work toward that goal. The meeting ended with confidence that many of the problems would be corrected, and an anticipation of next year's tournament.
Saturday night's party was a blast, with a juggling/magic/ventriloquist show by Mike Robinson that was nothing short of hilarious. I don't know how funny Jim Maloney (who was the butt of the dummy's jokes) thought it was, but the rest of us loved it. Another funny point about martial artists. When returning to my room after the party, around midnight, the campus was full of karate people socializing. As I walked by these people, I had to smile. Here it was midnight and you would hear things like. . ."Hey, show me that" ... or "Throw the right punch"... these people always are messing around with one another, practicing, living, breathing, being karate. You know what else? There was also a baseball camp going on that weekend. At this same midnight hour interspersed between our little pockets of martial artists these baseball dudes were in their own little pockets swinging bats! At midnight! Apparently karate isn't the only compulsion.
One of the people from Canada, had an unfortunate chain of events. "Bub" Pelham was on his way from way up north somewhere with a carload of kids that he was transporting to the camp. On the way, his car blew the engine. Rather than giving it up as a bad job and returning home, Bub, who didn't want to disappoint the kids, rented a car and continued his journey. During the weekend, he also somehow misplaced his wedding ring. A collection was started to raise money to help defray some of Bob's expenses. We raised over $1000!! What a great bunch of people!
Also, on Sunday, we all formed a great chain down one border of the field and walked together to the other end of the field, looking for "Bub's" wedding ring. Unfortunately, we did not find it. On Sunday, right before we left, the medicine man from Jim Maloney's tribe (who is studying karate under Jim) did two Indian chants. The first was a chant to the warrior and honored Bub Pelham's caring for the kids that he tried so hard to get to the camp. The chant entailed us all shaking hands, and we did. Jim Maloney also made a very moving speech, and then the medicine man did. He said that when the Indians have something special happen they invite, or hire, a witness to spread the word. He said that all of us there that day were witnesses to the humanitarianism of Bub Pelham, and of all of us who helped him. So I am acting as a witness and "relating what I have seen with my eyes and heard with my ears."
There was such an outpouring of emotion and goodwill from those of us standing there that day that it defies description. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. I don't know that I've felt such a feeling of harmony and togetherness ever. That is what is all about!
Deanna Seigel
Dear Mr. Mattson:
My students and I had a wonderful time at this year's Summer Camp. I know you and Mrs. Mattson put many long hours and a lot of hard work into organizing this camp and making it the success it was. Mr. Mattson, I would like you to know my student and I appreciate everything you and Susan have done. I was truly honored to have been given the opportunity to teach a seminar.
Thank you,
Derick Bagogloo: Nova Scotia
Dear Mr. Mattson:
On behalf of Dave, our students and myself, I wanted to drop you a thank you note about the Summer Camp. The total experience was very positive and has provided a real boost to both our students and ourselves. Isolated as we are out here it is good to get to see others and exchange new ideas. It also is very relaxing and rejuvenating to simply become students again.
Our students were thrilled with the camp and can't wait to return next year. Their enthusiasm is really helping with their training.
Please also express our thanks to all the instructors at the camp. Their professionalism and concern to deliver a quality seminar was great.
Thanks again and keep up the great work! See you next year.
Tom Hauder: Nebraska
Dear Mr. Mattson:
My friend and I had an awesome time at camp again this year and will very much look forward to camp next year.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity for intense yet fun training. Spending time with you and other enthusiastic teachers and students allows me to bring a renewed excitement back to my home dojo. I was quite happy when I returned home. I would also like to thank you for allowing me to participate in the Superempi class with Bill Glasheen. He is a wonderful teacher. His way of explaining and naming the movements in a descriptive manner made learning much easier. I will be interesting to see what happens with this kata.
The closing ceremony with the Native American flavor was quite moving. Sometimes people forget the opportunity that you have given us, as Americans, to enjoy the spirit of Uechi Ryu Karate. It would be difficult to build the future without remembering the foundation of the past. Mr. Maloney expressed his link with other warriors, including you and the Uechi family and our responsibility to pass on what we have been given. I believe that through our karate we have a chance to help the next generation to be happier and healthier.
Enclosed please find my application for next year's camp. Also find a check for $20 for video #007 "Camp '95 Highlights."
I will be interested to hear about your trip to Okinawa and China.
Thank you so much.
Patti M. Wyatt
Dear Mr. Mattson
The Summer Camp was excellent. The way the Uechi people came together on Sunday, for the father and his two sons was a very special moment. It fills me with pride to be part of such a family.
Accompaning my letter are three letters from my students. The students who attended camp with me had a very good time and are planning on attending next year, along with a few more kids. The scholorships you gave the kids were very nice and very much appreciated.
I know it must be very time consuming and tiring to organize and run such a big event. We at the Hidden Mountain Dojo say Thank You.
We are looking forward to the next Uechi Tournament and next year's camp.
Yours in karate with honor and respect,
Students of The Hidden Mountain Dojo
Kevin Clemente, Roy Fowler, Eric Wood and Sensei Edward Carnes
23Sep95
Dear Sensei Mattson:
This was only our 2nd Summer camp. I wish to say that while the 1st camp was enjoyable, this 2nd camp was truly memorable. I was captivated by Sensei Maloney when he and his Shaman addressed the group of us. I can't help thinking that it was an honour to witness that spectacle.
My sons and I want to express our gratitude to Sensei Bill Glasheen for the work he did to teach us Superempi in the few short days we were together.
Lastly to you, Sensei, thankyou for all your hard work on our behalf.
See you next year.
//Brian, Mark & Graeme Bailey// Dartmouth Uechi Ryu Karate Dojo (Louis Hopper)
bbailey@atcon.com