Gathering of Eagles

[Wanderer]

Greetings fellow Kenpoists,

I just came back from a weekend in Chicago, at the Gathering of Eagles! It was an amazing experience, to meet some of the best Kenpo practitioners in the world.

I attended seminars given by Joe Simonet, Bart Vale, Al Tracy, and Dr. John LaTourrette who we all know and respect on this forum with us.

Doc LaTourrette gave 2 seminars at the Gathering of Eagles. His first seminar was on his famous speed hitting. He would demonstrate the speed drills before giving us time to practice a bit on each other. And who did Doc choose as his demonstration ukes? Not the easy targets. Doc called up the most experienced people in the room to demonstrate upon.

He called up a 10th dan to put his hands up, and try to catch Doc’s punch. After a few singles for the uke to warm up (which weren’t caught) Doc LaTourrette threw 3, and the last was just touched on the way out.

He later had his uke throw a punch at him, and hit the uke 3 times after the uke started, then came back to block the uke’s punch before it got to him.

I also liked how he more than doubled the reaction speed of a good 3rd dan with a simple strategy that took only 30 seconds to have explained and put into practice.

It was a great time.
Tony

P.S.
Dr. LaTourrette was also inducted to the Kenpo International Hall of Fame in the closing ceremony. I was not surprised.
Congratulations Doc LaTourrette!

[jfarnsworth]

P.S.
Dr. LaTourrette was also inducted to the Kenpo International Hall of Fame in the closing ceremony. I was not surprised.
Congratulations Doc LaTourrette!

Congratulations sir on a great accomplishment.

[John M. La Tourrette]

Greetings fellow Kenpoists,

I just came back from a weekend in Chicago, at the Gathering of Eagles! It was an amazing experience, to meet some of the best Kenpo practitioners in the world.

I attended seminars given by Joe Simonet, Bart Vale, Al Tracy, and Dr. John LaTourrette who we all know and respect on this forum with us.

Doc LaTourrette gave 2 seminars at the Gathering of Eagles. His first seminar was on his famous speed hitting. He would demonstrate the speed drills before giving us time to practice a bit on each other. And who did Doc choose as his demonstration ukes? Not the easy targets. Doc called up the most experienced people in the room to demonstrate upon.

He called up a 10th dan to put his hands up, and try to catch Doc’s punch. After a few singles for the uke to warm up (which weren’t caught) Doc LaTourrette threw 3, and the last was just touched on the way out.

He later had his uke throw a punch at him, and hit the uke 3 times after the uke started, then came back to block the uke’s punch before it got to him.

I also liked how he more than doubled the reaction speed of a good 3rd dan with a simple strategy that took only 30 seconds to have explained and put into practice.

It was a great time.
Tony

P.S.
Dr. LaTourrette was also inducted to the Kenpo International Hall of Fame in the closing ceremony. I was not surprised.
Congratulations Doc LaTourrette!

Hi Tony,

Jack edited the DVD's and came up last night and we did watch the "Lost Secrets of Distance Four Speed Hitting".

It was actually pretty funny;-)

Let me mention one funny thing out of hundreds of funny things.

We had Gary (a great guy) demonstate 5 Swords on one of the other black belts.

He did a great job!

Then I told the uke to "hit me". Well, I'd noticed that the uke "cocked" his hand before thowing the punch.

so, as he "cocked" his hand, "I just hit him 8 times BEFORE he could throw the punch.

He was flabbergasted.

So I told him to hit me again, and he really tried that time;p-)

And I hit him 5 times and THEN BLOCKED his incoming punch.

He really wanted to hit me then.

So I told him to "hit me", and he really really did try, and he wasn't going to stop for anything...

...so I hit him 3 times and then blocked his incomin punch BEFORE it got to me.

My point is, he did have a good punch, BUT he also had lots of telegraphed motions (which he does not yet realize) and he did NOT have any economy of motion.

It's all on the DVD's that you asked me for. ENJOY!

I also have a 8X10 photo of you and I and of you and Al Tracy.

We have also finishing editing the Al Tracy Business Seminar. I'll give Al a call and see if I can give you a copy SINCE your were there in attendence.

I got 19 pages of notes from that seminar, and I've NOT YET studied the DVD.

It was an awesome event with some great Kenpo guys teaching and interating with others who also love Kenpo Karate.

The Gathering of Eagles 2007 was A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS!

Dr. John M. La Tourrette

[John M. La Tourrette]

Congratulations sir on a great accomplishment.

Thank you.

Old age and tremendous persistence does have something to say for itself;-)

Dr. John M. La Tourrette
ps. Meeting and talking with people I've not seem for many, many years as a bonus for me. We are putting up a Gathering of Eagles Hall of Fame in my studio.

[Wanderer]

It's all on the DVD's that you asked me for. ENJOY!

I also have a 8X10 photo of you and I and of you and Al Tracy.

We have also finishing editing the Al Tracy Business Seminar. I'll give Al a call and see if I can give you a copy SINCE your were there in attendence.

I got 19 pages of notes from that seminar, and I've NOT YET studied the DVD.

It was an awesome event with some great Kenpo guys teaching and interating with others who also love Kenpo Karate.

The Gathering of Eagles 2007 was A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS!

Dr. John M. La Tourrette

Thank you, I would really appreciate that! There is an incredible amount of applied business strategy in that seminar, and a DVD would be wonderful.

I am also looking forward to that DVD of your speed-hitting seminar, so I can slow it down and see the rest of what you did.
It's great when in your seminars you say you're demonstrating a 3 hit sequnce and slip in 2 extra hits, and nobody notices because they can't see it.

Tony

[John M. La Tourrette]

Thank you, I would really appreciate that! There is an incredible amount of applied business strategy in that seminar, and a DVD would be wonderful.

I am also looking forward to that DVD of your speed-hitting seminar, so I can slow it down and see the rest of what you did.
It's great when in your seminars you say you're demonstrating a 3 hit sequnce and slip in 2 extra hits, and nobody notices because they can't see it.

Tony

Thank you Tony.

Sincerely,
Dr. John M. La Tourrette