Cliff Stewart has engaged in countless seminars, college courses, been a guest lecturer at the Lethal Force Institute, and taught Within Arms Reach to numerous S.W.A.T. and military units.
He has also taught numerous 250-hour VIP Protection Courses and 2- and 3-day Courses, producing thousands of graduates. At St. Mary's College in Maryland, he developed, taught and
demonstrated a curriculum called The History and Application of Martial Arts in the United States.
An Impact Protection Consultant, Mr. Stewart is also Defensive Tactics Consultant for the Los Angeles Police Department, Manassas Correctional Facility, Montgomery and Dekalb County S.W.A.T. teams, and the Department of the United States Army and Navy Special Operations SEALs Team One.
Seminar R.F.I.
SKILL LEVELS TAUGHT:
Beginners to Elite Teams.
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Seminar Reviews | Seminar Schedule
Pentjak Silat Camp of the Masters
June 11-13, 2004
Review by Todd Ellner
Everyone who has been in the martial arts scene for any length of time has been to events labeled "Gathering of the Masters" or "Best of the Best" or similar. They are usually opportunities for people to show off without actually teaching anything. The smiles are as fake as a used car
salesman's (the mentality is pretty similar). Egos scrape against the doors and ceilings on the way in. The main goal is to have one's picture taken with the biggest name present and get a certificate.
Lord knows I've spent enough time and money at them to get thoroughly cynical.
Guru Stewart's event this past weekend had the same relation to that brand of time-killer as Thai pads do to Pad Thai.
First off, there was the host. I first met Cliff Stewart in 1996 when I
was testing for an apprentice instructorship in Bukti Negara. At the time Tiel and I were pretty sure that "Cliff" was a description, not his name. We
were amazed that someone that imposing could disappear in the middle of room. Hell, Massad Ayoob can tell you a lot more about him and a lot better
than I can: http://www.cliffstewart.com/bio.html.
His combative prowess aside, what made this event work was the man personally. I have never met a warmer, more hospitable host. Everyone
there was a guest. Every guest was treated as family. And people responded to
that in kind. Lots of people talk about "brotherhood" in the martial arts and combatives. Most of the time it means "exclusive clique". Here it didn't, simple as that.
Many of the instructors had been friends and colleagues for decades. The trust and comfort level that comes from such long associations made the event run more smoothly. At many seminars there is a certain amount of
time spent getting to know and trust the person presenting the material, especially if it's unfamiliar. Can I believe what this guy says? Will his
or her stuff work? Who the heck are they anyhow? This was absent here, so everyone got down to serious work quickly. Given the large number of presenters and limited time the event wouldn't have worked otherwise.
The event started off Friday evening with a symposium where most of the instructors talked about their practice and the systems they would be presenting. It served, if you don't mind a couple nautical metaphors, to break the ice and to clear the decks. Again, with the heavy time
constraints people had to become familiar with each other and devote the time on the training floor to training. Some of the traditions represented such as
Bando and the African warrior systems which Kilinde Iyi teaches were obscure
even by the standards of this eclectic group. It was very helpful to have a map of the territory beforehand.
The next two days were all training all the time. Despite the excellent example of people like Guru Inosanto and others like him most people who give seminars are weak on how to teach effectively. One tends to get a lot of technique and a lot of talking with very little of real worth getting passed on. Or the instructor will overload the students with information either in the vain hope that some of it will stick or the secret one that none of it will.
At Guru Stewart's camp this was not the case. Almost everyone took one or two things - a few techniques, a concept, a series of connected training exercises - and built on them as a vehicle for transmitting understanding. In addition, most of the participants were already working at a higher
than average level and had significant experience with something like Capoeira, Eskrima, or Silat. It made the progressions easier to follow and allowed
the presenters to spend less time going over old ground.
Besides, you always learn a lot when the older men sit around and talk story. Things like the real origins of the Black Karate Federation (two of the three founding members were there in the room), what happened to the Sterlak practitioner from Donn Draeger's book, how Capoeira evolved in different places, and how a Nepalese knife ended up being a signature
weapon of Burma's national fighting system.
So who was there, and what did they cover? I won't bore you with a long recitation. Besides, I was too busy trying to keep up to take notes. But a few words should at least be interesting. Everyone knows I'm biased, so I'll leave out the Bukti Negara and Serak teachers (Frieda Doyle, Thomas Lomax, Stevan Plinck, Cliff Stewart). Apologies in advance for any omissions, mistakes and misspelling below.
FMA ---
Graciella Casillas - Eskrima - Ms. Casillas has been at this an awfully
long time, and the experience shows. In addition to some very cogent words on
the real use of the live hand and others on the reality of cutting she
stressed commonality of training by going through progressions with and against different weapons.
Darrel Sarjeant - Sadiq Kali Silat - Working with Guru Sarjeant was kind
of like an old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ad. "There's Silat in my Kali!" "There's Kali in my Silat!" Many claim to integrate the two. What it
usually means is they have added a little Silat technique to their FMA without
going through the work of actually learning any significant amount of the
system. Darrell isn't like that. He really does put them together in a way that makes sense.
African and Brazilian MA ------------------------
Kilindi Iyi - various African marital arts - Kilindi was at a bit of a disadvantage. He was presenting something completely unfamiliar to most, something that comes with very different cultural underpinnings. He
managed to get a lot of information and context across in a very short time and to get enough physical examples in there to give us an idea of how things are done. I was left with the very strong impression that in the warrior societies he talked most about MA isn't something you do. It's something
you are.
Dennis Newscome - Capoeira Angola - Mestre Newscome is an old and
old-school Angoliero. That should tell you most of what you need to know - unpredictable, disarming, cunning and with a wicked sense of humor.
Frankly, I was paddling hard just to keep my head above water but still learned a
lot from the teaching progression he used.
Other -----
Ron Chapél - Sub Level 4 Kenpo - Sifu Chapel didn't present until late on Sunday when everyone's butt was beginning to drag. He did more of a
lecture than a hands-on workshop. If it weren't so scientific I would have said
that what he was doing was magic. He talked and showed much about perception
and the ways that physically hard-wired phenomena can be used to lead a
person's brain and body around on a leash to confuse, to focus and to strengthen or weaken. He stressed time and again "The little things matter."
Ron Susskind - Cobra style Bando - I'd heard of Bando before but never
seen it or met a practitioner. It was very interesting to see this system even
if there wasn't enough time to get a good grasp of it. The fact that there
are different subsystems based on a person's physical makeup is something I hadn't encountered before.
Bruno Cruicchi - Garotte Larense/Silat Sterlak - A lot of martial arts teachers stick "Professor" in front of their name not because they
actually are professors or because they have a professorial air about them but for status. I've always thought it was kind of silly, especially when you see the real thing in action. Bruno Cruicchi is an actual professor, and it showed in the quality and organization of his presentations. Due to
schedule slippage he had to combine two into one hour.
For the first half hour he worked off of the first juru of Silat Sterlak trying to give an appreciation for the very direct and brutally efficient nature of this compact system. The second portion of the program was an introduction to one or two basic ideas from the Venezuelan stick/machete fighting method known as Garotte Larense. The footwork and angling were different enough from the Eskrima most were familiar with to be very interesting. The frequency of hand switching took some getting used to but makes a lot of sense.
Silat -----
As I said, I'm already prejudiced when it comes to things in the Serak family. Suffice it to say that Gurus Doyle, Lomax, Plinck and Stewart did fine jobs from very different perspectives.
Tony Felix - Pentjak Silat Wali Songo - The system that Guru Felix studies is very traditional and rigorous. For the first two years one only does ground work. In sessions on both days he moved from the fundamental ground positions to moving between them to specific applications to free play. Anyone who was there and who can't walk or sit this week will be able to
say "It's all Guru Tony's fault!" Although it was strenuous the material was a joy to practice.
Summary -------
This is one of the one or two best martial arts events I have been to. The quality of instruction was extraordinarily high. The genuine camaraderie made the whole thing work smoothly. We had the opportunity to see and interact with instructors who, if they don't have the recognition of more famous players, can hold their heads up in the most distinguished company. The material presented was useful, well-organized, and very well taught.
The level of most of the students allowed the teachers to go quickly into
fairly deep matters and pulled the rest of us up to a higher level than we
normally enjoy.
My only complaints are about time. An hour is just too short for this sort of material. And when schedules are that tight slippage shows. A few units got cancelled which was a real shame.
Other than that I enjoyed the weekend immensely and highly recommend the Camp of the Masters to anyone who can be in Los Angeles next summer.
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