Guro Daniel Lonero Jun Fan Gung Fu, Kali & Silat Seminar – September 2013

Robin French with Guro Daniel Lonero - September 2013

Continuing the late September / early October trend of the last couple of years, Guro Daniel Lonero returned for his third annual trip to Laurence Sandum‘s Black Belt Martial Arts Academy in Chelmsford; this time for a whole weekend of information-packed seminars.

The focus of this year’s sessions was a mixture of Silat, Kali (Filipino Martial Arts), and Jun Fan Gung Fu.

The first two hours of the weekend were dedicated to Jun Fan Gung Fu and, in particular, methods of moving from trapping to grappling; an area that demonstrates the fluidity of the art.

The second half of the first day moved on to Kali. On request, Guro Daniel was asked to cover the Balintawak Mother Drill again, so as to make sure that we have it just right. And after many attempts, I think that I may just finally have it…

Sunday morning kicked off with some Silat warm-up drills, which are great for mobility and strength. Guro Daniel then went on to cover a number of different punch and kick entries as well as a number of takedowns; all of which combine to give a wide range of options when combined together.

The final session of the weekend returned to a focus on Kali and the use and defence of the knife; Guro Daniel was quick to point out that by learning how to use a knife, it makes one understand better how to defend against it.

It is always an honour to train under Guro Daniel Lonero, and I would like to thank him for travelling all the way from California to share with us here in the UK.

Assisting Guro Daniel for the weekend, was Frank Ruppert from Belgium; many thanks to him for coming along again to offer his help and advice.

As ever, my final thanks go to Guro Laurence Sandum for continually bringing the World’s very best instructors to teach Martial Arts in Chelmsford.