elitejkd.com

Thanks a ton to all who helped this last weekend with the baseball games! We had about 12-15 assistants (parents included) for each game!

About 60-75 kids and 50-60 parents came onto the field for EACH game to participate in the mini child safety seminar before the game. We did video record the second night and will be posting it soon!

So proud of our adult assistants and our youth “helpers” too, who got a chance to show off thier skills! I got so many ‘thank yous’ from people who saw me throughout the night!

Thanks again to everyone who showed up! Did we have perfect weather or what?

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Thanks for visiting us today. I have so much I want to write about, I don’t know where to begin. In short, here is what I want to cover:

1. Video Series Name Contest
2. The “Knife Fight” story
3. Best of Blog
4. Me… begging.

Ok. Now try those in reverse.

Here is me begging. As many of you know, I’ll be putting on a free self-defense / safety mini seminar for any kids ages 4-12 who wants to come down on the field for the Schaumburg Flyers Minor Leauge Baseball game on August 14 and 15th.

I need about 10+ Adult students and 5+ Youth students each game to help out with the seminar. We could have 20 kids show, or 200. I’m guessting it will be closer to the 200. So if you are interested in getting into the game for FREE and helping out, email me asap at matt @ EliteJKD.com.

I’ll have you show about one hour before we’re on, which will be about 30 minutes before the game starts. I don’t need assistants to have any special skill, as I’ll show what I’ll be teaching that hour right before we’re on. Simple enough. Stay for the game, or head home. I’ll be staying for the games.

Best of Blog: Here are a couple…

Safety tip every parent needs to know.

How to get a decade of FREE JKD classes.

Old school video of me knocking out a training partner.

Little article I wrote on priorities.

Knives and laws… a must read.

Details on my summer trip.

… I hope you can see that you are missing a lot if you don’t check out the blog every week. Want a short cut? Subscribe to the RSS to the right and be notified whenever important news comes through. Cool?

Ok, ok… knife fight.

This last weekend some staff members and students attended a Navy SEAL Edged Weapons seminar. Please read the past couple blogs about this… attendees had to say some pretty cool things.

But is here is the coolest thing… read a slice of what another JKD instructor had to say about our guys:

Matt,
It was great to see you once again. I am very impressed by both you and your students. It would be my honor to do whatever I can to help you promote and strengthen EDS. With that in mind, please keep me up to date with the goings on at elite!
Friends in life, Brothers in death, Warriors forever!

-Michael VanBeek

He came up to me in person, along with the Head Instructor of the seminar (they guy who trained the SEALs) and said how impressed they were with our guys. So great job students and staff, great job.

As far as the knife fight went. It was great. All 40+ competitors were separated into 3 small tournies to produce three finalists. In my ring, the top three places were held by EDS guys. Pretty impressive.

Nik took another final spot in another ring, and another instructor from Alabama… yes, Alabama, took the 3rd spot. As all of the attendees huddled around the final ring space, one of the 3 finalists had to get a buy. We all chose numbers, and Nik won… So I had to fight twice.

One cut accounted for one point, and we played to three points. We used these special chalk knives so contact could be proven without a doubt. The first guy did get one shot on me, as he dove for a shot to my shin, after I scored a point on him.

The points then went to 2-1 me, and then 3-1 me. Then I had to fight Nik. Now here is the deal… I love Nik… didn’t like having to fight him especially because I believe weapons is his strongest area. Him being 6′2″ against my 5′8″ didn’t help me either. Would have much more liked to grapple

Any way, I turned back around and we started to spar. To show Nik’s expertise, he got a quick shot in after I scored the initial point… it was now 1-1. Then a series of “same time” shots occured, where a definate point was not scored.

We once again struck each other, but I was given the credit for the “first” shot… still very close. It was 2-1. I was then able to get a nice shot on his right arm, bringing it to 3-1. The bottom line is that Nik did a great job, and by coming in 2nd to my 1st, only proved how dominate EDS was among this group of martial artists. I was very proud of everyone.

Last thing… Contest.

I’ll be releasing my new video series soon. I need a name. CATT members will know exactly what it is about, as I taught on the “Three Matrcies” at the bar. For you guys who don’t know… I have simplified self-defense into 42 specific scenerios… and organized it into 3 Matrixes… matricies… whatever.

Mixing in strong search engine words, easy to remember ideas, catchy phrases, give me a title – one where I could grab the domain name. One we originally wanted was the “Martial Matrix”. But it is taken. Post ideas on the blog… if we choose yours, you’ll get the next video series FREE! It compresses all of my self-defense work into an easy and organized fasion… You’ll love it!

Have fun with that…

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

ps: Search back in past blogs to see how to access the student only blog!

I’m sorry if you guys had troubles posting on this blog. My bad. It is all fixed now! Post away!

Here is some more feedback from the Navy SEAL Edged Weapons Seminar:

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“I want to thank sifu Matt, sifu Nik, sifu Tom Cruse and sifu Harinder Singh for the knowledge you shared with me during the two day seminar. It was a hard work out and a lot of information. There where people from all over Illinois, Wisconsin, even from Alamaba. We got to train with partners we never met before, they had the same concept but different techniques and energy.

“Just wanted to take some time and say how awesome the Edged Weapons Seminar was! The weekend was a blaze with energy over the various information that was being given. I found it to be one of the most entertaining things I have done in a llloooooonnnnnngggg time. The energy… the technique the experiences where great. Thank you Sifu Tom and Sifu Matt and to all who helped make this possible!”
-Anthony Monterroso

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My feedback is coming next! Stay tuned!

Ah… one more thing… I need assistants for the Schaumburg Flyers game on 8/14 or 8/15 (or both!). Email me for details!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

I’ll write more in the days to come… but here is our own Paul Ingram commenting on the Navy Seal Edged Weapons Seminar some of us attended:

Where to begin with this past weekend? I am still in awe as I?m writing this Monday morning and can still feel the adrenalin pumping. This weekend Me and a handful of other EDS guys went out to train and hang out with the Progressive Fighting Systems Organization.

I met so many new and talented faces in the PFS/JKD world. Over the weekend we learned new knife drills, new hubud drills, about real emotional content and much more? At the end of the weekend we had a large knife sparring competition. The best part was to see Matt take the competition all the way to the gold.

YES, Our Sifu Matt came out as the champion and his last match was against our very own Nik! Talk about being nervous and unsure on who to root for. The cool thing is that our EDS Instructors were the two on top. Makes you think of the high quality of not only their instructing abilities but also their high level of skill. The rest of our EDS guys looked amazing also. Everyone put out there fullest effort, even during Sifu Singh?s crazy workout!

This weekend turned out to not only being fun and knowledgeable on many levels as well as life changing for me. This weekend was full of incredible surprises and I must give a gigantic thank you to Sifu Matt. This whole experience has changed me as a person overall.

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Once again, more to come…

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Several staff members will be attending the Navy SEAL Edged Weapons Seminar this weekend, so there will be no Saturday Adult Classes.

One of our private students, and someone I have been listening to since 1990, is a local DJ who has made an international name for himself. DJ Bad Boy Bill has released his most recent CD this week, and I wanted to pass it on to everyone. This album shows his growth as a artist and producer.

He’ll be performing at Crobar this Saturday. Check out “The Album” at www.BadBoyBill.com .

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

The location is: 18550 Millburn Rd., Wadsworth, IL… which is by Gurnee. Doors open at 9am and the seminar starts at 10am. Please pass this on to all of your classes, co-students, etc. The cost is 175 through me… I need that… well yesterday, so call me asap.

I will leave around on Saturday at 6:45am from Rockford with Kevin, where we’ll meet up with Nik. From there we’ll meet anyone else interested in caravanning with us at the IKEA parking lot at 8:00am sharp. My cell is 630.837.7565 and Nik’s is 847.894.8006 if anyone needs it.

Other school groups will be there, so lets represent EDS by wearing our EDS class t-shirts… and nothing else! Kidding… especially you Nik. Yeah, EDS t’s if you can. Bring all of your gear and eye protection if you have it (I might have some extras for $10 a shot… contact me asap on that).

Email me if you want in on the caravan – either from Rockford, or from Schaumburg. PLUS!!! Email me the name you want printed on your certificate so I can get that to Sifu Tom.

See you there!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Ok, here we go…

First, I have to say this… although this is incredible research, Matt Numrich and/or Elite Defense Systems and/or the EDS Companies, Inc. do not claim to be an offical authority in weapons and their state to state laws. Always do and confirm your own research, as the laws are always changing.

DuPage Public Defender, Robert Miller, is a friend of EDS and wanted to pass this info on to us – as this relates to a lot of questions I get about what you can and cannot carry.

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Illinois Criminal Code 720 ILCS 5/24-1. Unlawful Use of Weapons. (a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly carries with intent to use the same unlawfully against another, a dangerous knife.

So, basically, any knife could qualify as a violation if someone is possessing it with the intent to use it on another person.

Now blade sizes do come into play if you are armed with a knife and commit a felony. If a person commits a felony with a knife with a blade of over 3 inches, it will enhance the sentence.

Now, keep in mind you can buy a knife with a 6 inch blade and possess it while you eat at a restaurant. You can buy an 8 inch knife at Walmart for your kitchen. You would be in possession of that knife as you walk out of Walmart and transport it back home. No law is broken, because you don’t intend to use it on anyone.

Here’s a quote from the case of People v. Sullivan: In Sullivan, pursuant to defendant’s arrest for disorderly conduct, the police searched defendant and found a hunting knife. The supreme court reversed a conviction of unlawful use of weapons and found that the mere possession of a hunting knife late at night in a residential area was not enough from which to infer intent.

Now in contrast, the Rockford Ordinance does not say the person needs to have the intent to use the knife against another, in order for it to be a crime; It says:
(19) Carries in a threatening or menacing manner, without authority of law, any pistol, revolver, dagger, razor, dangerous knife, stiletto, knuckles,=2 0slingshot, an object containing noxious or deleterious liquid, gas or substance or other dangerous weapon or conceals said weapon on or about the person or vehicle;

So the issue then turns on what is a “dangerous knife?” The Armed Violence statute does define a “dangerous weapon” as a knife with a blade over 3 inches. Ultimately it may be a question for a judge or jury to decide.

Here’s a paragraph from a case that found a nail clipper to be a dangerous weapon. “This issue was first addressed by this court in People v. Dwyer (1927), 324 Ill. 363, 155 N.E. 316, where it was noted that some weapons such as a pistol are deadly per se and thus as a matter of law satisfy the statutory requirement for armed robbery. An object not deadly per se may still be a dangerous weapon because of its capacity to inflict serious harm e ven though not designed for that purpose, as in the case of a baseball bat. Thus, we held in People v. Robinson (1978), 73 Ill.2d 192, 22 Ill.Dec. 688, 383 N.E.2d 164, that an ordinary nail clipper containing a pointed fingernail file could be found by the jury to be a dangerous weapon.”

Now in the Sullivan case I listed above, the possession of the hunting knife didn’t qualify as a crime. But that was because under Illinois law he needed to possess it with the intent to use it against another. The defendant would have probably been convicted under the Rockford law.

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So how do you like that?!

Comments? Questions?

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

ps: Navy SEAL Edged Weapons Seminar THIS weekend!

We have some pretty incredible info coming pertaining to the legalities of carrying – and even using a knife – in physical confrontations. I’ll be writing about that next!

For now, here is the conclusion to my trip journal:

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ALL DOWN HILL FROM HERE, ENDING WITH A PERSONAL NOTE

The next day we cruised ? yes, another cruising day! Steph was a sport and let me sleep in, but we encountered our only rough water of the whole trip. Too windy to be poolside, and even the top decks were a bit too shaky. Everyone was pretty lethargic after the mega touring day, the day before. The next day we pulled into our final port which was Corfu, another Greek island. The cleanest and most organized by far. My family got off, did some shopping, ate a great lunch, and then got back on the boat for some pool time fun with the kids.

We concluded the cruise with one more cruising day, which mainly consisted of packing and organizing for deboarding. We ended up spending one more day in Rome, where we visited the Forum, which was immense as well. You could tell the adults where worn, and the kids made it known to.

All in all, it was a great trip. Honestly, a bit of a paradox, as I?m so glad I went there, but not sure I?ll be heading back anytime soon. I loved the ports, cities and sites? as there is a lot of details I left out here, but once again, it just isn?t me. For example, I?ve been to Japan and Australia, and I?d love to go back there, but not back to these places. I know, weird. Who knows, maybe when the boys get older.

The bottom line is that the kids behaved better than we expected, and my family was a great support to two newer parents. It also gave me a chance to reconnect with my family. If anyone really knows me, they know I?m a workaholic? but in a positive way. I love what I do, and am so blessed I can do it as my main occupation. I?m usually at my desk working no later than 6:30/7:00am every morning and my last class finishes at 9:00/9:30pm at night. Besides taking a couple hours out each day for my kids, my workouts, and quick meals ? I?m working the whole day.

Call me crazy, but there are many nights I can?t wait to get up and start working again? and many mornings I awake early, having trouble waiting till I?ve hit an acceptable time cut my sleep time. So for those out there that think martial arts instructors have the life by teaching a couple classes every day, and that is it, I beg to differ (I thought it was going to be that way too 15 years ago when I started).

Although over the last couple years I?ve developed some healthier work habits, I?d be lying if I said I?m totally cured. To best sum it up, there was a time in the ?Dragon, The Bruce Lee Story? movie that totally hit home for me. At the end of the movie Bruce is assessing his commitments to work, and says, ?I want to play with my children without looking at the clock?. That is what this trip gave me? more of that. In a way, it reminded me why I do what I do, and do what I love.

I want to thank my staff for being so supportive over the last three weeks. The trip also gave me some time to think about what is on the horizon for EDS. The 2nd half of 2009 is lining up some incredible projects, seminars, and events which you?ll want to be around for. I?ll be launching a new web based video series which I finished shooting right before I left, and we?ll be running JKD programs in a dozen more ?satellite? locations by Fall/Winter. I?ll also be implementing some great improvements for my students in their classes? because after all, you are also the reason I love what I do.

Hang on tight?

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Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

After I tie up this cruise blog, I want to cover a topic I get asked about all of the time: the legality of knives. I have an incredible resource for this topic, so you know what the law says regarding what kind of knife you can carry.

Here is the next part of my trip I just returned from… If you haven’t read the past blogs for about a week, do so. Lots of other important info.

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EGYPT? OH EGYPT? LESS ADULTS? BUT STILL SO BLESSED

Completing a four port stop in a row marathon we hit another very needed cruising day, and then landed in Alexandria/Egypt, which is about a two hour drive to Cairo. We planned a twelve hour tour here, and were very scared about how the kids would act. Plus, this is was the only time my parents decided to go on another excursion, other than the one we went on, so ?adult hands on deck? would be decreased. Yikes.

First up on this tour we went to one of the biggest mosques in Egypt, which had an incredible panoramic view of Cairo. This place was big. Just like in Turkey which is a predominately Muslim country, Stephanie, my mom and my sister had to watch their clothes choices. Because we visited specifically a Muslim place, the women had to watch it a little more. The guys didn?t have to be so covered, but we still had to have our knees hidden.

Next we hit a lunch boat on the Nile. Holy big river. Lunch was nice, and the kids pulled through so far so good. Next stop was the Pyramids. Wow. Can?t explain it in words. They?re huge, and to think the people who built them had no machinery, no computers, etc. was even more enticing. We took my sons on a camel ride which they loved? then trekked over to the Sphinx. Very cool as well. We went to a place where they showed us how the ancient Egyptians made paper (as they were the first to do so), and we concluded the tour with some light shopping.

One more thing I want to add here: We Americans have no clue how good we have it. The ?dirtiness? aside which I saw in many of these cities didn?t compare to the poverty (and they obviously went hand in hand). Cairo and Alexandria were pretty bad. I?ve seen slums in LA, Chicago, and New York? and as cold as it sounds, they have it good. It just wasn?t the level of poverty, but the amount of people living in it. Made me feel pretty blessed to say the least.

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The follow up to Beny’s injury blog can be found on the Student Only blog.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu