Another Great Year at the Gathering!







Another great year at Innovative Martial Arts / KSMA's 9th annual Gathering of the Tribes 2009!! This is a weekend seminar where instructors and practitioners come from all over the U.S. to train, reconnect, eat and hang! I enjoyed reconnecting with friends and meeting new faces. The training was superb as usual! I love experiencing all of the different perspectives and styles of the people who came out. It is cool that the various instructors are so open to share what they know not only during their respective sessions, but also in impromptu' training where someone pulls them aside to ask questions. Everyone's willingness to teach and learn is second only to the openness and friendliness found here. I really appreciate Chuck and Jeannie Pippin taking the time and effort to put this all together for everyone to learn and enjoy! It is great training, food and friends minus the usual ego that seminars like this often have... and it is so economical!! A weekend like this would usually easily cost four times this anywhere else!

I have to mention that I did miss seeing Bobbe and Cody this year. Although the two dimensional Bobbe was very active and kept everyone laughing the whole weekend! It was almost like Bobbe was really there... and in a way he was! I hope the three dimensional versions of both of you two can make it out next year.

On another note, I would like to extend my gratitude for the honor of being asked to instruct one of the sessions this year. I shared some IKI Krav Maga pistol disarms, a few stories, and concepts about Robert Humphrey's / Jack Hoban's living values defender/ protector mentality. I have never experienced a group of people (many of whom were instructors) who have been so open to new material, enthusiastic and caught on so well. All of the questions and feed back were inspirational! Thank you!

Finally, I would like to thank Chuck and Jay for inducting me as a member of KSMA. I was getting ready to leave when they cornered me. As they first approached they had that strange look in their eye, a look even stranger than their usual one, if you can believe that! Since I was a little on edge after reading The Gift of Fear I was ready to make a run for it figuring they were going to assault me and steal my wallet & gear or do other unmentionable things you only hear about in Turkish prisons. Instead they presented me with a KSMA membership certificate!

All joking aside I am proud to be a part of such an organization.
http://ksma.blogspot.com/ (here is the link to the entire blog)

All the best!

Keep going,
~Craig

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