Rodney, Rigan and more

The 2nd CMD Singapore '07 Retreat was a great success.

The group from KDT comprising of Albert, Ken Lee, Laurent, Mike, Raj, Tarbo and myself learnt a lot of new concepts as well as being able to polish up our boxing and grappling skills. With the calibre of teachers presenting the course, how could you not?

This year, Rodney King headed the Retreat and delivering the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu component was Rigan Machado, a legend in the grappling circles in his own right. There is now an agreement between these two fine teachers to combine their knowledge and form an affiliation. Great for us!

Rodney's sessions weren't as intense as last year, but the information provided was jam-packed as usual. His thoughts and perspective on what constitutes a healthy approach to martial arts training (essentially a skill which we ~ hopefully ~ never have to use for real) and how to extract the positive values from an essentially physically violent pastime into a life-enriching activity.

The daily sessions for the Retreat members comprised of 3 hourly blocks of evening training, covering aspects of boxing, wrestling and BJJ.

On the weekdays, Albert and I had the responsibility to wake up by 7am for a 2-hour, 8am Trainer's sessions every morning. While these sessions comprised of discussions (we were too tired to do anything more) they resulted in the most enjoyable component for me (as a trainer) to see how everyone else runs their gym and classes. I'm happy that I'm on track as it were so the delivery of the classes are similar to that in other CMD clubs worldwide.

Rodney eschews his opinion without pulling punches as usual. I respect that and share very similar views on how many "martial artists" have shot themselves in the foot. It is a dying industry, much to the chagrin of the "traditionalists" who find it increasingly difficult to attract and keep students in their dojo.

The way in which the CMD program is delivered is more akin to personal development and a physically intensive tool to connect the mind-body experience, however, I digress.

I won't detail the info of the training sessions in respect for the people who invested in the time and expense for attending the Retreat. It's only fair that if you want to know what went on you should come along and learn, and pay your dues like everyone else.

Needless to say, everyone was very taken by Rigan Machado who is a very cool guy. He's friendly, excellent sense of humour and has a vast (and I mean vast) knowledge of grappling skills (BJJ, wrestling, Judo, Sambo). He also has a load of funny stories so be sure to ask him about his Singapore Python experience.

Sandwiched between bouts of shopping and food-inspired visits to the numerous shopping malls, highlighted by late night talks, mini-counseling sessions the workouts and learning proved to be useful and practical.

Singapore's weather proved to be great (if you like rainy weather) but in this climate, warm, wet and breezy (it's an island after all) then be sure to book your place for next year.

It is anticipated to be 3x bigger next year as most of the N.American and Euro CMD contingent are saving up for it. Hope you can join us then also.