Welcome to Modern Farang Mu Sul

The month of May is a month that tends to be filled with lots and lots of activity for Modern Farang Mu Sul®. The year of 2006 is no exception. We have had everything from seminars and tests, to graduations and vacations. Not to forget our Annual Warrior Quest Championship and black belt camp. This month seems to have it all. Hang on, here are some updates:

FMS - WHQ: Let's start with some fantastic family news from WHQ. I think everyone can appreciate the special pride that comes from watching our kids graduate from school. Well, just imagine the pride of several De Alba mom's, dad's and grandmom too. We were happy to have a De Alba graduation celebration party for Christopher (Norma's son), Anna and Monique (Betsy's daughters). A good group of family and friends gathered in Sonoma for some Mexican BBQ. The gang was all here, and the weather was cooperating, all lending itself for one heck of a family gathering. What an awesome time. Gotta love it.

(Pictures: 1- Kuk Sa Nim, Thomas, Mike Jr. and Brandon De Alba, 2- Señora Lupe De Alba with most of her grandchildren)

I am just catching my breath from yet another awesome experience which is our Annual Warrior Quest Martial Arts Championship and FMS Black Belt Camp. 2006 marked the 7th year for this destination event for all Modern Farang Mu Sul® family. There is so much to tell, I don't know where to start. Let me just say that it was one beautiful weekend for Modern Farang Mu Sul® (on many levels). The FMS family and friends came to San Francisco by car, by plane, by bus, or whatever, but they came.

I would like to take a minute to give a special thanks to our Warrior Quest committee for making this yet another well run, well organized and enjoyable weekend. We could not have done it without the huge efforts and sacrifices of: Inst. Kimberly Leith, Inst. Terry King, Inst. Stuart McCalla, Inst. Chris Mague, Inst. John Stenson, Master Patrick Schleeter, Inst. Earl Boyd and last but not least Inst. Larry Saindon. You guys are all AWESOME!!

It was such a pleasure to see all of our good friends and extended family such as: Grand Master Ruby Navarro, Sifu Victor and Sifu Thomas from Navarro's Kempo, Sensei Eric Reed from Iron Octopus, Master Jin O Kang and all the Hapkido USA family, Prof. Bill and Simu Pati Grossman from Grossman's Kempo, Sifu Rod Reape, Sifu John Nash, and Sifu Tim Alemany from Alemany Kenpo, and Graduado Fugo Uriel Ordonez from ABADÁ Capoeira, among many others. We were especially honored to have Grand Master Tony Troche, the current president of ATAMA visit us all the way from Hawaii. Thank you ALL soo much. Warrior Quest could not exist without you.

Huge thanks to all the Modern Farang Mu Sul® family that came from near and far, including: Master Schleeter, Inst. Boyd and all the rest of the FMS Hollister family, Inst. Sanchez from FMS Denver, Inst. Saindon, Inst. Miller, Inst. Hamilton, Inst. Wagner, Asst. Inst. Witt, and all the FMS Huntington Beach family, and representing the East coast FMS family was Federico Peña. Not to forget Master James De Alba, from Sonoma. I can't begin to tell you how much it meant to me just to see all of your happy faces. Equally as important were all the FMS family that support all of our instructors and students. You guys just never cease to amaze me.

As always we had LOTS of action and lots of fun. Two major shout outs to Vince Troia and Chris Moore from FMS Hollister on a clean sweep of the adult grappling divisions, and also to Alessandro Padovani from FMS-WHQ on his three-peat win in the adult weapons sparring. Totally awesome. The master's demo portion was a spectacular affair with Graduado Fugo Ordonez infecting the whole crowd, clapping while he displayed the beauty and grace of ABADÁ Capoeira. This was followed by the FMS Huntington Beach demo team comprised of Inst. Nicole Miller, Inst. Dylan Hamilton, Inst. Matt Wagner, and Asst. Inst. Mariah Witt, doing everything from self defense, weapons, to breaking and more. Next came Inst. Earl Boyd from FMS Hollister doing a breathtaking demonstration of KI Power and Mental Power, where he pierced his arms with spokes, and then picked up two twenty-five pound buckets of water suspended by rope. Simply amazing. And as if that were not enough, next up was Master Kang's Hapkido USA demo team comprised of: Inst. Virginia Rallo Jay, Inst. Carlo Valero and Inst. Marco Magsaysay. Well, they presented a flawless exhibition of sword vs sword, empty hand vs gun, gun retention and the dazzling rope techniques (aka: belt tech, aka: Po Bok Sul). And to cap off a fantastic master's demo were my son's Thomas and Brandon De Alba doing an empty hand form, and then Inst. Stenson and myself demonstrated knife forms, drills and knife fighting self defense. What a tremendous show. And what a fantastic championship as a whole.

The FMS black belt camp on Sunday, was also a total blast. The plan was to get into some advanced training, and it was mission accomplished. Inst. King started things off with some kicking target drills, then some trapping drills, into trapping techniques. I took over and worked on several advanced self defense sets and forms such as Joint Breaking Fighting and Farang Yuk Gum Hyung. We ended the camp with more sword training and an FMS Tae Guk Kwan form (one of my favorites). Too much fun!

I know this sounds kind of cliché, but each Warrior Quest Championship and FMS black belt camp are awesome in their own way, and they seem to get better and better each year. Now I can't wait for next year. For all those that could not make it, I know you were there in spirit. We felt you. Let's make a plan to be at Warrior Quest 8.

For More Pictures of WQ7 Action - Click Here
For More Pictures of WQ7 Demos - Click Here
For More Pictures of FMS Black Belt Camp 2006 - Click Here

FMS - Poland : We recently received some of the BEST news this year and for that matter any year...... Inst. Katarznya Klepczyk and Asst. Inst. Andrzej Klepczyk from our Wroclaw, Poland FMS dojang, just had their first baby....

It's a GIRL,..... and her name is Anna Wiktoria Klepczyk. She was born on 9th of May at 11:33a.m, she is 52cm long and weight 2850g.

HUGE Congratualtions!!! I kow eveyone is excited and proud, and now I can't wait to meet baby Ania in person and teach her her first yop chagi.

FMS Germany: We got a few more pictures from some of the seminars and training sessions that Master Klaus Wachsmann has recently conducted. The FMS Germany group are very busy making plans for the rest of the year. Which includes another trip to Poland as well as several others. Asst. Inst. Michael Klockner from Köln, Asst. Inst. Juergen Leusch and Asst. Inst. Frank Gerigk from Gelsenkirchen, Asst. Inst. Markus Höhne and Asst. Inst. Thomas Schneider from Winterberg are all coodinating enough events to not only keep Master Wachsmann more than busy, but also provide lots of exposure for these great teachers and students. Good work gentlemen, good work. I look forward to seeing you all very soon. Farang!

(Pictrures: 1- Sun Bae Nim Michael Klockner doing a self defense technique, 2- Sun Bae Nim Jeurgen Leutch works hand combos on focus mitts, 3- Sun Bae Nim Klockner works trapping techniques with Sun Bae Nim Leutch, 4- Sun Bae Nim Thomas Schnieder applies a joint lock on Sun Bae Nim Markus Hohne, 5- Asst. Inst. Klockner and Asst. Inst. Leutch work on grappling techniques)

FMS - Puerto Rico: Congratulations Master Vega and all of the Puerto Rico FMS family on thier recent "From Trapping to Grappling Seminar". It was a resoundng success. Special thanks also to Sigung Mendez and the Kajukenbo family too for taking part in this awesome event and making it that much more special. Ontop of the great training and drills, all were treated to a wonderful meal at Inst. Amalio and Brenda Jimenez' resataruante, the historical, House of Joy. I think everyone was feeling lots of joy as Master Vega presented a series of training methods and self defense techniques to seamlessly handle confrontations from first contact (Trapping) all the way to conclussion (Grappling). With a blend of modern strategies and some good old school fighting techniques, Master Vega kept the information flowing. Everyone left with a greater appreciation of the many options one can garnish from our training, and how to use them.

Contatulations again Sir. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to seeing you all later this year in December. It's going to be so awesome, I can barely wait.

FMS New York : Inst. Joseph Spataro informs me that the FMS Long Island school competed at Grappler's Quest in Bayonne NJ. They all did and amazing job, and made everyone sooo proud.

For those not in the know, Grappler's Quest is the #1 tournament of this type in the U.S. and is ranked third in the world. Only the ADCC and Brazilian open are ranked higher in the world.

With only a year and a half training in FMS, Travis competed in the 16 and 17 yr old No Gi / Do Bok Division. Brent who is just shy of one year in FMS also competed in the same division. Also competing were Courtney and Marky T. Courtney has been doing Modern Farang Mu Sul® for about two months but held her own against some very tough competition. Despite being incredibly overworked and burned out, Marky insisted on competing and ended up entering the Super Heavy Wt. Division.

These brave warriors went through a field of tough competition that included fighters from such recognized camps as Gracie Ju Jitsu and Chute Boxe. In the beginning they showed no respect for our fighters until they found themselves controlled for superior positions, clean techniques, and getting choked out! That will do it every time. Way to go, and way to represent.

As mentioned before, the whole group did a magnificent job, and not only came away with several medals, but really got lots of respect for our art. A lot of people are taking notice that Modren Farang Mu Sul® has some serious grappling, and we proved it at Grappler's Quest. Congratulations to everyone, for your hard work and dedication. Also huge thanks go to the supporting members for being there, both in training and in the competition. You are all awesome. Finally, BIG Kudos to Inst. Michael Iannone, Inst. Joseph Spataro and Inst. Anthony Spataro for your strength and guidance. This is the result of your hard work. Good job everyone. FARANG!

FMS Portugal: As always, Inst. Nelson Pinto and the Portugal FMS family are busy with training, demos and seminars. Inst. Pinto has been very busy converting our training video tapes to DVD format, and translating our written Modern Farang Mu Sul® materials into Portuguese and is providing incredible support to our new members in Brazil. Good work Sir. As we have said many times before, you have our 100% backing and we are here to help in any way that we can.

Inst. Pinto recently conducted a few special seminars for not only the general public, but also for special military law enforcement personnel. Everything from hand to hand, arrest and control, to bladed weapons and firearms. Inst. Pinto has been covering it all, to a very appreciative audience.

As if that were not enough, Inst. Pinto just conducted another color belt testing for his kids program in Cadaval. These little warriors demonstrated all aspects of our art including kick boxing, falling and rolling, joint locks, forms and weapons. I know their parents are as overjoyed with their progress as much as Inst. Pinto is. They are doing a fantastic job. Congratulations to you all. We are all very proud of you. Keep up the good work!

FMS Michigan : Inst. Robert Hudson has keep very busy lately, and also recently conducted color belt testing. Wow, so much color belt testing. This is a good thing everyone. Keep it up. Congratulations to all the students on their new belts. Be very proud of your hard work and accomplishments. Much deserved.

FMS Hollister: Everyone, every so often, needs to take a break and take a vacation. This is no different for Inst. Beth Dudzik from FMS Hollister. And what a better vacation than a trip to Italy? Wow, I'm so jealous. Well, that's exactly what her and her husband have been planning for months. Stops included: the lovely and romantic Venice (that's kind of a mandatory one), the quaint villages of Gubbio and Spello, and ending up in majestic Rome. They used to say that all roads lead to Rome. This was true in ancient times, and was true for them, as they wound up a fabulous trip in Italy. What a fantastic experience. Congratulations!

Other News: Now, as many of you know, Master James De Alba is a, well, how can we say this....He is a great aficionado of the motorcycle racing world. He spends much of his free time going on rides and learning racing techniques. He also gets track time at Infineon Raceway (previously known as Sears Point Raceway) in Sonoma county, to hone his skills. Just this month he went for his latest session at Infineon, and was clocked in at over 140 mph. He was taking turns in traffic at well over 80 mph. That's amazing. Actually, that's scary (for the rest of us humans). Congratulations Sir, and you just stay safe.

Birthday News: We are happy to announce the birthdays of our FMS Black Belts from all over the world, so all of you students will know exactly when you can show your gratitude and celebrate with your teachers. FMS Black Belt Birthdays for this month:

This month of May wil be: Inst. John Stenson Jr. May 01st, Inst. Nicole Miller May -14th, Inst. Michael Nickels May -23rd, and Inst. Terry L. King May -30th.

Next month of June will be: Master David Dehnert June 11th, Master Patrick Schleeter June 13th, Master James De Alba June 21st, and Inst. Matthew Wagner June -22nd.