Practice, Practice, Practice

The only way to get better at something is to seek out an external source of knowledge to educate yourself on the topic be that through a book, video, tutor or any other source you might imagine and practice.  Even with all the knowledge and learning assistance in the world there can be little progress without practice.  The blacksmith's apprentice can watch his mentor for decades yet will never be capable of creating good instruments if he does not at some point begin to wield the hammer for himself.

As we draw the comparison to martial training there is only so much someone can help you through explanation and word.  At a certain point there is no more use for words and the only thing left is action.  So do your learning.  Read books.  Watch instructionals.  Get personal instruction.  But mental training is only half the battle.  You have to put in the work!  Get physically involved!  Much like the blacksmith's apprentice watching can only take you into a mental understanding of the techniques.  It will never give you the experience as to how performing the technique actually FEELS.

So do me a favor, I want you to get up out of your chair or step away from you desk right now and practice your jab.  

How does it feel?  Is it a confident jab or are you still wondering what a jab is?  Is your arm extending straight or is your elbow flailing?  Do you have a stance or do you look like you are waiting for a bus?

Go on.  Practice!  It will do your jab much better than sitting here reading!

Not Wrong | Just Different

The best martial artists are those with open minds.  While every person has a style that speaks to them it is hard to be respected as a person or martial artist if there is not acceptance of others' ways and an openness to learning new approaches and methods.

It is commendable and demanding of respect when a person decides to dedicate themselves to a specific art and work within that sect of the martial arts community.  Yet it is deplorable when this same person scoffs and sneers at others efforts within a different sect.

While it is no doubt true that certain styles or approaches are more effective there is still validity within the practice of those so-called "less effective" styles.  Each person must decide for themselves why it is they practice.  After all, Bruce Lee did say that in the end all knowledge is self knowledge, including knowledge of martial arts.  Upon continued dedication the practitioner learns about himself in ways of which he was previously ignorant.  For example you will learn by taking just one kickboxing class how flexible / inflexible you are.

Getting back on point, when it comes to the different approaches, styles and training methods of different martial arts it is of course still another thing all together to come to blows and to fight.  That is to say that there can be a big difference between what you train for and the way a fight can go, especially out in the real world where there are any number of objects within the environment let alone the possibility of concealed weapons or firearms.

Now I could go on and say how useless it is for someone to spend their life learning empty hand forms and that they should instead take krav maga or Aikido to learn about disarming and control through joint manipulation.  But it would be against common sense to say that it is useless to learn a form.  For it has its own beauty and use there within.  Discipline, control, learning body mechanics through movement and developing strength, power, flexibility and muscle memory of technique and perhaps the public performance of this form would even inspire others to seek out and enjoy the world of martial arts.

So what is the best and most effective martial art?  It is a trick question.  First you must ask yourself, "What is my goal through practice?"  From there you poke around and decide which art is a good fit for you.  Take note now as well and don't let yourself get brainwashed as so many do within their own space.  The first martial art you dive into will forever be a large part of your life but don't let it weigh you down or cloud your mind when branching out to something new or conversing with someone with background in a different style.  There is much to be learned but it is difficult for that learning to occur through closed doors.

Take your knowledge from school to school always filling your cup more and more.  Remember what you learn and be open to receiving more and more.  Again, when two martial artists meet it is not that there is one wrong and one right.  They are simply different and it is through appreciation and acceptance of this difference that both can learn and grow.

The Beauty of Style

Before we go on and talk about styles, what is the best or worst out there it is important to understand what is real.  What is pretty.  What is the best.  And why.  But above all it is important understand what is style, beauty, and reality.

The martial arts, fitness, and boxing can all be compiled into one.  But still the only way you can succeed in your goals is by carrying on through a formula which will become the center point of a system or style.

Bruce Lee, Larry Homes, Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Holyfield and many others like the Sugar Ray Lenoard, Tommy Herns, Macho Camacho, Roberto Duran, Oscar Dela Hoya all become what they are by bringing something unique to what they did.

These fighters could not bring it all, but they brought a lot.  The Calasanz system is the most well balanced system in the world by incorporating it all.  It has the beauty of kung fu, the brutality of karate, the grace of boxing, the endurance of muay thai and the effectiveness of a reality based style.  You can answer the question yourself as this truth by following youtube and the vast video archives available documenting the well-roundedness of Calasanz and his system.

Again, all of these people are inspirations to me and to many others out there.  The Calasanz system is here to stay, it is not something that will vanish or disappear after the main person is gone.  It will stay, because we did and we have what it takes for this system or style to stay, all based on letting a formula and this formula must be simple.  And it is simple.

All the fame, skill, character and personality comes from one thing.  Knowing yourself.  By understanding why you are being seen by an audience and captivating them.

You are good, but still you can be better.  Sugar Ray said that when you shadow box look in the mirror.  Love the mirror.  The meaning is to know what you are doing, to know what you show the audience in your punch and being able to show the beauty of it.

Practice your moves not just to make them better or correct them, but to make them real.  Make them effective.  Make them prettier and prettier.  As you look at mirror to see how they look understand what it is you portray.  All of this comes by starting with that great foundation and then they become great.

Don’t let a gift that was given to you from birth, that natural skill you've been born with be taken from you.  Control your skill.  Be smart.  You can be yourself or you can let others manage you until you can comprehend who you are.

Myself I could not let anybody be in charge of me for very long.  When I did it was nearly disaster.  But I came out of it.  I remembered and took charge and responsibility for who I was.  I decided to work my hardest so as not to let the skill knowledge and reality be lost.

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How Much Do You Want to Learn?

Would you like to approach your training in a multifaceted way by learning the Calasanz System Combined? Depending on your learning ability and experience this could be better for you. Or would you prefer to learn something in a more specific capacity? Such as: Boxing, Karate (Goju Ryu), Wing Chun Kung Fu, Chinise Boxng, Recreational Boxing, Cheng Chuang Long Fist, or Pau Fa-Yoga.


Regardless of what you choose to study or how you decide to approach your own training we always give as the core of our training and the #1 method that is unique to our training and our school, Physical Art. This is a unique and all inclusive approach to elite fitness ability and training designed to improve the body in a multitude of aspects through the movements and exercises. Physical Art has proven effective in improving balance, breathing, coordination, strength, power, grounding and flexibility. It is what makes our school unique. All of our students regardless of their program learn to some degree these methods of training. Improve your ability on all levels and reap the benefits of an all inclusive exercise regimen.









He was born with a gift all based on the logical understanding of the human body, that is based on the core, the power of the core and movements all used for their different purposes.

How much do you want to work out? It is very important to understand that Calasanz as a trainer teaches you how to work out, and how to do it smart. Come to Calasanz because you want to take something home with you. This is a place of 15,000 square feet. We have a huge space for people to come train whatever they choose. We welcome all styles and schools of training. Come here to learn something, to be yourself and most of all to take something home with you!

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"Take Something Home With You"

Under the Calasanz General System which we call the Pressure Points Program, it does not matter where you are located, far from his local center, another State or internationally you can still train and learn from him through our video archives by watching and absorbing the information we have to offer. You can come to train privately, semi-privately, as part of a class, take a camp, under a supervised program etc etc. All of this is based on the fact that many already have heard about the Calasanz System, especially towards the purpose of studying it. Studying under the Calasanz System means that you are doing it in order to “Take something home with you”, this is the real purpose of this system.

Let us give you an example, lets say you know somebody who is very fit, works out everyday and has done all sorts of private training. Now this person comes to Calasanz to learn and he notices he is off or out of sync with regard to his breathing, his flexibility, his coordination, and his body alignment. His posture is wrong, his core is very weak and so on. Now, Calasanz takes this student for one month and as is often the case he is not really sure what he is getting into, but after learning and doing the exercises catered to him he cannot believe how he looks and feels. His posture improves, his core strength is up and he finds himself better coordinated and more in tune with himself. Calasanz has seen and done this thousands of times for thousands of people over his long career as an instructor. There are countless examples of clients coming to Calasanz with sports injuries, sustained injuries from car accidents and from other sources only to find their range of motion, strength and ability improved drastically after learning and following some of his movements and exercises.

Calasanz allows his students to divide his system into items by learning certain, very specific skill sets or movement techniques from different systems to give the student exactly what he wants and what he needs. All of them come together to be a system where you can get what we call a Black Belt Equivalency or Certification. BLACK BELT EQUIVALENCY is based on the main items, of which there can be as many as 400. Understand, certifications are nearly infinite in this system. The meaning of everything is the fact of being able to challenge a student for a life time, yet still you can train more specifically in what you enjoy the most. Calasanz' skill and knowledge allows him to challenge you for life. All of this falls into the most important item which is called Calasanz Physical Arts. It is designed to tailor a training regimen to anybody regardless of age, physical ability, injuries, size, disability ect...

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Style Development (Pt. 1)

When it comes to developing a style or more accurately when it comes to developing YOUR style we are not talking about a certain school of thought or training regarding Martial Art.  We are talking more broadly about expression.

As you undertake, for example, the study of a traditional Martial Art such as Karate you will learn how to express a punch in a certain way.  Someone who is learning from a boxing coach will also learn how to throw a punch but it will be expressed differently according to the rules and norms of boxing.

Students of any Martial Art can show you a leading hand attack within the realm of that Martial Art be it a closed fist punch of Karate, open hand strike of any particular Kung Fu or the darting finger of Wing Chun.  Each strike has its purpose and usefulness in any given scenario yet the core movement and basics of each strike remain the same while the differences are expressed in the delivery into that space to be occupied furthest from the body.  That means that 98% of the movement is the same.  The difference is the hand or structure that is breaching that open space and initiating contact.

Strict adherence to a particular style is necessary when formally learning Martial Art and should be followed if tradition is where you place value.  After all, many schools and masters have been training within certain parameters for quite some time and their practice and knowledge is not to be brushed away without thought.  However, it is important to separate formal learning from the reality of a fight.  A formal Karate practitioner would have a great time getting his teeth kicked in if he were to go into a fight and expect to win by going through the specific set of movements executed in the specific order he learned in training.  Remember, traditional forms are simply the building blocks and tools to be used during a fight.  It is up to the practitioner to put the proper movements and techniques in their proper place and in proper time during those fleeting moments of combat to become victorious.

But this still begs the question.  How do you develop YOUR style?  The best advice I can offer is that you start with something that interests you.  Start with something that you like.  Don't get hung up on the usefulness or lack there-of of a particular style.  If you like it and you are practicing with focus there are more personal benefits that come with regular practice than can be written here.  Master something.  It takes time, patience, drive, discipline, determination and consistency; all of which are necessary in order to express something well and all will be useful qualities when/if you do decide to branch out to other styles or schools.


One pitfall that is very common, especially within those formal traditions, is the strict adherence to said tradition.  You cannot develop a style within a person unless they want it.  Yes, you've been perfecting your boxing punch for years and it is phenomenal. But that does not discredit or devalue the expression of a Karate punch.  It is not a question of one being wrong and the other right.  They are both right within their own realms.  Despite their being at least 80% the same they are just different punches.


So when you go developing it is important to use what you've learned and apply it to anything else you might take up.  You meld them.  Can you be a great boxer and go through a beginner Karate form?  Yes.  It doesn't make you any less of a boxer, it just means you have more tools at your disposal mentally and physically.  If you take boxing lessons and close your mind completely to the possibility of another style being valid or valued it is like a self inflicted lobotomy and only limiting development.

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Calasanz' Students Go to Olympic Trials : Win Gold and Silver

Taken From an Audio Recording from one of Calasanz' Students.
(names removed for privacy)

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"Calasanz' knowledge... Calasanz has so much knowledge in the Martial Arts man.  He told _____, 'You're not ready for the tournament.  You're not going.'  See he didn't want to take no for an answer.  He insisted.  Even the day before the tournament I was sparring with him.  He was going crazy trying to kick me and trying to... you know.  And I was there just blocking.  Calasanz got mad at me and gave me ... I think it was 50 push-ups because I didn't want to counter punch.  I didn't want to hurt ____ to stop him from going to the tournament.  It was crazy man."

"Spinning roundhouse kick... I saw the kick coming miles away.  I could have called him on the phone and said, '____, you got a spinning roundhouse coming.  Get your hands up.'  But it was too late.  I mean I saw the kick coming when the guy was lined up and then the first spin....  I like the guy, but... if you can't walk the walk don't talk the talk.  You understand?"

"When did you go?"

"When? Ehhh ... What year was it? 1996.

"It was nice man.  I was fearless.  I didn't care.  The fights were pretty much easy  'cause the system and the way we fight and in tae kwon do, the way they fight it's different you know.  They rely a lot on their kicks.  I tried to play their games for the first 2 seconds.  The guy started jumping around.

The first one started jumping around and I just countered him.  He went with a spinning kick which is very popular in tae kwon do and I hit him with a counter round kick.  Boom.  I knocked him out."

"To the head?"

"Yeah."

"The second one was the same thing.  The second one I move up to him, I shuffled.  I shuffled.  We used to do a lot of shuffling here.  I shuffled and hit him with a round kick.  He went down."

"The third one threw a kick at me.  I blocked it.  Then I hit him with a round kick.  It was all round kicks.  It was 3 round kicks.  3 knockouts."

"The 4th guy I was supposed to fight was a guy from here because he was beating everyone from his end and he bowed out to me because Calasanz didn't want us to fight.  So I ended up with the first place.  The gold.  He got the bronze medal.  Excuse me, the silver.  Yeah, [the forth guy was a student from Calasanz and he bowed out to me because we had a rule that whenever we end up facing each other at a tournament, the student who had been training the longest gets bowed out to and get the points.]"

"That was the trial, did you end up going to the Olympics though?"

"I didn't go because I tore my ACL playing soccer.  I had to have a surgery on my left knee."

"Did anybody else go (to the Olympics) from here?"

"I was the guy with the first place.  The other guy won the silver medal.. you know what's crazy I think they found out that he was from here, they didn't give him the medal.  They said they ran out.  If you know you're supposed to have so many fights how can you not have enough medals?  It's all bullshit."

"Was it because they didn't like the fact he was training here?"

"Well they knew we were students from here.  But we didn't go to the tournament under this school because it was a strictly Korean tournament; Tae Kwon Do tournament."

"How many went?"

"4 of us... 5. Yeah."

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Calasanz as an Instructor

Calasanz as an instructor has always had a unique and real way of training his students.  Not only through teaching but also by making each of his students partially responsible and accountable for their own training and learning.  Calasanz' approach to teaching created the fiercest and most feared competitors in the world of Martial Arts out of local, every-day people.  It is simple fact that he could, can and did take anyone with the guts and dedication to achieve and made them superb Martial Artists.  His system and style of teaching continues to evolve further beyond and above anything else out there as it always has incorporating Body, Mind and Spirit.

"Do not forget.  Not everyone listens or wants to understand the real meaning of coming to a real and unique system like the Calasanz Physical Arts System." - Calasanz

You can research and answer for yourself how he did it.  The way he created the name and the way he trained those who brought the name to the highest level of fighting was by using the people that he trained under intensive training programs.  This means action.  He did it by putting his most apt and well-trained students up against those who wanted to compete.  It is an action based system and Calasanz always knew that discourse based learning within Martial Arts is severely limiting, is no way to become talented and will never make you superb outside of theory. 

There are stories upon stories about Calasnaz' students.  Those every day investors or scientists coming in looking for a hobby or to get an idea of how to defend themselves ended up being more skilled even than those training to compete.  He would regularly pit competitors walking in against his students, even those with limited training, many of those training to compete would then buckle under the trauma of their iron shins, throw in the towel, or even end up hospitalized.  Why?  ...How?  Because this is a system based on reality.  Head movement.  Power.  Coordination.  Technique.  Grounding.  Endurance.  The results speak for themselves and show how Calasanz as an instructor knew how to do it then and knows how to do it even better today.

The methods.  The training.  They're effective.  It's undeniable how capable and talented his pupils are and have become through their training and time spent here.  The people, the history, the reality, they are impossible to ignore and cannot be dismissed.  Understand, this is not like anything else ever seen before, at least on such a transparent and global level.  This is the birth of a rooted, universal, modern and evolved Martial System happening before our very eyes without veil, smoke-screen or diversion.  Sober up and open your eyes.  Calasanz is not teaching some other person's system (although he has many he can draw from).  He is creating one.  His vast background of study, his lifetime of dedication to The Art, his extensive training and voluminous experience teaching thousands of others are actual facts, not fantastical stories.  His experience and knowledge of the Martial Art is something that will be near impossible for anyone to surpass.  Calasanz, with the revelation of his system, has completely let the cat out of the bag for the world to see and indeed it is a VERY big cat.

Calasanz' Contemporary Recounts the Past

"I was on the circuit myself for years and was competing in tournaments and that's how I got to meet a lot of people throughout the country.  Some were real while some were just tackin' 'em in there."

An Ex-Instructor Describes His Experience with Calasanz

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Over the years we would host tournaments at the local YMCA for forms, fighting, weapons and breaking.  Calasanz would perform in the breaking events to demonstrate his breaking ability which was pretty fantastic.  He performed an incredible amount of breaks.  At the time he did Ed Brown's tournament he did the most amount of breaks I have ever seen at any point in time in my life, it must have been some sort of record.  I believe he broke a baseball bat with his shin and generally, anything I heard about Calasanz I usually took as true because I had seen what he would do and could do in real life.

Ed would run these tournaments twice a year which would draw in the top competitors locally, and more than that.  People would come from all over the North East.  It gave the top competitors quality competition in those disciplines of: forms, fighting, breaking and weapons without having to travel into New York City.  I first met Calasanz at one of these local tournaments.

Calasanz, as long as I've known has always been an innovator when it comes to martial arts.  He was always working on developing new programs and classes; always trying to do something to better the martial arts.  I remember he called me over to his school years ago to have a look at a new class he was running.  He wanted to know what I thought about it.  Today they call it "cardio - karate".  He was an innovator of this and he had it going before all those names came out which I thought was really interesting, and again Mr. Calasanz as far as I was concerned was a quality, was a real martial artist.  He was a guy that just kept doing, kept training, kept making his art and is someone I've always respected.  He teaches martial art as something to be real, not just a place to pay money and get a 5th / 7th / 10th degree belt.

One of the hang-ups I had years ago was that you could have a school and if you were a real "traditional" martial arts instructor you weren't going to make any money.  So a lot of those real teachers left the industry.  The reason was that everyone wanted their kids to look like a black belt.  They wanted their kids to be able to throw 55 different leg kicks.  People didn't want to take the time to do what they needed.  They needed forms, meditation, exercises... the real stuff.

Most places having anything to do with martial arts at that time was more for show and tell than anything else because it was such that in those times you could only survive by teaching a lot of kids, and that meant doing a lot of things that weren't so much the traditional way.  There are still a lot of those places around that want to get 1000 students and keep them coming in for prizes [belts].


There were, however, at that time other instructors that really were teaching traditionally.  I call them traditional martial artists, that really stuck to the old ways.  They knew how a martial art was performed, how it was received and how it was really taught.  I always think of "Karate Kid" you know, 'paint the fence'.  I've always respected that Calasanz taught Martial Art as something to be real.  But let's say you went to Japan to learn martial art.  You would sit outside for months to get in and you would just sit outside waiting to get in.

So there was a difference between Martial Artists even before I was there.  What I saw in Calasanz was a REAL martial artist.  He was always real.  He meant to perfect his craft, always trying to progress it.

He was a for real guy is what I am trying to say.  A good guy.  I really like him.  He was one of the guys that had real fighting going on back then.  He was having full contact fights at his school, [similar to MMA today],  "Friday Night Fights" I think they called it.  It wasn't so big because the laws of the times wouldn't allow you to openly do what they were doing; but I remember that at one time he was trying to get that going.  The boxing commissioner was giving him the hardest time because they didn't want it to take away from Boxing's lime-light.

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Evaluate Your Training and What to Look For to Find A Quality Instructor

When we talk about someone that is new to martial art and 'shopping around' for a quality instructor or simply looking to avoid an inexperienced one we are talking about someone who has little to no idea of what they are really looking for and often not even conscious of what to avoid.  We can make the analogy of a carpenter who is first trying his hand at musical composition with no concept of rhythm, harmony, tune or time.

What do you look for in an instructor?  Is it size?  Is it ability?  Is it personality?  Do you wonder if they really are knowledgeable?  Are their techniques sporadic or is there a certain degree of control?  Are you actually learning something useful from your instructor? ...CAN you learn from your instructor?

One should remember that even as an eager student attending a martial arts center one must remain a diligent consumer of self-thought and critical thinking.  One must verily be an active participant in his training FROM DAY ONE.  While submission to an instructor is a necessary step in order to create the "teacher <> student / student <> teacher" relationship it is not necessary to remain submissive or blindly faithful should the training bring about a grave disagreement, or culminate into either direct or indirect permanent bodily harm.

Should this occur we are now talking about either an inexperienced instructor or a new student not caring about what they do to another human being.  So be aware, and remember there are always more schools and more instructors out there.

For example, here at Calasanz Physical Arts we have always taught training without brutality.  There is, however, a long history of military and police personnel training here.  Some of them have been kind and dedicated enough to help at our school.  As officers, of course, they rise to the occasion.  They are trained to be like that.  To be a force.  They have to be like that.  They have to have courage.  Two officers, each about 250 / 260 pounds were working out together in the ring one day and tried to perform a suplex without any instruction, training, or practice one of these giant men tried to lift the other above his head and fall backwards.  Calasanz says, "When I captured that from the office I just could not believe it."





They tried it once.








Still to this day we are told by other officers that still they suffer.  Probably that day the officer completely lost his life of fitness.  This sort of technique experimentation and training that was brutally done without thinking took his entire life of fitness away from him.  Probably he was never physical again, but to this day the guy does not complain.

And we have more stories like that.  Another example was with a Kyokushinkai instructor.  Not that he did anything wrong, its just that he trained Kyokushinkai.  Kyokushinkai guys are different.  An instructor would have no qualms about tossing a student down 5 feet onto his head on hard concrete and the student would practically be expected to get up and say "Thank you.  Thanks for that."

But the people, especially new people, are not ready for that.  This instructor lined up several students.  If you don't know, the Kyokushinkai guys during class would yell, "HOLD THE BREATH!"  and then as the students are standing there would deliver hard punches to them just standing there.  So our instructor did that with a line of students.  Two of the students ended up on the floor.  Two wonderful private students, gone...  Never came back.

Let this be a reminder to those just getting in-to martial art or looking to get started.  Keep your head on your shoulders and be sure to really agree with the training that you are signing up for.  And for those already in the mix, be sure you agree with the training that you are currently doing.

 

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Calasanz Loses Student : Glenn Van Lesser Scarred for Life

Story Taken and Transcribed from an Audio Recording of Calasanz

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Okay, So we already spoke about Roger Mayers and Reggie Blackwell getting 1st place and 2nd place (read more)fighting each other at a 1986 Kyokushinkai tournament in Brooklyn New York.  But now, getting in a little deeper it must be understood that on that day we had about 5 fighters we trained to compete.  And here we arrive at 13 year old Glenn Van Lesser.

Glenn Van Lesser then was just a kid from New Canaan.  Glenn trained with us during those times.  A very tough kid from New Canaan who had never done or had any martial arts training before, I took him as a student and in as little as 3 months I took him aside to tell him, "Listen, if you are tough I will train you to go and fight in Brooklyn New York in this tournament and you are going to win." and I never told him "if they put you with the right guy."

To be clear, at that point I did not know so much about Kyokushinkai.  I personally believe that this was the 1st or 2nd tournament of that kind that we entered.  If this would have happened in '96 / '97 we would have been familiar already with Kyokushinkai and Oyama and more knowing of what to expect.  By that time we would have seen what was going on at these tournaments and it would be a different story altogether.

Moving on, this kid that didn't have any experience with anything, no combat, no nothing, just trained by me, Calasanz, personally fighting under the sole conditions that he was healthy enough to fight and he could move and had the stamina to do it.  But how can I make you understand?  This kid had only 3 months in martial arts, he was at the stage of infancy or less in the world of martial arts.

Just go back now.  If you know anything about Kyokushinkai, just go back and put yourself in the category of Kyokushinkai in the 1980's.  Putting yourself there and being aware of the circumstance you will know that this is an intense, serious and even dangerous situation.  Glenn's opponent, a kid 16 years old with a Black Belt coming from Canada, coming internationally to fight in Brooklyn, New York. Think about that, that this kid Glenn was fighting has already competed and won 2 or 3 times these types of tournaments.

Before the fight started I got into the center of the ring.  The center of the tournament.  Talking, yelling even to all these Japanese to stop the fight.  But by that time they did not care. They terrorized, they were terror, I was angry.  They did not listen.  I said, "How can you do this?  No, you cannot allow this to happen.  You cannot!"  But the problem is that also they pushed me to the limit in front of everyone and said that the kid has to fight.  I was trying to take the kid out of the fight.  I tried to take the kid out of the fight.  I said, "No, you cannot put that kid [Glenn], 3 years younger, only a white belt and with only 3 months training up against someone a Black Belt in Kyokushinkai that has competed for years already and won tournaments."

But do you know what?  In Kyokushinkai, if you were below 18 you would be put to fight anyone, from white belt to black belt. Can you believe that?  If you today would talk about something like that you would probably ask, how many lawsuits did they endure?  You see, in 1980 there were not lawsuits going around like there are today.  When you hear about what happened to this kid, you're gonna see that this guy from New Canaan probably should have sued them for what happened, but no in those times people would just take it; not even worrying about that sort of thing.  Nothing was organized.  If it would happen today you would find attorneys all over to take the case because it was the craziest thing we've ever seen. 

So... the fight started.  I couldn't stop it.  If I would try to stop it there would have been pandemonium at the venue, there would have been a massive fight with them.  What was I to do?  We were in Brooklyn, New York in 1986 surrounded by hundreds of Black Belt Kyokushinkai guys over there... and we were only 5 or 6 people from Connecticut.  ...When you hear about what happened after they started fighting you are going to just listen to what this kid did.  I taught this kid to close the gap and deliver one.  That was what he was taught.  I told him again and again, "No matter what comes, close the gap, deliver one."  We are the only system that teaches anyone to survive or even win and defeat anybody out there.  Just like the history shows, we have hundreds of my guys not being boxers and knocking out guys with two or three golden gloves championships.  A perfect example:  Lou Petrillo.  And there are many others.


When the fight starts Glenn is there and guy comes to kill him.. I mean this is a guy black belt 16 years old and again Glen Van Lesser is 13 years old.  Immediately the guy comes to him.  Glenn closes the gap and delivers a hard punch.  *BOOM* "One Point" says the referee.  (It was a 'hard point' tournament but 'hard point' in Kyokushinkai at that time was no different from a knockdown tournament in Kyokushinkai)  They reset and again the guy comes with kicks and punches all over.  Glenn Van Lesser defends perfectly, closes the gap and *BOOM* another hard punch to the body.  Remember, that in Kyokushinkai competitors can kick to the head but cannot punch to the head.  If the fighters could be punching to the head today the story that we are telling here would be different because Glenn Van Lesser would have defeated the guy.

As the fight progressed Glenn has 2 points and his opponent scores 2 points to tie.  They reset again and as they recovered and got ready and recovered the guy from Canada 16 came straight at him with all of his experience and delivered the hardest kick he had to Glenn's head and it landed solid.  Everybody watching that day thought that my kid, Glenn Van Lesser, was dead.  It was something nobody ever wants to see.  That we have this story today and have to say that these people, the Japanese, got away with that... It's insane. It's abusive.  It's impossible to believe that they could get away with something like that, and they did get away with it.

Today it is 2013, it is August 8th 2013.  And by now I haven't heard from Glenn Van Lesser since about 15 years.  I don't know what happened to Glenn Van Lesser...  All I know is that still he is suffering from that shot.   I am confident that it is something from which Glenn Van Lesser will never totally recover.

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Story told by Calasanz
Transcribed and Developed by Alan Wedell

Epilogue:

Now this is what I said not getting hurt, when we mention Glenn van lesser that was not something that counts... okay.  For example, do you count that if you are in a shoot-out and you are the best shooter and you are going to have a shoot-out with someone; but the day of the shooting the other shooter has a revolver, and you do not.  Now you get shot.  Do you count that as a loss if you don't die or a win for the other?  No, you didn't have a gun.  And this happened with Glenn Van Lesser.   He did not belong standing in front of a 16 year old, 4 time tournament champion... its like an unknown-boxer that did a little bit of boxing getting in the ring with Mayweather or Oscar De La Hoya or whatever. Its the same thing.. Alright, and that is not getting hurt.

Calasanz Wins Kyokoshinkai Tournament : Loses Student

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 What else could you want to know about us?

Mas Oyama

During the early 80's there was a wave of influence from Japanese Martial Artists including the well-known, and late, Mas Oyama (1923-1994) In America too there was a fad, cult following of this traditional style going on. Up to today Mas Oyama is credited with the creation and introduction of Kyokushinkai to the world and to the realm of Martial Arts. Our school (Calasanz Physical Arts) in the 80's, in the hay-day of Kyokushinkai karate, defeated the top international kyokoshinkai competitors... that will tell you what Calasnaz did using non-conventional and non-brutal training that he has practiced, taught and developed since the early 80's. What's more is that today, as Calasanz still lives, his system continues to evolve as a way of martial arts, self-defense, fitness and beauty.



Calasanz' students Roger Mayers (who is now a state trooper) and Reggie Blackwell ended up fighting each other for 1st place in a Mas Oyama Kyokushinkai tournament.  It took place in Brooklyn New York, 1986. 

If you go back and ask, "What was the most brutal martial arts with the best killers in the world in the 20th century within the martial discipline of karate?"  In order to answer you must then talk about Mas Oyama's Kyokushinkai.  These people did not have so many blocks, they did not train to block so they just learned the traditional blocks.  But they trained not to be human.  These people would spend in training half-hour to fourty-five minutes just punching each other in the chest with punches that were capable of killing someone instantly.  And these people would just take it.  Yes, this made them tough, but what happens to them as they lose their shape and as time passes is a different story.  A story that has to be understood and has to be said. 


When you physically prepare yourself like a body builder or a football player then yes, you are in great shape.  But when you stop training, when you stop playing football the whole picture changes.  The only thing that stays with you is the spiritual part of it, the mental and spiritual part of it.  The physical, you just lose it.  That is what happened over time to those practitioners of Kyokushinkai from the 80's until about 2000.


From the 80's until the 90's was probably the best decade of Kyokushinkai and when it had its largest following because during those times Mas Oyama opened a lot of schools in the United States.  Hundreds of them.  One or two years later most of them were closed because nobody could take the training, especially for extended periods of time.  And that is going to tell you what the Calasanz System was in the 80's when these two guys Roger and Reggie went to and won the Kyokushinkai tournament in Brooklyn.

In those times you could not distinguish a knock down tournament from a hard point tournament within Kyokushinkai.  Competitors for both trained the same.  And there were Calasanz' guys, delivering kicks and punches and winning.  One of the things that helped them the most was what we call the "system kick" or "system side kick".  Kyokushinkai did not have blocks for a fast strong side kick.  Again, we call it the "system kick".  And it was delivered there many times by Roger Mayers and Reggie Blackwell.

So they went, and one got first place while the other got second place.  That was during the 1984/5/6 era.  This particular example happened in 1986.  That was one of the toughest days that I ever could mention here in respect to Kyokushinkai and I'll explain why on the topic of another student of mine, Glenn Van Lesser (read more).

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News Flash! Karate and Kung Fu : Not So Different

Teaching Traditionally

Don't Teach : Teach How To Learn

Transcribed from an Audio Recording of Calasanz

==========

I just finished with a student, [we will call him R for privacy].  R is a guy who comes and works out over here and has signed up on a 3 month commitment.  He comes here to work out several days a week.  I go giving him several techniques every other day or so.  He already has about 9 techniques on the 20 arm wooden dummy.  Today I went to teach him one of the techniques where you go into a front stance and block with the bong shou.  He has to get into a front stance and block using the bong shou block, the middle block.  In karate middle block is a bong shou.  In Chinese Wing Chun bong shou is a middle block.

Bruce Lee called it the intercepting fist.  You block the fist then you attack.  It's also known in Wing Chun as Lop Sau.  As I explain to him for about 2 minutes and repeat the movement for him he is looking directly at my eyes, and I am watching that.  When I told him to go ahead and replicate it I watched as he went and did something completely differently.  I mean, he went and did something really, very different.

Wing Chun : Bong Shou

Karate : Middle Block

I said, "R... How you could have gotten that, because you were watching straight to my eyes."  It's like Bruce Lee said, "Don't concentrate on the finger or you lose all the heavenly glory."  You have to look, visualize, observe and capture the entire person.

Now, I said to him as a joke, "You want to bet?  You know what, we're gonna bet.  I need 10 dollars, we're gonna bet 10 dollars because I need it for food."  So he laughed and then I said, "All you gonna do is that you're gonna go into a front stance.  Look and visualize me.  Now, bring the right hand to block the fist.  And that is all you're gonna do, in a front stance."  It took about 10 to 15 seconds.  He went to perform it again; this time it was perfectly done.


==========

This is a little example about what traditional learning is except as you can see we are speeding up the process.  The Chinese Master would teach the student a technique.   If the student did it wrong he would not teach the student more and would order so many more iterations of the technique until the student became exhausted, gave up, or became proficient and got it right.  The master knowing all-the-while that even just spending that time has improved not only the student's ability to perform the technique & kept the student working out all day; but has also given the student a slew of physical benefits increasing endurance, balance, flexibility and coordination just to name a few.  Here we don't want to waste that time.  We have the best exercises and movements for these benefits and will teach them to you such that you learn it well enough to take it home with you.

Ancient Techniques with a Modern Approach at:

Calasanz Physical Arts
Norwalk, CT 06851
507 Westport Avenue
203-663-6651

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Wing Chun Released Through Women; Later Adopted by Men

We now examine a video of two students willing to demonstrate what they know of the Wing Chun Wooden Dummy Form (Mook Jong) on film.  We teach this form here at Calasanz along with many other functional tools within the world of martial arts and self defense.  These are every day, regular people whom we have trained to this level and who continue to grow as martial artists.

The first student is Tom Barcello.  He is not only a law enforcement officer but also a good friend of Calasanz and the school.  Tom has helped us a lot over his time here at Calasanz Physical Arts, as has his enforcement partner Dee Hohn.  A quick thanks to you personally for all you have done for us.  We will never forget you and please, be safe at work.  Tom is somebody that Calasanz will never forget.  He remains one of the toughest, most natural and devoted fighters that has ever trained here and deserves to be listed among Peter Valis, Chris Mottola, Kevin Mcantyre, Darryl Dash, Roger Mayers, Rodney Louis, Mario Contacessi, and Robert Shapiro.

 They Can Also Be Seen Here Performing Karate Kata

                  Karate - Taikyoko Gedan 

   Taikyoko Jodan                                

Tom was once put to practice partner drills with another advanced Wing Chun student of ours, Rebecca Jane Lyon.  The good man that Tom Barcello is, he restrained himself and did not attack Rebecca as a girl.  He ended up on the ground defenseless and holding his knees.

The fact is that in China the men were forced to begin practicing Wing Chun because they were being embarrassed by their female counterparts who were practitioners of Wing Chun.  Tom's story plays testament to that fact.  Wing Chun through its principles is defined by its efficiency of motion and energy use which no other system has bested to date.  The male ego was deflated by the female martial artists and had to adapt.  In order to compete they had to admit superiority and start learning Wing Chun.

Originally Wing Chun was a female practice, but men have taken it from them.  Today, as a result, there are more male practitioners than female practitioners of Wing Chun.  As the system develops over time the philosophy and central concepts remain the same.  Control of the center line.  Parsimony.  Friction.

Calasanz Takes a Hit : «Be Alert While Training­«

We recount an unfortunate training accident which occurred at Calasanz Physical Art and Martial Arts Center.

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A guy, [we call him J for confidentiality purposes], he was here training for over 5 years.

He is a kid that just wouldn't grasp the lesson when someone was teaching him, either out of incompetence or stubbornness... at least any lesson involving martial art.  There was nothing you could do.  So what I did was I remembered the system.  "We can teach anybody."  "We can teach ANY body." and J was somebody, so we taught him.

What did I put J to do?  I put him to get stronger.  I gave him techniques to build power.  He got over here at age of 16.  He had been training here for 5 years, he was 21 years old now.  Just knowing the kind of punch that this guy capable of delivering after 5 years of training with me.  And I prepared him to do it.  I trained him to throw a punch like that.

He would come to the school and he would hit the bag non-stop for over one hour... bare fist.

Just imagine I have you hitting that bag here all the time because you cannot learn the form, you cannot learn the kata, you cannot learn the dummy, so you know what I said... "I'm gonna make him good.. I'm gonna make him as good as anyone."  Because you know he cannot learn the kata, but with this training at least he can survive, he can kill the person.  So that's what I did with this guy.

And then all that turned.  Turns out he was preparing.  The reason that the punch got up so...  Because the punch was so hard... 

 

It was.. I was just in the office and I came out to explain something to the boxers training here because I was watching them from the office.  But you know, if you are like Bruce Lee, if you are like me and you love the martial art you want to help no matter what.  So I came out to explain to them a little bit about blocking, about closing the gap by showing them blocking different techniques.

I put J to demonstrate, for the others to help me show them something in training, in calm training.  But here I was sitting on the ring and he was in front of me with no weight on his front leg.  I saw that at the time, that he was waiting, getting ready to deliver something big, getting ready to unload a punch, just to see if I could block an unreserved shot delivered purposefully, hard and fast towards my head.  But even that was not enough,  as my gaze shifted to one of my boxers to explain the concept J goes and throws the punch.

He throws a punch like he is in a fight; as if he was in immediate and express danger even, as if his life depended on that punch.  He throws that punch so hard, and fully extended with everything he had, it was 100%, nothing held back.  He threw every ounce of power his body could generate into that punch.  With that power I had helped build for him, that I had taught him how to build over the last 5 years.  That amount of energy was thrown straight at me in that punch. If my head wasn't in the way it would have finished well behind my head, that punch was ready to go through my skull, but then it landed, it landed straight into my eye.

There has not been one person who did that ever before, who punched like that in training, in that cool  atmosphere.  That punch was so hard, he threw that punch to pass through.  It was a punch, he was trying to test me.  He was delivering this punch trying to test me.

 ===================
 (Perspective Shift)

As an outsider and witness to this event, [call me K for confidentiality purposes] I was stretching on the low table when it occurred not 20 feet in full view in front of me.  I can assure you this was no ordinary punch.  It caught Calasanz just in they left eye socket as he was turning his head to speak to another student, a boxer named Nick, seated on his right.  Calasanz reacted as a blind man to a silent punch, meaning he did not react at all.  (and as we all know the first thing he'll teach you is "head movement" plus he's always made it look the best with that hair)  But no, he did not react; with vision averted it could properly be labelled a 'sucker punch'.  Without movement of his head it landed solidly.

It sounded like a car accident.

It barreled him backwards from his favourite seated position on the outside of the ring into the ropes then swaying back forward slowly.  He grabbed his head immediately, almost curling up, and did not move for several breaths.  He went to the bathroom as he was ready and re-emerged to ask me how bad it looked.  Somehow he kept his composure with student J.  There was a small cut on his eyelid which was bleeding slowly and a slightly swollen redness began to emerge around his eyes before my very own.


He would heal from this punch over the next 4 weeks or more wearing an eye patch to hide the injury.  Every so often he would adjust it to reveal a rainbow, ranging from deep purple to an almost indistinguishable yellow-green radiating outwards from the eye.  Still sometimes when he is tired you can almost see something lingering about that area.  This was no ordinary punch.

As a first hand witness observer I can assure you this punch was purposefully thrown the way that it was thrown, but I also believe the pugilist was oblivious himself as to why he performed it suchly.

Perhaps he had built someone up so much in his head, perhaps he'd seen too many Dragon Ball Z episodes and just somehow forgot he was dealing within tangible reality, facing a fallible human and not an immortal, fictitious, super-powered psychic-warrior.   The world may never know, but this was no ordinary punch.

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Taken from Audio of recording with Calasanz

Developed and Transcribed by Alan Wedell