ADULT SEMINAR DAY 2019
On Saturday, February 9, 2019, the American Martial Arts Institute held its annual Adult Seminar Day at its main location in New Hartford, New York.
The Adult seminar provides our students ages 18 and older with a unique day of training. The seminar is taught by Grandmaster Crandall, Master Stalloch and the Master Instructors with assistance from our certified black belt instructors. This year 21 students and 18 instructors participated. The seminar began at 9 am with a class on Standing Waza, a series of techniques which compliment the Seiza Waza. These techniques are part of the American Eagle Style and required as part of rank testings.
At 10 am, the students were split into four groups to focus on handgun and long gun self defense techniques. Each group focused on a different assault scenario, and all groups rotated to learn responses to all four scenarios. At 11 am, we held our annual weapon's competition, which is part of the seminar. The purpose of the competition is to allow our students to experience tournament competition in a safe and traditional format. The katas were judged by the Master Instructors. After the awards were given, the seminar broke for a brief lunch.
In the afternoon, the Instructors worked in training room 3 on one of their required workshops, part of maintaining their teaching certification. Meanwhile, Grandmaster Crandall and Master Stalloch spoke to the group about traditional martial arts concepts and philosophy. This was followed by a class on weapons kata. The students had the chance to learn naginata, kama, tonfa, and bo.
While we take traditional martial arts training very seriously, it is also important to have fun and build camaraderie. With this in mind, the adults had a great time with the indoor team snowball fight. Using padded artificial snowballs teams faced off for some friendly competition. The winning team members received Amazon gift cards. This was followed by a workout of checks and counters and advanced techniques.
Next year's seminar will be held in February of 2020.
ABOUT THE SEMINARS:
The American Martial Arts Institute strives to offer the martial arts in a variety of programs for men and women of all ages that will arm their minds with knowledge, their bodies with skills and excite their emotions. One way the school implements this philosophy is by holding three annual seminar events, based on age, to meet the understanding of the students in those age groups.
The "Winter Funshop" and "Summer Funshop" are held for students ages 6-12; the Teenage Seminar Day is held for students ages 13-17; and, the Adult Seminar Day is held for students ages 18 and older. These seminars provide a tremendous opportunity for growth within the style, and many areas that are not ordinarily taught in classes are covered. They are essential events for each student's training, especially at the brown and black belt levels.
Out of 365 days in a year there are only two days that give all of the Master Instructors the opportunity to see all students over an extended period of time, interacting with fellow students and the instructors. For adult students, one of these days is the “Adult Seminar Day”
We realize that the communities and employers have put many demands on these individuals but these are the only two days out of the year we have to evaluate who has the qualities to be a brown belt or black belt aside from the basic physical skills. This day covers topics, not ordinarily covered in class, which appear on black belt exams. With the Master Instructors carrying a greater role in the strength and direction of the school and its future, it has become imperative that they know the brown belts and how they came to be brown belts.
Our school will be teaching for years to come and many of today's brown belts will be tomorrow's black belts and future instructors, committed by their own path to uphold these standards of tradition and quality. Therefore, for students who are blue belt or higher, the annual adult seminar has become an essential part of their training.
