Guro Daniel Lonero Kali, Silat & JKD Seminar – September 2017

Robin French with Guro Daniel Lonero - September 2017

By my count this year marks Guro Daniel Lonero’s sixth annual visit to Laurence Sandum’s martial arts academy. Always superb sessions, I have yet to miss one; this year was put in the diary as soon as it was announced!

This time around, Guro Lonero split the four hour session into three sections;Kali, Silat, and finally JKD.

After salutations, we got straight into the Kali section; starting off with 1-2-1 blitz options with the single stick. These were simple drills, but ones that will require a lot of repetition to make as smooth as possible.

After next reviewing the Inosanto single stick feeding series from numbers 1-17, Guro Lonero worked through his series of single stick sombrada progressions; starting with the very simplest options, and finally working through to a basic freeplay option. Although I had previously seen a majority of this material, the new drills definitely ‘filled the gaps’ in terms of a method of teaching.

After a short lunch break, the seminar restarted with the Silat section. After some basic movement drills, Guro Lonero worked myself, and the other guys and girls, through some takedown and submission options. As I get more years of training under my belt, I am starting to see increasing similarities in certain aspects of the arts that I train. And this case was no different; leaving me to consider the overlap with Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Rounding out the day, the final (and due to time constraints, unfortunately short) session focussed on Chi Sau options from a JKD perspective. It was great to get to see some fresh flow and disruption options.

As with every time I get the opportunity to train with Guro Lonero, I had such a great time. I got some new material, understood some material I already knew better, and discussed training philosophy; all whilst having a load of fun training with an awesome vibe in the room.

A huge thank you to Guro Lonero for taking the time to visit the UK and share his knowledge with us.

Thanks, as ever, to Guro Laurence Sandum for arranging the event.

A final thank you to David Farmer for being my training partner throughout the day.