The House of Kenpo, affiliated with Grizzly Gym International (and operating as the Grizzly Gym West Coast, Comox Den) hosted Submission Arts Wrestling world champion Mike Martelle for a grappling seminar Nov. 5-6.
Martelle had a group of 10 students to work with, some very experienced and some novice, and brought with him a wealth of knowledge.
On the first day, Martelle took the class through a lock flow series, beginning from side mount leading into neck cranks and then on to several arm bars designed to submit an opponent, then switching position commonly known as scarf, which is a modified side mount that leads to many submissions using the legs to apply shoulder locks.
The second day Martelle ran another series of lock flows, this class focused on leg lock submissions. Martelle spent the better part of the three hours teaching the group how to escape the closed guard and then apply proper leg submissions. As there is always a counter move to every possible submission, Martelle showed the grapplers how to prepare for the counter and then lead into the next leg lock.
Nearing the end of class on Sunday, the teams paired up, novices and experienced, with a great mix of five men and five women. Martelle had them do some freestyle rolling on the mats and put to good use some of the material they had just obtained. This led to some exceptional grappling all around.
House of Kenpo and Martelle are pleased to announce the following promotions in Pankration, Liz Tribe and Sarah Nuez receiving their yellow belts and Courtenay Pickford to orange belt as well as Sensei Roe to the rank of Pankrationist Gamma Taxis (2nd degree Black belt). In addition Roe was awarded a black belt in Tewhontatienas Catch Wrestling, plus a 1st degree black belt in Submission Arts Wrestling (S.A.W.)
For further information regarding private lessons in Kenpo karate or kickboxing and grappling classes contact Roe at 250-339-5992 or visit www.houseofkenpokarate.com for additional information on Mike Martelle at www.grizzlygym.com