KerwinBenson.com Hidden Gems of Martial Arts

My daughter, Quinn, had her eighth birthday May 13th, 2006. After her dance recital, we went to a fantastic Chinese buffet. There were 13 of us in our group.

When we arrived, we were escorted to a long banquet table in the back.

The room was filled with ... Shaolin Monks, straight from China.

No kidding!

Apparently, they were in town to give demonstrations of their martial arts.

There were local martial artists there, as well.

It was only natural that I knew one or two of the local practitioners.

David, a long-time friend of my teacher and me, was there. He's an incredible martial artist. (He can shut me down in chi sao any time he wants, and I do mean any time.)

 

 

My Wife, The Martial Artist

After saying hi, I went back to our table and got my wife, Kate.

I went over with her to reintroduce her to David. His comment upon meeting Kate was, "No wonder we haven't seen you in awhile."

To show him that I haven't faded from martial arts, Kate grabbed my wrist and started quickly flowing from one wrist lock to the next (the second pattern, with a little variation, from my book, "Wrist Locks: From Protecting Yourself to Becoming an Expert."

David owns a copy of the book, so, he grabbed my other wrist and effected one lock, to join in the fun.

While they were locking me, I looked at the Shaolin monks. There was a look of amazement on the faces of the younger monks.

I thought maybe they liked the locks. The look of astonishment was directed toward Kate.

While we had been talking, they were politely indifferent. But the second she started locking, they focused all of their attention.

At the end of the encounter, I shook David's hand, and snapped on a lock from the handshake position. (From the book.)

This time, the room full of David's students looked amazed. How dare a big, hairy guy wrist lock their master! More than that, how could anyone get a lock on their teacher?

I released pressure on the lock.

David made a thunderous clap of his hand on my shoulder, and laughed and laughed, "Kip [my nickname], it's so good to see you. Yes, great. Great."

As Kate and I made our way back to Quinn's birthday table, the conversation among the Shaolin monks erupted.

Unfortunately, I only know half-a-dozen words in Chinese. But I can guess the nature of the talk. (Smile)

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Keith Pascal is the author of the critically acclaimed book "Wrist Locks: From Protecting Yourself to Becoming an Expert.""