During March, I was fortunate to be invited to the Winterfest organized by George Mattson near Orlando in Florida.
In the USA, There are two iconic rallies per year : le winterproof (Mars) a laugh -in -summer party (August).
Ces 2 events started in 1983 And have seen the pioneers of American Karate come together as well as many great Japanese masters such as Kanei Ueché, Ryuko Tomoyose, Kanmei Uechi, Tsutomu Nakahodo, …
In 1984, It is a group of masters from Okinawa and a Chinese delegation who animated this gathering since G.Mattson has always wanted to reconcile the Uechi-ryu and its Chinese origins; It was he who organized one of the first visits in the Fujian of the Okinawan masters of Karate Uechi.
A little history :
George Mattson, Born in 1938 is considered to be the "father of Karate Uchi-ryu" in the United States.
So called under the flags in Okinawa in 1956, He was the first Western in practicing the Uechi-ré. His professor Ryuko Tomoyose dit ‘Tommy’ worked on the same military base as him and taught him this martial art from China in the evening after hours of service. When he had a sufficient level ; The young American was presented in Kanei Uechi and also trained under his leadership.
He obtained his shodan in 1958 ; Before leaving Japan and then promised Kanei Uechi to promote Karate Uchi-Ryu in the United States.
Back to the country, Mattson began teaching in Boston, in the Massachusetts before founding the Mattson Academy there (always active to date).
He received the 1st Karate-Do Kyokai Uechi-ryu instructor certificate from the hands of Kanei Ueché. In 1963 He published one of the first books on Karate ‘The Way of Karate’.
George Mattson has since 10 ° Dan and continues to teach in dojo and online to more than 88 years.
Orlando is located south of the east coast and is ready for Cap Kennedy, iconic place from where the first men left for the moon.
CAP KENNEDY
The Winterfest took place on 2 days on Friday and Saturday.
Thursday for the presents in the George Mattson region had invited us to train in a park; The temperature was very lenient compared to the cold in early March that we knew in Europe. 2h under a beautiful sun with 25 ° C to practice kata, Chinese hands work, Dan Kumite with an introduction to ‘The Old Way’.
‘The Old Way’ that can be translated by ‘the old way’ or ‘older’ corresponds to the principles taught to him by Kanei Uechi and Ryuko Tomoyose; We find the work there
shoulders, Body flow work (Kata must be done in a single movement), Impact efficiency, Intercept/control, etc ….
Mattson Sensei is always impressive of liveliness and speed despite his soon 89 years when you also consider that it came out of illness.
The Winterfest officially opened on Friday morning under the direction of George Mattson and Buzz Durkin.
Buzz is one of the iconic students of George Mattson; He opened a dojo near Boston the Butokukan before he became the Honbu Dojo of the Butokukai.
Buzz Durkin et George Mattson
The Winterfest has welcomed more than a hundred people a day.
What struck me was the diversity of this event we had more than twenty nationalities present from different organizations; Of course there were a lot of people from the iukf (International Uechi-ré Karate Federation founded by George Mattson and now chaired by Darin Yee) But the Kenyukai were also present, La Butokukai, l'Okikukai, l’URKDE, La Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do Kyokai, …. As well as Kung-Fu practitioners; All present to share and practice together.
We had at our disposal 2 immense rooms where placed until 4 workshops and outside lessons because there was not enough room (Wooden model work, Kobudo, Chi Kong, …)
During one of my outdoor workshops on Sanchin, I was surprised to have the impromptu visit to Turkeys, (The turkeys that Americans consume for Thanksgiving) who are really huge.
They were more interested in my bag in which there was my sandwich than by my course on Sanchin.
I was able to finish my workshop without problem but I was good to go find myself something else to eat ...
Les Turkeys
The 2 days were organized with a fairly similar ritual : Opening with George Mattson and Buzz Durkin; George presented The Old Way and Buzz shared his teacher experience, then we could choose workshops led by more than thirty teachers (of which I was part) On different themes :
Karate Uchi-ré of course but also a lot of work on the Chinese origins of Ueschi (We were lucky to have many Kung-Fu masters who came to show us the link between our techniques and those of China) With work at the wooden model.
Our British colleagues have shown us the usefulness of the Aikikarate applied to the Ueché;
We also had a very interesting workshop on the role of psoas and the dynamic implementation of Sanchin's breathing (With an F18 fighter pilot explaining the usefulness of it in the acceleration phases of its device).
Of the work of relaxation and impact with the Herman Trainer allowing to measure the response time and the impact on the typing bag.
Kumite sessions with very direct techniques animated by Darin Yee (President of the IUKF, 10° Dan but also master of Kung-Fu).
Lionel Reynaud / George Mattson
For my part, I had chosen to lead a workshop on the second day on the old principles of Kanei Uechi and their application in particular the fluid/solid.
The goal is to show the impact on our body's response with measurement of respiratory frequency and heart rate (By sharing their experience as an Olympic and Paralympic coach ... my old life).
Article written by Lionel Reynauld
Super article. Thank you Lionel for sharing your trip.