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2009 at a Glance

2009 has been another great year in many ways. In January I only taught my Sunday Pressure Point Class at my dojo in Carmel. Once a month I offer this class to anyone who chooses to attend from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at a cost of only $30. I cover various topics concerning the use of acupressure points, Qi development and control, Five Element principles and how it all fits into Karate Katas.

The most fun thing that happened in January though, was traveling to French Lick and West Baden in Southern Indiana with my girlfriend Christi Clore. That whole area has undergone an extreme makeover to the tune of over 500 million dollars to restore both resorts that have existed there for close to a century. A new casino was attached to the French Lick resort to bring the crowds down there. I highly recommend just seeing it all for anyone who loves architecture and history.

In February I again traveled to England to teach a seminar on the 8th in Maidstone at Master Dave Martin’s dojo. The seminar was again all arranged by my great friend Grandmaster Paul Bowman. The numbers were down from previous years due to the economic situation that our brothers in the UK have been experiencing like in the US. But, we still had between 50 and 60 attendees.

In March on the 14th I hosted Professor George Dillman down at the Crowne Plaza next to the old airport. We had a nice turnout of about 50 participants and Professor Dillman was in great form. At the end of the month a few of my students and I traveled down to Bloomington where David Rhodes hosted Professor Dave Castoldi for a seminar on Small Circle Jujitsu knife disarming at the Indiana University campus.

The remainder of March and most of April found me searching for a new house to rent. But on the 17, 18, & 19 of April I went to the Mohammed Ali Camp in Deerlake, PA for one of Professor Dillman’s annual camps. Many students from the UK and Germany were there including GM Paul Bowman and Master Gebhard Lammle. It was indeed a great camp as always.

The first weekend in May I moved to my new location and with the help of Christi who totally setup my kitchen I was able to move in the first day. Wow! Do I hate the concept of moving! On the 22, 23 & 24th of May Christi went to Professor Dillman’s Mohammed Ali Camp with me. It was the biggest showing ever of people from Europe. GM Jean Paul Bindel brought over thirty students with him. The Saturday night party at this camp was legendary featuring music by the Bobby Newton Band. The place was rockin’!

When I go to the Ali Camps I am one of the featured instructors all three days along with GM Matt Brown, GM Rich Reinhiemmer and whoever comes from around the world. The list would include Grandmasters Ken Smith, Steve Stewart, Dusty Seale, Steve Cooper, Chris Thomas, Bill Homann, Bill Burch, Mark Gerry, Dr. Chas Terry, David Snyder, Ed Lake, Dexter Brown and list goes on. There is an extensive list of Master level instructors from all over the world that teach too making this camp the most prestigious camp in the whole world.

June was very busy starting with the first Small Circle Jujitsu Camp to be held in many years. We had a great lineup of instructors including Professor Leon Jay teaching lock flows and entry techniques, Dave Quinonez teaching Small Circle Judo principles, Professor Dave Castoldi teaching knife disarms, GM Ken Smith teaching the Modern Arnis component, David Rhodes and myself teaching our views on Small Circle principles and a list of black belt candidates all showing what them have been developing. It was held and Gary Cunningham’s beautiful dojo on 65 acres west of Bloomington Guardian Martial Arts. Entertainment on Saturday night was provided by Deep & Simple, a folk rock band that my girlfriend Christi plays in.

The next weekend in June I traveled with Ken Smith to teach at the first ever Black Forest Kyusho Camp held in the beautiful town of Todtnau, Germany in the Black Forest. The main instructors were GM Paul Bowman, GM Ken Smith, GM Jean Paul Bindel and myself. The camp was a huge success with about 100 attendees. The entire camp was filmed in high definition and the DVD’s will e out soon.

In July I hosted Professor Dillman for the 11th Annual Summer Camp here in Indianapolis. This year I brought GM Jean Paul Bindel over from France so people could see how great of an instructor he is. I always have GM Chris Thomas and GM Matt Brown teach and of course Professor Dillman finishes every day out with some great instruction too. This year we featured entertainment by the band Soul Bus. They are an awesome band from the Indy area and did a fantastic show for us.

The first week of August I traveled back to France for the sixth year to teach at Jean Paul Bindel’s Annual Summer Camp in Elne, France near Perpignan. This was the biggest camp ever and it appears to be growing every year. We have attendees from all over France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. Christi traveled with me again this year making it a fantastic experience. This camp lasts for seven days and we have an awesome time. I would highly recommend it as a family vacation. I teach every morning from 10 to noon, you do what you want for the next five or six hours and come back in evening to train for two more hours.

This year while in Perpignan, under the lights of the Castillet and on a bridge over the downtown canal I asked Christi to marry me so she would know that she is the one and only for me. She said yes, but we both have many things to get figured out before sharing a residence together. It was a life changing moment in time.

September was rather peaceful and a time to catch up on life. The first weekend in October I was invited back to Germany to teach a weekend seminar on breaking down Tomari Batsai and Kusanku. We had great attendance for the weekend and a good time was had by all. It’s a great place to see and I feel that I have a German family in Gebhard’s wonderful family. I flew into Zurich, Switzerland and spent two days seeing the city and visiting with my friends Pierre and Joanna. They were great hosts and I taught at Pierre’s dojo one night

Gary Cunningham and I made to trip once more to the Ali Camp on the second weekend. It was another great camp and again Bobby Newton was the featured entertainer.

The last weekend in October I taught a seminar for GM Dave Deich at Harold Hart’s school in Sellersburg. Harold has a really nice dojo and we had a small but good class of students to attend.

The second weekend of November I hosted GM Jean Paul Bindel for two seminars to teach Judo with pressure point applications. The first one was at GM Ken Smith’s dojo in Orland Park, Illinois. There were about 50 participants including GM Chris Thomas and GM Mickey Wittikiend. The second one was Sunday the 15th at Gary Cunningham’s dojo west of Bloomington, Indiana. Professor George Dillman drove hundreds of miles just to be there for GM Bindel. We had a group of about 30 participants. GM Bindel did a great job and everyone liked the instruction.

So, here we are in December getting ready for the holidays and looking forward to another new year. I know that I am going back to France in August and to Germany again in October and I have seminars scheduled for Professor Dillman in the spring and summer. So, there are a lot of gaps in my schedule that I hope to fill with more seminars soon.

I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season and a very happy New Year!

Will Higginbotham