September 2007 On July 8th David Quinonez, a Small Circle Judo Black Belt under Professor Wally Jay came to my dojo and taught an awesome seminar. Sensei Quinonez taught many of the finer points of how Professor Jay modified the Kodenkan Judo throws and sweeps. We had about 15 for the class and a DVD my be available on it later.

This year's George Dillman Summer Camp here in Indianapolis was a great success! The main teachers were Grandmaster George Dillman, Grandmaster Chris Thomas, GM Steve Cooper, GM Kim Foreman, GM Sandra Schlessman, GM Dexter Brown, GM Ken Smith, Master Darwin Banister, myself and we also had Gary Cooley and Alan Shind teaching Qi Gong on Saturday and Sunday morning.

The camp was held this year at the Holiday Inn at the Pyramids on the Northwest corner of the city. It's a great hotel with a really big water park. The Bella Blue Band played an awesome show at the Saturday night Banquet! Man, I know we've got to get them back again! A good time was had by all and the food was great too.

On Friday night after the sessions were all finished for the evening Grandmaster Bill Homman brought two German scientists with him from the Seraphim Institute that had been filming material for a project. They brought with them a Photon Camera (one of only two in the world we were told). This special camera can be used to observe the energy flow in the meridians live! Grandmaster Chris Thomas performed a few experiments using the camera to study its effectiveness and the results were pretty impressive. Good Luck to Bill in following this endeavor through.

On August 2nd I flew to France to teach at Jean-Paul Bindel's Summer Camp in Elne. This year I covered more on teaching Kata Seisan and it's Bunkai, Kata Naihanchi Sandan and it's Bunkai, Right to Right Tapi-Tapi Drills, Small Circle Jujitsu Flow Drills, a session on healing and restoration, a session where I broke down various kata moves and performed various Projection, Pressure Point KO's and answered questions for seven days. It's always a great camp and would be a great trip for anyone who would like to attend in the future. I'm invited back next year, so plan to attend in 2008.

I want to say this also about the French Camp. Grandmaster Jean-Paul Bindel taught some really great classes on various aspects of grappling and striking. I was especially impressed with his classes on throws, take-downs and ground fighting. He has such a vast knowledge of Judo and Jujitsu that you never know just what to expect. But, you can expect high quality instruction!

For the past year or so I have been teaching Small Circle Jujitsu and now Modern Arnis on Thursdays and Fridays at Tiger Martial Arts in Chesterton, Indiana. TMA is owned and operated by Master Deborah Grimaldi who has opend her school to me and graciously allowed me to teach these two systems. She has a regular Small Circle class on Mondays and Thursday evenings that she teaches except for when I run the class every other Thursday.

The Friday Small Circle class is taught mostly to Black Belts from various dojo's in the region. Regular attendees are Scott Faila, John Gelato, Don Conrad, Don Pavy, Jim Cazeau, Alex Singer and Deborah Grimaldi. It's a two hour class where we cover many drills that are used to get good in the system, syllabus material for rank advancement, how pressure points fit in for release, control and enhancement of basic locks and transistional flow.

Master Deborah Grimaldi is not only a great instructor of Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Small Circle Jujitsu, Integrated Grappling and Control Techniques and Pressure Point Theory. She Is also very talented at teaching young ladies about Modeling and Ettiquette. She is launching her Nuvo Modeling & Ettiquette School this Fall in Chesterton. Deborah was a professional model for over 20 years. In her career she worked runways in New York, LA and Chicago. She appeared in many national magazines and ad campaigns. Let's wish her much success in her new classes.

I'm preparing to go the the Ali Camp in October. If anyone has ever wanted to go out there, this is the camp to attend. We never know what camp will be the best one because after every camp we always say it was the best one yet. So, check the DKI website and plan to attend. Also, be sure to checkout the George Dillman Camp in London, England this November hosted by Grandmaster Paul Bowman. Matt Brown, Ken Smith and I will be teaching there as well as all of the great instructors under Paul like Keith Gray, Dave Martin, Dave & Pam Batton, Bye for now. I'll be reporting again this fall.
Will Higginbotham
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Summer 2007:  The first weekend in March Professor Leon Jay came to Indianapolis. On Friday evening we braved a blizzard and drove up to Deborah Grimaldi's school in Chesterton, Indiana. Both Professor Leon Jay and I taught a seminar for about 50 participants and a good time was had by all. Also in attendance was Master Chris Mitter from Sierra Vista, Arizona and Sensei John Borter from upstate New York.

On Saturday morning we went down to Bloomington, Indiana and taught a seminar with Grandmaster David Rhodes, Professor Leon Jay and myself. We had about 45 or 50 at that seminar. During the seminar we had eight Black Belt candidates each teach a transitional flow drill that they came up with themselves.

On Sunday we held a Black Belt test at my dojo in Indianapolis and filmed it. All eight candidates passed with flying colors. This was the culmination of several years of training and learning the Small Circle Jujitsu system. Those promoted that day are: Jennifer Ashburn, Matt Keithley, Ian Lovan, Albert Bystriitsky, Jim Cazeau, Chris Mitter, John Borter and Bob Michaelis. Chris Gaughan went through the test as well to be evaluated by Professor Jay and was promoted to 1st Kyu Brown.

During the following week both Chris Mitter and John Borter along with Gary Cunningham stayed in town to help Professor Jay and I create new sysllabus videos. Those are nearing completion now and should be available soon. Quite a busy stay for Professor Jay this year!

The following weekend I flew to France to teach at Grandmaster Jean-Paul Bindel's 60th Birthday celebration near Perpignan. Also teaching was Grandmaster Paul Bowman from England. Paul brought quite and entourage of students including Master Keith Gray, Master Dave Martin and Dave & Pam, Graham, Chris and many others. Sorry I can't remember everyone's last name. Jean Paul put on quite a fantastic event and captured it all on video.

Back in Indiana, On the 24th of March Grandmaster George Dillman taught a great seminar here. Also in attendance was Grandmaster Rick O'Hagan who taught some great gun defense and Master Dexter Brown who did early research on how to incapacitate someone on different types of drugs. After the seminar we went over to Daddy Jack's to hear some great music by The Gordon Bonham Blues Band.

At the end of April I taught a seminar for Master David Deich down at the Jeffersonville YMCA. The seminar went well and afterward we attended a party in honor of Johann from Iceland at Kevin and Sue Balmer's house.

On Memorial Day weekend I attended the Dillman Camp at Deerlake, PA. Gary Cunningham and I drove out and had a great weekend. Also teaching was Grandmaster Matt Brown, Grandmaster Ken Smith and , of course, Grandmaster George Dillman. Great weekend of training and socializing.

Then the biggest event of the year so far, Professor Wally Jay's 90th Birthday party! Professor Leon Jay really outdone himself in the planning of this event! There were over 500 at the dinner Friday night at the Hong Kong East Ocean Restaurant overlooking San Francisco Bay.

The seminars on Saturday featured instruction by Professor Wally Jay, Professor Leon Jay, Professor Lee Eichelburger, Professor Don Jacobs, Grandmaster George Dillman, Sijo James DeMile, Grandmaster Jack Hogan, Master Stan Miller, Grandmaster Chan, Grandmaster Mark Gerry, Sensei Mark Tuthill, myself and just too many others to mention. At the close of the day Professor Leon Jay gave an awesome speech describing following after his father as "Standing on the shoulders of Giants". What an inspirational day!

On Sunday we went to the Hombu Dojo at Professor Wally Jays home in Alemeda. About 50 attended and a few of us gave demonstrations. The Jays told stories from over the years they had held classes in their dojo and everyone was entertained. It was a great experience for everyone who came.

I am now looking forward to hosting Dave Quinonez on July 8th at my dojo. Dave is one of the only Small Circle Judo black belts still teaching. He will help us get better at all of the throws and entries using what he learned in the hombu dojo under Professor Wally Jay.

After that is the annual George Dillman Summer Camp here featuring George Dillman, Chris Thomas and Ed Lake just to name a few of the attending DKI Masters. This will be the ninth year for our camp and will feature the Bella Blue Band at the banquet. You won't want to miss this camp!

That about wraps it up for what's been happening around here for me. Watch for more happenings here after the camp.

February 18th, 2007: IT HAS BEEN WITHOUT INTENTION THAT MY “WHAT’S HAPPENING” PAGE HAS BEEN NOT HAPPENING THIS PAST YEAR. I HAVE GONE THROUGH A LOT OF PERSONAL STRIFE AND AM HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION NOW. SO, BEAR WITH ME AND THIS YEAR WILL BE MUCH BETTER.

As said before 2006 started out really well as has 2007. Last spring I started doing Small Circle Jujitsu clinics to spread Professor Jay’s system wherever I went. I taught clinics in Oklahoma City, Fort Wayne, IN, Peoria, IL, Chesterton, IN and Perpignan, France.

I travel to Budapest, Hungary in May and taught a weekend camp there for Zsolt Szenasi our new DKI affiliate there. We have some great martial artists over there that are a great addition to the DKI family.

In July we had the Eighth Annual George Dillman Summer Camp here in Indianapolis at the Holiday Inn Select at the airport. This was a great event featuring instruction by George Dillman, Chris Thomas, Ed Lake, Dusty Seale, Steve Cooper, myself and other DKI Masters that were in attendance. This entire camp was filmed with high-end cameras and a Camp DVD will be available soon along with a special DVD on kata Seisan.

A week later Master Deborah Grimaldi and I traveled to the South of France to teach at Jean-Paul Bindel’s Annual Summer camp. If you’ve always wanted to go to France that would be an excellent trip. The camp lasts seven days and this year it is from August 4th to the 10th. That is Saturday through Friday.

In September I attended the China Tour with George Dillman and 54 other students and Master who went. Man, that was the trip of a lifetime! We saw The Temple of Heaven, Tienamen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, several shows exhibiting Chinese culture and two days of traditional Chinese Medicine training. That was just the first week in Beijing!

The second week started with a trip down to the Shaolin Temple and Monastery where we staying in the Monastery Dorm called Dharma Hall and trained. We met with one of the top monks who created personalized calligraphy for a small donation to the temple.

We left there and traveled to Xi’an where we saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and Mings tomb. We then traveled to Cheng Du where we visited our Chinese DKI affiliate Lunwei Zhang and did demos for the local news and also for some Japanese Masters from the Shito Ryu Style. We ended with a trip to the Panda Preserve before flyer home.

In November I played host and wedding planner for George Dillman’s wedding to Suzie Jones. We had a great seminar the day after the wedding followed by an awesome banquet featuring a great blues band.

In January Master Grimaldi and I traveled to Yuma, Arizona and taught an all day seminar at Nathan Bratcher’s Dojo of the Southern Sun. I’ll try to get some photos posted.

The following week I traveled to England to teach a seminar for Paul Bowman at Dave Martin’s Dojo in Maidstone. We had over 90 people in attendance and were blessed with Professor Leon Jay’s visit at teachings as well as some great demos by Master Bowman, Master Keith Grey and Master Martin.

Last weekend I traveled to Oakland to teach a seminar for Master Mark Gerry. Master Doug Arndt worked to setup this seminar and also did some fine instruction himself. The highlight of the trip was a visit to see Professor Wally Jay and his wife Bernice at their home in Alameda. We took pictures and just had a great time talking with Professor.

The first weekend in March we have Professor Leon Jay in for seminars in Chesterton, Bloomington and a Black Belt test in Indianapolis. Then on March 24th Grandmaster George Dillman will teach a seminar here at the Holiday Inn Select North at the Pyramids.

A lot of good things are in store for this year. I hope all of you are ready for some great stuff.

Thanks,
Will Higginbotham