2023 started with some terrible news as Bancroft, one of our long-term students, training partner, and group elder, sadly passed away on New Year’s Day. Bancroft was an elder statesman of the group and one of my personal friends. He was highly skilled in several arts, including our brand of Pencak Silat; he was also the primary instructor for some of my students and me in Ilustrisimo Sword.
Several students also fell away from training this year due to illness or changes to life priorities, and in a close-knit small training group, this can have a significant effect. I struggled so much with Bancroft’s passing that I considered closing the KORA group. The advantage of a small group is that the training is of a much higher quality than the old public classes I taught until 2005. The disadvantage is that each person’s contribution to the training group is missed even more.
That is a bit of a bitter lesson to learn.
I struggled in the first quarter. Xin Leng kindly took over leading the Silat class for most of the year, allowing me to train and he did a great job. I started a 9 am Sword class on Saturday so that James Cathcart and I could teach the sword work left to us by Bancroft. James is heading up the teaching of sword and dagger outside the group for us and found a great training partner in Mike, who has now joined our three amigos sword class.
Later this year, I lost my long-time friend and old-school Judo coach, Roger Kingshott, so I felt lost again.
Curriculum
I resolved to continue teaching because it is personally rewarding, and I also worked on the sword, clinch (Lutte), Pencak Silat and Savate curriculums for most of the year. We have unique arts where the tool kits do not change, but the environment and our understanding of how to teach them safely and efficiently grows each year.
Research Trips
I managed to slot in a research trip to Spain in March, which was great, but sadly, the September trip to the Basque Country had to be postponed due to a family illness. Planning to redo that early in 2024.
I had the honour of teaching at a retreat where I covered an introduction to our Contact Management module. I found the experience instructive as a teacher as I had to adjust my teaching method to new people. The whole experience was gratifying, and one of the main takeaways was I had almost lost the ability to teach new groups of people, so I had to work on that.
Goals
At some point in the year, I was lucky enough to have a one-to-one review with Dawn Whillock of MAGB fame to discuss my goals for our training group. I use MAGB for my student and teacher insurance and support for running a training group.
Dawn has a book out called The Glory of Being Ordinary, and you can find it here on Amazon: The Glory of Being Ordinary – Book 1: Indomitable Spirit: Amazon.co.uk: Willock, Dawn, Morrison, Martin: 9798866379811: Books
It is funny, but in my full-time day job, I am responsible for the asset management of a trillion-dollar wealth fund and people’s pension funds and have weekly goals. Still, in my hobby, I was not using any of those “business” skill sets (misery). After a quick, friendly chat with Dawn, I formed my goals for the rest of the year.
My main goals were to get out more. Hence, I decided to teach at the trauma retreat. I also separately provided some non-profit training to victims of domestic abuse.
I also changed the goals of my KORA group from a bespoke research group to a healthy mix of research and training to pass on the legacy my teachers passed or entrusted to me. I decided to be more open to the public, so I revamped and changed my social media use to help others.
I took part in my first-ever non-work-related podcast, primarily to support my teacher Gillvan and my friend Claudio, and I have invites to three more. I learnt a lot from the podcast, mainly about the importance of good lighting so you don’t look like you are in a witness protection program:
https://youtu.be/OUWbT745HDo?si=6qalaeylXUegNh9L
By the end of the year, I was back teaching Pencak Silat, and I feel my teaching ability has improved a lot. I shared a little of my Savate with a unique Basque flavour with some HEMA researchers and helped them better understand the old black-and-white photos from the Savate Paris set.
Our sword fencing group is growing, and we have a very nice curriculum to continue exploring. So much of what Bancroft taught us is proven in the sparring. Next year, we hope to participate in sword and stick sparring competitions.
I have shared my Savate, the grappling (Lutte), and some knife work for the arts that form Killick Off Road Arts. Mike joined our group and is picking things up very well indeed.
2023 proved that nature’s cycle of birth, life and death remains relevant, and how we deal with that is the crucial challenge.
Change is the only changeless state, so embrace it, even if sometimes it tastes bitter.
Killick Off Road Arts 