The weekend of Feb 20, 2015 marked the second annual Martial Arts Warrior’s Weekend in North Bay, Ontario. Once again martial artists throughout Ontario came together for a weekend of training and comradery.

Sudbury School of Martial Arts was once again a proud part of this event. We had our members participating in the various seminars throughout the weekend and Guro Craig Mason had the privilege to teach multiple sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

First two sessions on Saturday emphasized long and medium range blocking and countering for sparring applications. In a short amount of time, the group was moving well but realizing how deceptive and quick a weapon attack can come at you. As this was a double session, Guro Mason took the opportunity to allow partners to gear up two at time and we did some short rounds of stick sparring. This opened some eyes to see how everyone reacts the randomness of a fight. The session finished off with practicing how to enter and bridge the gap.

The last session of Saturday was on block/check/counter and obstruction removal. This put a lot of participant in unfamiliar territory due to distancing and timing. The session flowed quite nicely with everyone grasping the concepts and reacting freely.

Sunday morning session was with the children’s 9 & under group. This was a great class with lots of energy. They all did very well learning basic striking and once the sparring sessions starting, the energy went through the roof. Definitely set the tone for the rest of the day.

Final session of the weekend had all the participant working through Palis Palis striking set and finishing up with some stand up locking. Lots of smiles of pain on everybody face especially during the locking portion of the session.

Great weekend of training. Looking forward to next year’s event!