That first outdoor training was very nice even if it rained, we had a great time and were pleased to see a lot of people showed up.

From the newest members Mikael Göransson, Adam Torssel, Nicolas Nikander, and the “old” ones, Will Remy Mikael and I.

We worked on pads combinations and feeding punches first then kicks.

We moved the party to the stairs and after that to the backside of the slope, some of us had someone on their shoulders and some just ran up.

That as usual is finishing us for good, as a reward we had prepared some fermented herrings ………….

Here is how it went, first Remy opens the can and everyone is going away, the smell is horrible !

Remy started,  first you have bread potatoe onion and fresh cream and you hide that thing somewhere in there !  Remy did not like it but he ate it anyway ! I was next and I swear I tried to keep that first bite in but there was no way I would swallow this thing, so it came out again! Both Adam and Nicolas were very brave and after a while I noticed one of us had just disappeared, Will was nowhere in sight !  Mikael G stayed but he did not try .

Now let´s have a summary,  2 chickens, one half chicken ( me ) and 3 brave guys,  what does it left us with ? one crazy person guess who ? of course Mikael ate two raw straight out of the can with nothing else , I felt sick just looking at him do that!!!

Well there won´t be any further attempt from me, this thing is so disgusting I understand why Swedish people have to rinse their mouth with vodka when they eat that !

Anyway, next time there will be food after the training session it will be French, ( that is why we call it food ! )

Thank you all for this Sunday , we had a great time.

We started the new season and  it was only Will and I tonight.

We worked on basics on mitts, straight lead cross hook showel hook and corkscrew,  all in combinations as well as hook kicks low and high. All exercises were made on both sides, we finished with reaction on mitts ( hit the mitt before being hit) , and footwork in situation when the partner is doing whatever he feels like,  the exercise was to use only footwork reaction. High tempo session for tonight really good and enjoyable exercises as usual, we look forward to next time.

I have done some work in the training room this summer,  I installed some mirrors and put up some framed  pictures , it starts to look pretty good in there, we also have more gear that we look forward to use. Mikael and I have trained on our stamina this summer, lots of long bike rides have made our tighs stronger, as if Mikael needed that !!!!  I have trained at the gym to get my muscles back as I had lost them because of my injury, I am working hard on getting back in shape. I am quite happy with my progress, I feel it does not take as long as I thought.

Let´s talk about the plans for this season, unfortunately I don´t think there will be a San Francisco trip this year because the prices are too high. We are now just waiting in case there is a last minute trip we can take for a good price but it does not look so good. I am very disappointed, I looked forward to meet Allen and Annie, Jeff and Julie, and the city that I  love so much , I also wanted to celebrate my 40th birthday in SF. We may travel to Seattle next year instead, but I really hope we can meet our friends there.

Mikael will probably make a second Norwegian seminar in November, so we have some events coming up which is good. Right now we have quite some people injured or leaving abroad for a while ,but Coshe is in town right now and we will take the opportunity to meet him before he leaves for Los Angeles again.

As I wrote before we have a new member in our team Mikael Göransson is a swedish actor, we had only one short session with him but it definetely shows he has trained JKD before, we are happy to welcome him in our team and look forward to next session.

Here is a presentation of himself.

“In 1988, I was admitted at the Institute for the Performing Arts. I had, without really knowing what I was getting into, applied for a three months course at their theater in Pontremoli. Pontremoli is a small village in Tuscany, 8000 inhabitants and a small theater from 1700. It was the Institute for the Performing Arts to.

Before I started, I was an uncompromising pacifist. Violence was never acceptable, at any level, even in martial arts. So when I saw the schedule contained Kung Fu and Tai Chi, I was worried but figured that I could just stay away from those classes.
When I got home from Italy, I was surprised to think that Kung Fu might have been most instructive. I returned to the Institute and attended a one-year program. Among other things, I was tempted to learn more kung Fu.

Kung Fu was taught as a reference work to acting. There are numerous interesting comparisons to do. For example, to prepare for a situation that will occur later. Training the tools so they should be as sharp as possible, so once you are in the situation you should not have to think, just react as adequately as possible.
Our teacher Ingemar Lindh, often referred to Bruce Lee, not primarily as an actor, but as a martial artist. I often say that what Bruce did for martial arts, Ingemar Lindh did for acting. It is obviously not true because my teacher in no way had the same impact as Bruce Lee. My teacher had a bit of the same attitude to his art. Remove the excess, take away all superstition and all the ideas and use what actually works, investigate what actually an actor does and what his tools really are.
Back home in Sweden again, I tried to find a kung Fu class that I would feel comfortable in, but it would take until 2005 before I got the idea to investigate whether there was an opportunity to practice JKD. Then I took a summer course in Bredäng. Before that I started to see Bruce Lee’s movies, movies about Bruce and read the books I came across. The more I read the more I was able to find clues for my work as an actor. Then life occured and JKD was resting again, until now.
Again, Bruce Lee, an inspiration to find myself perhaps. Among all the books I read, one made me feel disappointed in Bruce. In retrospect, I realized that it was because he suddenly appeared as a man and it showed that even Bruce had flaws, some pages that I might not necessarily found inspiring. Nowadays, I think it was another lesson for me. Bruce Lee is an inspiration because he was not a “perfect” man. Right now he is an inspiration because he shows me that I do not need, cannot and should not try to achieve an image of a perfect human being.”

Thank you Mikael for your participation in my blog.

For more information about Mikael visit his website: http://mikaelg.se/Mikael_Goransson_Skadespelare/Valkommen.html