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View Full Version : My Session with Head Coach Brandon Jones



Jarlo Ilano
03-02-2007, 11:22 PM
I was very lucky to catch some of Head Coach Jones' valuable time during the Lambda CST certification weekend. I knew how much time was spent by all the Head Coaches in prep/review/evaluation that weekend, and appreciated his time.

This was my second personal one on one session with HC Jones, the first one was at last year's CST cert in Bellingham, where I was treated with a preview of a portion of the FlowFighting™ boxing curriculum and also in various drills based on my question on fighting a taller opponent. (Very important to me!). That was a vigorous hour of instruction wherein I learned some very valuable physical skills.

This time around was a bit different. A few weeks ago, with my martial arts instructor here in Honolulu, I had requested an hour lesson in which we would talk about my progress as a student and have a dialogue about where I should go in the future. To those who would sniff at paying a high private lesson fee "just to talk", I simply say that if you have never had an in person consultation of "just talking" you are missing the boat.

So I decided I would like to do this with HC Jones as well, as I knew his insights into my specific questions would save me weeks or even months of trial and error (and in the case of Boxing, he would save me more than a bit of blood and headaches as well!) We had a great conversation about my questions and his assessment of my skills based on his observations over the past seminars. This took about 45 minutes of the time.

I then requested that he observe a round of boxing sparring (2 minutes) as I would attempt to apply what we had talked about, and HC Jones would advise me afterward on my performance. My friend Jason E. was kind enough to come in and be my sparring partner (this was on Saturday night after an exhausting day of the CST certification, so thank you for your energy Jason.)

In my opinion, this sparring round was absolutely necessary, as competitive engagement reveals how much I had grasped from the advice from HC Jones. If you don't step up and "get your rounds in" as Coach Sonnon has said so often......well you just won't get to where you want to be. I'm very lucky to be in a school that emphasizes progressive sparring. But I thought it would be very helpful to have HC Jones evaluate a real time sparring round of mine. And it was indeed incredibly helpful. I may also request an online consultation of vidclips of the sparring sessions I have here at home.

In conclusion, HC Jones provided in one hour, specific information that immediately improved my boxing, and also gave me a wonderful plan to improve my game in the months of training ahead. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone with an interested in improving their martial arts to take a lesson with HC Brandon Jones. You will not be disappointed.

Adam Steer
03-03-2007, 05:40 AM
Awesome report Jarlo! Your dedication to improving yourself though your martial arts is very inspiring. It was great to finally meet you at Lambda.

Adam

JasonE
03-03-2007, 09:25 PM
Glad I could be of help to you, Jarlo! It was educational for me as well, though in a different way. ;) I'll gladly swap leather with you, or grapple, etc. any time!

Vbrown
03-08-2007, 07:42 AM
HC Jones has always been a talented instructor, but working and talking with him at the SF flowbox seminar, his ability to find the 2-3 things nearly within an athletes grasp and get them to understand it is almost creepy.

Great learning strategy too, Jarlo. That was well spent hour!