Nick Cerio's Kenpo attended the Gathering of Eagles 2001 in Las Vegas on August 8-12.  There were many seminars being taught by great instructors, but the highlight of the Gathering by far was the appearance of Motobu Sensei and his chief Instructor Inaba Sensei, as well as the appearance of Tanaka Sensei, all of whom came to visit from Japan.

The surprise of the Gathering for the Nick Cerio's Kenpo group happened on August 9th (the first day of seminars).  Due to many instructors arriving late to the Gathering, there was many open slots for seminars.  Nick Cerio's Kenpo offered to fill one of the slots.  We were given the 1pm time slot (seminars started at noon).  At noon, we took the group to warm up and review our seminar techniques.  We were oblivious to everything around except training with our Ukes.  All of a sudden we were interrupted by a strong voice stating something in Japanese but including the words 'Motobu Sensei'.   As we turned around, there seated in the room and not making a sound were Motobu Sensei, Inaba Sensei, Tanaka Sensei, as well Professor Ferreira and his wife Kiko.  They had asked the group 'What do you think?'.  They all smiled and nodded in approval.  They then asked us to continue.  They never left the room for the entire hour that we practiced.  They then gave us the honor of allowing our group to have a picture taken with them (shown above).  It was much later on that we discovered that we were the first Martial Art that they had witnessed at the Gathering and quite possibly the United States since this was the very first visit by Motobu Sensei, Inaba Sensei, and Tanaka Sensei to the US. 

However, the highlight of the Gathering for the NCK group was to be able to meet and train with one Master that held a special place in NCK history.  This Master's father taught Professor Nick Cerio in the late 1960's.  When the NCK group attended this Master's seminar, it was a very eye opening experience.  We shown the foundation of a system that we had heard so much about through Professor Cerio and were finally able to experience firsthand.  It was a very nostalgic feeling that we were reliving parts of Professor Cerio's training almost 4 decades ago.  After the seminar, we kept meeting this Master and his students throughout the weekend.  He was always very generous with his time and answered any and all of our questions.  He was a wonderful example of a Master who not only mastered the physical Arts but also the etiquette ways of the Arts as well.  Nick Cerio's Kenpo would like to extend a special 'Thank You' to Master Bill Chun, Jr. of the Go Shin Jitsu Kai/Chinese Kempo system and his students for their time and respect this weekend.  Our hope is that our paths cross again in the not too distant future.

 The rest of the Gathering was filled with great seminars and wonderful people.  Everyone was very friendly and approachable.  It was a very good experience to take home and learn by.