This past weekend over 85 HaganaH practitioners from all over the country gathered at the HaganaH National HQs in south Florida to train hard for two and a half days under the tutelage of James Cooper, Garret Machine and myself.

Also, this year , Combat Wrestling Chief Instructor John Clarke put together a take-down competition on sunday morning….congrats to all that competed and to Jared and Ted who won the competition.

It was to date , BY FAR, my favorite conference. Registration included a Combat Fitness qualifier, surprise surprise ;-) It was hot, sweaty, intense, and all advanced tactics…and I loved every minute I taught this year!!! Thank you to all who came in to train in my house….my school is different than all other schools around the country. It’s rough looking, it doesn’t have air conditioning running, it’s completly functional without any foo foo gimmicks to attract the general public….but, its ME!

Congrats to the 3 awards recipients : Joel Borrows- Fit2Fight Award, Joe Bogart-Black Belt Instructor Award and Garret Machine- Warrior To Warrior Award.

And… as usual the highlight of the conference was our notorious Black Belt test. 6 candidates were scheduled to test at this year’s conference with 1 of the candidates pulling out of the list two weeks prior to the test and another candidate pulling out the day of the test. 4 candidates went through the 3 hour grueling test this year and passed their test. Their will and heart were put through a very hot fire, there was blood, there was throw up, there were tears and they all did GREAT!!!!! The youngest testing was 26 years old with the oldest being 53 years old.

Congrats to Coleman “Godzilla” Ray, Marc Douglas, Chris Lohman and Luis Rosario on acheiving the highest honor in our organization….the prestigious HaganaH Black Belt. You make us all proud!!!!!!!! To those who went through this fire before , you all know how truly hot that fire is: The Strongest Steel, Is Forged In The Hottest Fire!!!!!!!!!!!