Course Report - June 2002

- Saturday 1st-

Yet again, the sun shines on the righteous. It was a lovely sunny breezy day. Turn out by club members could have been better with 15 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday, with half of each being black belts.

Session 1
We started with the now famous (infamous ?) Stuart warm-up and stretch. From there it was straight into movement with a partner. The reasoning behind this is very simple -make keeping the same distance from your partner become automatic and this frees up the mind for other things. To improve the levels of concentration, both sides were given a Shinai (bamboo sword used in Kendo) and movement was attempted while keeping the tips touching.

We then moved on to the same movement adding an attack with the Shinai. It's amazing how much changes when someone is trying to hit you with a big stick - it shouldn't - but it does! If you move away the same as you did when you were moving back and forth you still wouldn't get hit.

After this it was on to a bit of Sanbon Kimite (three attacks), again trying to get the same feeling of just walking away casually.

Finally, a bit of kata to cool down with (Heian Shodan) and a short break.

Session 2
Does anybody need a warm-up ? We got one anyway !

This next bit will take a bit of explaining, so bear with me. We paired off in threes (one of Hugh's favorite phrases). One person standing with one of the others at each side lifting him by his elbows. Relatively easy with most people. Now, the person in the middle concentrates on sinking into the ground and rooting there while they try to lift him again. It's a lot more difficult! The power of the mind is a wonderful thing..... This is the heavy feeling we need to apply to our blocks and attacks at the time of impact.

Which strangely enough was followed by kata using this "heavy" feeling. Another beneficial side effect of this heaviness is to cause the person to drop down into a lower stance and therefore improve their balance and posture.

Hugh and Sanny then split the group in two; Kyu grades and black belts. Jim Brady took the Kyu grades and worked on Heian Shodan kata and some Sanbon Kimite, while Andy Vallance led the black belt group through the same kata and then onto Ippon Kimite (one attack) bringing the "heaviness" in at the correct time.

Session 3
After the warm-up the group were immediately split into the same groups. Again Jim Brady took the Kyu grades for instruction but this time Hugh and Sanny worked on the black belt group. Once again the emphasis was on using the heavy feeling at the correct time to disrupt an opponent's balance and posture.

Finally both groups reunited to perform Heian Shodan kata before finishing for the day

- Sunday 2nd-

Session 1
Yup! you guessed it, a nice warm up courtesy of Stuart to try and iron some of the wrinkles out of the old muscles. Then it was into Heian Shodan again to see what we'd retained from yesterday. Hugh and Sanny must have been reasonably happy with what they saw 'cause we didn't have to go through it all again ( or, maybe they just came at it from a different angle! ). Again the groups were split with Andy Vallance and Eddie Tibbles taking the Kyu grades this time and getting them working on Sanbon Kimite while the black belt group practiced Heian Nidan using the heavy feeling followed by Bassai Dai and Bassai Sho.

Session 2
Another warm up (quite light by Stuart's standards) and the whole group performed Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan katas. This time when the groups split it was Jim Brady and Aileen Tait who had the Kyu grades and worked through Heian Shodan and Sanbon Kimite with them. Meanwhile, the black belt group were practicing Circular Sanbon and finally circular Sanbon using kicks instead of punches while trying to get the heavy feeling in the foot at time of contact.

Session 3
No warm up from Stuart this session who was to preoccupied trying to protect his ribs from Sanny's onslaught at one end of the hall! - No luck though ! - Hugh got Jim Brady to take the warm up in old Kyle Karate Club fashion. I suspect some people were wishing it was one of Stuart's at the end.

The whole group performed the Heian katas and then the Kyu grades dropped out to the side while the black belts went through some of the higher level katas.

Finally, after a quick conference with the 2nd Dans at the other end of the hall, Hugh read out the grading results. Congratulations to all who moved up - you all worked hard (I've got it on film.......).

- Saturday 15^th -

Session 1

This session started with the most basic of basics - how to sit!

Not your usual sitting down, but sitting in posture as the samurai used to. Many defenses and techniques originated from the floor as this was the normal seating position for the Japanese. Hugh had realized that we hadn't been teaching this for a while and aimed to correct this. The formal position not only gives a good starting point for many techniques, but also improves posture, centre of gravity and focus.

Next was kata (Heian Nidan) with junior black belt Sean Gray leading the whole group. The adult black belts (all 2nd Dans) moved about the group correcting stances and/or techniques during this time.

Then on to sanbon kimite. This is normally practiced as three attacks with a defense on the last one. This time it was NINE attacks. The reasoning behind this is to encourage the attacker not to expect to be stopped on the third one and prepare for it. Gradually Hugh and Sanny brought the defenders into stopping the defender on five and then the third attack again. This time, if the defender's technique didn't work, the attacker would be all over them as in a real situation.

The next practice was a new idea of Hugh's. Having experienced it myself at the last practice I can confirm how hard it is to do properly and congratulate the juniors on doing it so well. Basically you have two lines about 6 feet apart. Each person in either line is facing alternating front or back. You then perform kata like this. Looks like mayhem to start with, but if it's done correctly you learn a lot about spatial awareness and other people's timing.

Finally this session was concluded with a bit of circular Sanbon Kimite. During the break a video tape of the previous that I'd been recording was played back to allow people to see themselves and their mistakes.

Session 2

Time for the two junior back belts to do a bit of teaching and organizing. The blue and brown belt group was taken by Sean Gray and the green belt group by his sister Robyn ( or Heidi as she was known for the day! ). They were given control over the adult black belts and told to use them where they wanted. Sean had his group performing circular sanbon and then moved on to linear sanbon with a counter attack. Robyn opted for Heian Yodan kata to start then moved on to sanbon kimite and finally piggy-in-the-middle where one person (in the middle) is attacked by one person, turns around to face the other way and is then attacked by someone else.

Finally the whole group performed Heian Yodan and finished with Heian Godan.

Many thanks to the black belts who gave up their Saturday morning (and watching the football) to come and help.

- Sunday 16^th -

Session 1

Oh Boy! ever been stuck in a hall with 47 screaming running kids ? We have !!!

After a comprehensive warm-up courtesy of junior black belt Robyn Gray the full group performed kata to try and pull their timing together. They were then split into a novice (white belt) group and a graded group. Both groups practiced Kihon (basic techniques) for a large part of this session under the eagle eyes of the adult 2nd Dans and Sean and Robyn Gray.

After they were sort of happy with the techniques the groups were moved on to kata and performed Taikyoku Shodan and Heian Shodan for the rest of the session with various stops for clarification.

Session 2

This session started with the same as yesterday - sitting properly in Zazen posture. The higher grades who were there yesterday sat in a small circle within a circle made up of all the other grades to demonstrate how to sit properly. The adult black belts moved around the large circle correcting the lower grades. This practice didn't last very long as it's a concrete floor with lino on it and sore on the kid's feet. We're there to train them, not hurt them!

Hugh and Sanny then split up the group into three; white belt, red belt, yellow and above with each doing kata relevant to their grade. The white belts went through some basic techniques with Andy Vallance while the red belts worked on their Mae Geri kicks. The other group continued on kata into Heian Shodan.

This continued for the rest of the afternoon interrupted only by Hugh, Sanny and the 2nd Dans taking each group aside to assess them.

At 3:00pm the grades were announced. A lot of people went up to new grades and some didn't. You just have to put a bit more in next time to make sure you're the one who gets the grade.

A special congratulation goes to Johnathan Cumming who received his junior black belt at the end of the course - well done !