Course Report - June 2003

Not bad weather for a course, dry but not too warm. Not a great turnout, but that's the problem with a summer course,
when a lot of people tend to go on holiday.

- Saturday 7th -

Session 1
After a short warm-up by Jim Brady (2nd Dan), Hugh and Sanny explained and demonstrated to the group what was expected of them and the purpose of the course. In this case, an improvement in body movement and condition.

To this end, we started moving back and forth across the hall with a partner trying to keep the distance between us the same. Hugh then brought in having your hands outstretched in front of you with your fingertips resting lightly on your partner's hands. This allows us to feel when we were moving in and out of rhythm with our partner.

Next, was one person pausing while the other kept moving. No, this wasn't a wee break for the person standing still. They had the harder of the two jobs. They had to continue moving inside at the same rhythm as their partner so that they could slip back into the movement again with the minimum of disruption.

Finally Hugh and Sanny included making your hands feel very heavy while not changing anything else.

Session 2
Another short warm-up courtesy of John Semple this time and then back to work.

We went through most of the pervious session's stuff at a faster level this time and then started to bring in Oi-Tzuki while trying to avoid changing our body condition.To counter the tendency to bring our fists too far and keep the centre of gravity down, we had to bring our knee up now and again.

Finally we moved, as a group, on to kata. Performing Heian Shodan and Nidan while still maintaining the heavy hands.

Session 3
The group was split into Kyu and Dan grades and while the Kyu grades practiced Heian Shodan kata, the Dan grades worked on their Bo kata.

We then joined together again to practice Ippon, and then Sanbon Kimite with various partners. The constantly changing partners forces you to learn to adapt very quickly to the different timings of other people.

The group was split again and performed kata relevant to their grade. Finally the whole group performed Heian Yodan.

- Sunday 8th -

If the sun shines on the righteous we must have done something pretty bad 'cause it was bucketin'
down this morning. Lucky we were in a hall….

Session 1
After a light warm-up by Aileen Tait (2nd Dan) the full group performed Heian Shodan. Some people were given two 5Kg weights to hold while doing the kata to allow them to remember the "heavy hands" practice from yesterday. Then it was back to moving with a partner which was constantly changed. After a while we were asked to bring the heavy hands into play.

Session 2
The warm-up this session was courtesy of Jim Brady again. The whole group then performed Heian Shodan to get the movement back to a point close to yesterday. This was followed by Sanbon Kimite then we moved to circular sanbon where the attacks come from different angles instead of in front of you. It was then back to kata as a whole group again. We worked through the full range of the Heian katas before the group was again split into Kyu and Dan grade groups.

Kyu grades learned Heian Yodan from John Semple and Malcolm Dunnachie while the Dan grades performed high level katas such as Tekki and Bassai.

Session 3
The final session started with a warm-up by John Semple. From there we were split into the two groups again. The Kyu grades learning to perform Heian Yodan with Sanny, while the Dan grades worked on their Bo skills with Hugh. After a while Sanny and Hugh swapped over and Sanny took the Dan grades through the Bo kata. For the last part of this session the whole group again practiced sanbon kimite at their particular level.

- Saturday 21st -

Session 1
The warmup for this group was taken by Jim Brady (2nd Dan) and soon had everyone "glowing". Then, as is normal at our courses, the whole group (small as it was) performed Heian Shodan kata to try and get everyone moving together.

As the emphisis of this course was to be movement and form, Hugh and Sanny had the group performan abstract practice where you and a partner run from one side of the hall to the other, twisting your body to miss your partner when you meet in the middle. This is not a practice you can do for very long.

When the movement seemed to be coming, the group then performed Kihon with the adult black belts moving around and correcting stances, techniques etc.

A quick run through each of the Heian katas and then a short break.

Session 2
We started this session without a warm-up as the break was short and it was a warm day. Initially performing Heian Shodan again to get the movement and timing again.

It was noticed (Hugh and Sanny miss NOTHING - be warned!) that the side kicks in some of the katas were a bit weak, so there was a departure from the planned course to have a practice of Yoko Geri with a partner.

To check that some improvement had been made by the previous practice, the group performed Heian Yodan which has two side kicks in it. Once this was to Hugh and Sanny's satisfaction or "No Bad"...... we practiced circular sanbon. This is similar to ordinary sanbon in as much as there are normally three attacks, but in this one the two practitioners move around each other.

- Sunday 22nd -

Session 1
Once again the group warm-up was performed by Jim Brady (2nd Dan). This wasn't one of Jim's "cardiac arrest" specials as it was, once again, a nice warm day and therefore the chances of pulled muscles was reduced. After the warm-up, Jim lead the whole group through Heian Shodan.

Once Hugh and Sanny were happy with this, the group was split into three sub-groups: red & white belts, yellow & orange belts and green and above belts. Each group was assigned a adult 2nd Dan with some assistants.

Initially the red/white group performed kihon (basic techniques), while the yellow/orange group performed kihon and then moved on to Heian Shodan. The green+ group started off from where they had left yesterday with circular sanbon and then moved on to Heian Shodan.

Then the red/white group started doing fumakomi (stamping technique) while the yellow/orange group did sanbon kimite. The green+ group were already doing sanbon kimite and finally performing Heian Sandan.

Session 2
It was felt that the kids had started to cool down a bit and so Sean Gray (Junior 1st Dan) gave them a short warm-up before they were split into their groups.

All the groups started by performing kata relevant their levels. While Hugh and Sanny were grading the red/white belt group the yellow/orange belts were doing competition kata, where two groups face each other and take turns to perform a kata and try and do it better than the other group. The green+ group carried on with their sanbon kimite practice throughout this.

Then, while the yellow/orange group were graded, the red/white belt group did their version of sanbon kimite (very restricted due to their lack of control) and the green+ group performed Heian Sandan kata.

Towards the end of the session everyone was sat down at the side and each group was allowed onto the floor by themselves to demonstrate to the others what they had been doing. Then the fighting began (not literally!). It's become a standard at the kids courses that they have a wee competition at the end. This is VERY CONTROLLED and they must stay behind a line seperating then so nobody gets hurt. They come up two at a time and have a couple of minutes to do anything (some think they can fly! - see photo).

Finally the gradings were read out. There was a change here as well. In the past, only the names of people who had changed grade were read out along with their new grade. This time ALL the names were read out, and anyone not getting a new grade was just advised "no change". This was in response to a feeling that has emerged within the club that some people thought they could just turn up and "coast" through the course and get a grade. Sorry guys - you have to work for it same as we did!