Sunday 19th January saw the first of many Black and Brown belt courses to come throughout the year, and a good start to the year it was. We had a good little group attend from the club lead down by Mike Sensei we had Paul B, Helen, Lucy, Ellie, Will M, Thomas and Myself.
Arriving at Djanogly Academy just after 10am we greeted karate-ka from across the country warming up our gis after the xmas break we began training at just after 10.30, training began with a welcome back from Alan Campbell Sensei (7th Dan) followed by some quick warm-up and then in to the days training.
Alan Sensei wanted focus the days training around perfection (our own perfection) in karate, his thoughts coming from the area of that if you train one hundred percent from the day you start training to the day you stop it means that what ever happens to your body physically you mind will be able achieve the same level. To prove this point we looked at only a couple basic combinations first being simply step forward oi tsuki, gyaku tsuki, gedan barai, on our own to begin with to get used to the combination then we partnered up and watched each other to point out details to improve upon.
Our next Combination came in the form of shuto, moving forward in kokutsu dachi (Back stance) blocking shuto, shifting into zenkutsu dachi (Front Stance) nukite then shifting back Shuto, both alone and with partners again. After this Alan Sensei brought everyone round and asked what are we looking for in what we are doing, the majority of the brown belts and junior Dan grades we looking at the big picture and the big movements of their body's. However the senior Dan grades caught on to what Alan Sensei was looking for and were pointing out the finest details like the shape of your hand and the position of the thumb and how this alters the whole appearance and effectiveness of the block, aiming for perfection in the techniques.
Finally we ended the session looking at kata Kanku Dai, Alan broke the kata right down looking at the exact and perfect way to preform the kata and showing us exactly how to achieve this perfection and after breaking it down to count and sections we finished off by running through the kata alone as perfectly as possible.
Thank you to Alan Sensei for a fantastic first course back and great to see him back in his gi after his hip surgery last year just proves that even the biggest of physical difficulties can be overcome with a strong mind and perfection. Also well done and thank you to those who attended from the club these courses you to grow as karate-ka.
Oss
Ben
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