Many thanks to all those who came along this Sunday to another of our free seminars. Good numbers despite it being a lovely sunny day, and sharing the day with Fathers Day of course! But weapons seminars are always popular with our students, and this proved to be no exception, also it was nice to see new faces at these events.
So myself and Tor San had the job of running this ‘gig’ on Sunday, so we turned up with spare bokkens, staffs, nunchuka and batons; prepared for anything you might say! Also intending to give a full choice of weapons for our students to try, catering for all tastes you might say!
But obviously word had leaked down from the black belt class, that baton was the ‘thing’ to do. So everybody was up for this weapon. Not a problem – myself and Tor San were happy to oblige!
We of course toned it well down from the type of baton work we teach on the those blackbelt nights, but still the movements and drills we covered really appealed to all in the room, from brown belt right down to beginner.
It took a little time for the coordination of double baton work to click in, but after the first hour we were away!
Trying a new weapon system for the first time is always challenging, but judging from the smiles and positive feed back after the session everybody seemed really keen for the next session on this weapon.
There was time at the end of the session for Tor San and myself to give a short demo, here we showed where this fascinating weapon system can lead, in improving the mind set and physical movement of a martial artist, especially when it comes to knife defence and advanced self-defense in general.
Looks as though we will be running another one soon!
Sensei Richard Trafford
Martial Arts Fitness
This was only our 2nd ‘Grading and Performance Night’ and it’s already become a firm favourite with Tim San and Richard San, and it would seem you guys too! Big thanks for all of you who managed to make it along to this special night. We just can’t believe what an amazing standard you are all showing us when you walk on to the area!
The night is a simple idea; instead of the whole class just watching the students who are grading…everybody can get up on the area and perform something of their choice! And what a buzz there was in the room this time, kicked off by the headline act of Sempai Lucy grading for her Aikido-Te black belt first part. She was asked to perform many times throughout the evening, demonstrating both art and aggression wonderfully with great skill! Special thanks too must go to her Aikido partners who placed their bodies on the line for Sempai to demonstrate all the techniques and applications, well done guys!
We had the full range of gradings, form Yellow belt right through to Graeame San, who will be trying for his 1st Dan in BAMA Karate soon! Special mention goes to Nick San, the longest serving student in the room after Tim San and Richard San, who achieved his 1st part black belt in sword on the night, well done Sen!
But these performances did in no way overshadow the awesome displays from the other students who weren’t grading, but they were certainly displaying the same spirit and focus! We had demonstrations ranging from Karate Katas to combat and knife displays and from Reflective Aikido Katas to sword displays, a feast for the martial arts eye!
The biggest highlight of the night for the instructors was the atmosphere and friendship created from you all, especially as some of you don’t get the chance to meet up very often, so it was really great to see everyone chatting and catching up in the pub afterwards!
Here’s to the next one in 2014!
By the way, if you want to see lots more pictures from Novembers Grading & Performance Session then we will be putting them up on our member’s page soon!
Wisewarrior Spotlight 