Whitchurch Course July 08

Sensei Keith, Simon, Rebecca, Helen and myself were Whitchurch bound at the weekend, for another Black and Brown Belt course.
We are honoured that Sensei Kato our chief instructor opens his house to all, Karateka travel from all over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and usually there are a couple from Europe as well.

Above: Sensei Billy Thompson attacks Helen

Sensei Billy and Sensei Keith travelled from Aberdeen, both formidable karateka with years of experience behind them. Unfortunately no kumite instruction from Sensei Billy this course but maybe we can get up to Aberdeen sometime?

Above: Chinte (One for the ladies?)

Chinte, often described as the ladies kata, but there is no reason why it shouldn't be performed by all karateka. I quite like it. As I have discussed before I suffer from the "frozen kata" but, I managed to get through the whole kata without freezing, when Sensei called both Sunil and myself up, after his short period of instruction.

Above: Rebecca and Helen- Kumite Practice

No chance for Rebecca to relax, Sensei seemed to be on her case all weekend, just a complement that Sensei thinks you are worth correcting. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes but you must always give 100%.

Above: Helen- Ready for action

Helen managed to blend into the background this weekend, I don't know how you managed it? Sensei can normally correct us even when he is not looking. Sunil told us at the weekend when he corrected Nick and himself and Sensei wasn't even in the same room..they could just hear him shouting that they had made "mistake!"

Above: Shihan of the BBQ?

The BBQ master at work, lots of smoke, lots of food and even the chicken was cooked.

Above:Sensei's neighbour Malcolm in Mokuso

Sensei's neighbour Malcolm is a retired Jockey and semi professional singer in his day. During the evening he sang the most beautiful song dedicated to his late wife, who sadly passed away very recently, It was a very moving rendition. Anyway in the photo above Malcolm is enjoying a period of reflection as we seem to have come to the end of a very smooth Irish Whiskey. Malcolm, god bless, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

We look forward to two weeks time when we will be travelling to Ireland to train with Sensei Kato and Sensei Brian Toomey. Osu!

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