A great course at a lovely BIG venue with a NICE cafe!
JKA England Chief Instructor Ohta Yoshinobu 7th Dan was supported by Roy Tomlin 6th Dan, Gary Stewart 5th Dan and Adel Ismail 5th Dan.
Kyu grades enjoyed three separate sessions, one from each of Senseis Roy, Gary and Adel. Brown belts I think had the opportunity to practise Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, Jion and Empi. Black belts were able to choose any kata from the above alongside other requests: Gojushiho Sho, Chinte, Sochin and Jitte. I occasionally glanced over to the other side of the hall at the kyu grade group and was reassured to hear the positive kiais of our young club members!
After each of the three sessions, Ohta Sensei had groups perform in turn the kata which they had just studied. It is nice for everybody to see the level of the association and to watch the different Shotokan kata. It’s difficult to focus when you have five senior instructors and hundreds of other students watching, but it is good to get used to this kind of pressure.
Just six present from Shiranamikai? Well, Shivani and Dharvi shot straight off to get changed. And we weren’t able to use the shots where I’d stepped into the frame for a picture – everybody had stopped smiling!
Austin