School summer holidays often bring, for some, the prospect of six weeks of inactivity. This year I decided to offer some relief from boredom by offering extra classes to keen club members who were still in London.
Cue five days of two hour sessions (because one hour never seems enough) and you’ve got ten hours extra training in one week (or eleven if your instructor gets a little carried away).
We covered a lot of ground from Monday onwards, correcting errors and building up the intensity of kihon and kumite throughout the week. The second hour of each day was primarily reserved for complementary katas and their applications. Bunkai was an obvious delight for some and with regular partner changes, it made everybody think about how to adjust their technique accordingly and was a good challenge!
By the end of Thursday we had covered all Heian katas, Tekki Shodan and Bassai Dai in depth. So Friday was a day to revise, adjust and at the end of the session, it was time to perform choice kata in front of the rest of the class.
One thing that has struck me is the immense level of improvement after just five days extra training and those students who continued with their regular evening class showed great commitment!
There was only really one way to end the week (the best thing to do straight after any training session and which also happens to be my second favourite pastime): refueling by eating a well-balanced lunch including delicious vegetables and fruit!
We’ll definitely be doing another summer course in 2013 and will start looking at dates soon so that you can book your holidays around it :-) We could even consider a training away-day? Suggestions welcome!
Austin