Torbay 2007 – What can I say? For the second Dans and above it was the hardest training for a couple of years. The week proceeded like this:
Monday:- Sensei O’Neil was unavailable due to filming commitments, so the training schedule was messed up. The course started with the usual fast and furious Sensei Sherry session followed by a beasting from Sensei Poynton. Was this a sign of what was to come?
Monday’s kata was Gankaku, taught by Sensei Sherry with the usual eye for detail, assisted by Sensei “High decibel-time-delayed-summary-system” Brennan. Sensei Poynton built upon this foundation in the second session, allowing us to try to maintain quality at the point of exhaustion.
After such excitement there was no option but to seek out the largest ice cream we could find and take in some rays of sunshine. A football match had been planned for later in the evening and as there was 40+ people from Tekki down in Torbay it ended up being something like 22 aside and was total carnage. It is fair to say that the kids are amazing at football and fearless, even after getting squashed by large dan grades !!
Social evening.
On Tuesday morning the unmistakable vision of Sensei O’Neil appeared – what did this mean for the schedule? Would it simply switch back to the expected? Oh no, completely out of the blue we were in the hands of sensei Sherry again, now that was a shock. Although it was an amazing session you really can’t go adjusting the expected training order willi-nilli, it causes fear and confusion in the Dan grades. It’s like messing with the natural order of things, a bit like what happens when a butterfly flaps its wings on the other side of the world or something like that.
For the fourth session there was a high level of suspense, what would we be getting but hooray! it was Sensei Rhodes with another excellent 30 to 40 move basics combination that somehow joins together at special voodoo angles and turns into an awesome kumite combination.
Tuesday night was the traditional ‘Tekki goes to the cinema’ night. Some of us went to see the new Mr Bean movie, which sensei John Childs enjoyed a lot, mainly due to the amount of sleep he was able to catch up on. Many of the club seniors went to see “300”, a classic warrior film involving spears, shields and attitude, mixed with great banter. I have a feeling that over the next couple of months we’ll see many new and exciting moves that have been strongly influenced by this film being practiced by the seniors J
Wednesday morning’s warm up by Sensei Brennan seemed to go on forever and there was a clearly detectable reduction in mobility from the senior grades. Wednesday is always a tough day as this is where the mental battle against muscle fatigue begins. Every Torbay brings little things that raise the spirits and stick in the mind. This year’s most memorable comment compared the way Sensei Brannan bounces energetically into the centre of the hall ready for the warm up, to Peter Kays description of how your dad dances at weddings. That certainly put a smile on my face which lasted throughout the warm up.
Sensei Higgins boldly bounced down the path of head butting and spinning into advantageous angles during the morning session. The best bit was his amusing demonstration of how to talk with your hands to avoid confrontation, or if you read between the not-too-subtle lines, the way to gain the upper hand would be a better description. Todays Kata was Wankan, a very odd choice, a very odd kata, but a very welcome super-short kata (only ~16 moves).
The second session on Wednesday was the infamous and much anticipated Sensei Brennan session. This began with the usual emphasis on hip and chest movement, emphasising the need to maintain this during longer combinations. We then did cool fighting combinations??? what ??? (attack chudan, block down and counter oizuki simultaneously. Attack two chudan, block front (left) arm soto-ish and right arm same as you step back, counter oizuki and nukitay. Attack jodan, block nigashiuki left arm as you step back and counter tetsui. Attack two jodan, block double nigashiuki, same counter) Kata Wankan seemed even more of a strange choice especially for somebody of Sensei Brennans kata ability. We knew that this was going to be a short kata experience when Sensei’s main point was about Yoey (The start)
Wednesday afternoon was taken up by ice skating and swimming, it is always an interesting sight seeing Gloria on ice, say no more. Who made the biggest splash at the bottom of the water slide in the pool? Answers on a postcard please.
Thursday morning and we were back to Sensei Sherry (for the third time!!), again assisted by Sensei Brennan. Normally Wednesday is hard work physically and on Thursday you feel much better, so why did everybody look so grey? This did not bother Sensei. He certainly did not appear to be tired despite being twice my age! (and I’m not young). This session was to be the ultimate session of the course. We worked on attacking with sharp dynamic techniques for ages, after which we built this up to countering in the same style. The bruises were beginning to mount up. Then the free-style-kumite using the same dynamic movements began, lasted for ages, then began again and lasted for ages again! The real challenge was to maintain the same quality despite the rapidly declining physical condition; truly a lesson on attitude. The kata we covered was Tekki Sandan, which basically meant standing in keebadachi for a very long time, making puddles of sweat on the floor while frantically waving your hands around. For those of you that do not know the kata, it’s a tricky little number that includes some moves that are not found in any other kata’s. A lot of concentration is required.
The afternoon session on Thursday was our first with Sensei O’Neil. Sensei is always keen for the class to understand the worldly application of Shotokan, which is an important element of our martial art. Often Sensei’s enthusiasm leaves only a short time in which to have a go at applying the actual techniques, but this year Sensei simplified the lesson allowing us amble time to explore the issues raised and to practice the principles with your partner. This was very thought-provoking indeed. Sensei O’Neil’s lessons are sometimes thought of by the lower grades to be in contradiction with those of Sensei Brennan for example. But looking at what both instructors taught this week, and taking it to its fundamental principles, both Senseis were teaching the same things, although approaching from different directions. I guess this shows the depth of Shotokan once you open your eyes.
The course always holds a small kata competition on Thursday afternoon. All our kyu grades entered and gained valuable competition experience. Michael Fitzpatrick (Aberystwyth) and Katie (Peterchurch) came a way with medals – well done to them.
On Thursday evening we went for our traditional trip to the bowling alley. We just can’t get enough of those shoes! Sensei Simon Thompson wins every year, but this year Andrew Thomas (Aberaeron) decided to beat Simon by 3 points. When will they learn? Sensei Simon is very much looking forward to the next Aberaeron Training session!
Sensei John Childs was introduced to mussels at dinner, his face was a picture. It’s safe to say he’s not a seafood person.
Friday morning and more confusion as 1st Dans and below moved off to their designated training areas leaving only Sensei Poynton and Sensei Sherry loitering in front of the 2nd Dans and above. Were we to have Sensei Sherry for a fourth time? This would be excellent training but I’m not sure my body was up to it!! The suspense was over, we were to have Sensei Poynton as scheduled. Hooray again! Sensei took us through the points to look out for while teaching kata, a very useful session. We also went over all the katas we’d practiced during the week a few times, cementing the lessons into our brains.
At the end of every Torbay course there is a Dan grading. This year we are extremely pleased to announce that Toby Jackson (Aberaeron) and Joseph Taylor (Aberystwyth) both gained their black belts with very excellent text-book performances. Unfortunately Jo broke his nose and spent ages bleeding everywhere, even had to do his second kata while bleeding and ended up looking like road kill. Well done guys !
Obviously there were lots of other things happening but I guess you will have to come to Torbay next year if you want to know the rest – where else can you find a seahorse called Sammy?