|
Over
130 students from all parts of the UK attended
this year's Summer Outdoor Course at the Buckingham
Chilterns University campus outside Windsor lead
by Grandmaster Gary Wasniewski (Soke).
As
usual all students, young and old were greeted
by Soke, some of who had never seen the chief
instructor in the flesh before. The weather was
warm and overcast but this did not spoil the feeling
of sheer excitement amongst those of us gathered.
After changing into a colourful array of tracksuits
we all gathered to listen to Soke as he gave a
quick overview of the day where he stressed that
although there was the serious business of gradings
to be held at the end of the course, everyone
was there to learn and have fun.
Soke
then unselfishly asked 5th Dans, Senseišs Mark
Murphy & Tony Leslie and 4th Dans Senseišs John
Graham and Winston Bellot to say a few words as
well. All the senior Dan grades echoed the Chief
Instructor Fun was the theme for the day, these
words relaxed the students especially the ones
going for Dan Grades!
Soke
then took off in his usual get up and go fashion,
telling all there to follow the best that they
could, as usual the younger students chased after
Soke, keeping up with him to a point, the more
experienced students started at a much slower
pace. Before long these slower paced students
overtook the younger ones, the first lesson for
the day! Soke led all attending to an area that
can be best described as a small amphitheatre
about the size of a small football pitch surrounded
by a gentle slope and trees. All students then
lined up in grade order and Soke then took everyone
through the basic TY-GA warm-up routinenothing
basic about it! Once warmed up, we were all captivated
as Soke went onto demonstrate basic kicking techniques
on very soft ground, making it look as though
he were inside a dojo instead of outside, we did
our best but we all struggled. We then all the
found a partner and started sparring, a great
opportunity for younger students to learn good
fighting technique in trainers and on uneven ground,
amazingly no one was hurt in any way and everyone
was smiling!
Soke
then gathered all the students together to demonstrate
self defence techniques, again as with the kicking
demonstration, Soke made this section of the course
look very easy, showing us that a potential attacker
would not always strike on a nice flat surface,
this was fantastic to see and great to practice.
We move onto kata and now the spirit is really
shown as students show what they have learnt.
Following a short break, we go back into sparring
again and after several exhausting battles, Soke
then sat everyone down and proceeded to spar with
every Senior Dan grade present, not just once
but several times over! All students present were
awe struck by this display a stamina and skill,
some of TY-GAšs best fighters were being picked
off with superb technique and control, this lead
to massive applause and appreciation from all,
over 40 spars and Soke looked ready for more!
Fantastic!
As
we broke for lunch, the excited conversation was
very much about what we had just seen but there
was more to comeespecially for the junior Dan
grades. We returned from lunch and Soke instructed
the two 5th Dans to take kata, while he took all
the junior Dan grades for a sparring session of
their own, those younger students who do not always
get this chance appreciated this. Following some
games and another small break, we were instructed
to get into our Gi's and get reading for the grading.
Around 40 students from various clubs were being
graded ranging from white belts, brown belts going
for Dan grade and two first Dans going for second.
The blood was up and the grading was very hard,
especially for the senior grades but everyone
who attempted to grade passed with flying colours,
a very emotional grading indeed.
I
must say that this was one of the best courses
that I have attended, it was action packed with
plenty to do and learn. I was not surprised that
I took so much away! Thank you Soke for making
it very special, I cannot wait until the next
course in Wales in 2004!
|
