Taupo Camp

Mmmm... sore muscles! We had 40 something high grades attend the Taupo camp with Shihan & Sensei Eguchi on the weekend. It was a full on weekend. 6 sessions covering everything from Chinese zen meditation to kata to fighting (mmm... fighting... it was gooood). We started Friday night with basics (30 count... must do that more often!), then did some self defence (hand) techniques which were new to a lot of the room & ended with Chinese kung fu meditation!!!! I know!!?! It's most unusual for Kyokushin types to look outside our own style but clearly things are changing. This particular medidtation was popularised by a handfull of top fighters who found it beneficial to their concentration & relaxation & consequently focus & speed.

On Sat we went through all the pinan kata to make sure we were consistent (the theory being the high grades that were there represented most NZ dojos) and then gekisai sho because that's the compulsory kata in most competions & Shihan Eguchi, being international judge & kata committee member is the perfect authority for potential competitors.

Next session we did 4 new kata. The Kaikan has reintroduced some old kata that haven't been in the syllabus for a long time. (P)Bassai Dai was one & then 3 Teki kata. I have to confess the tekis were frustrating to learn in a big group because they involve only sideways movement ie. from behind they look like something reminiscent of an MC hammer video! It was difficult enough from my spot in row 3, I don't know how the back row picked up any of the hand movements! Thank goodness for video!

On Sat arvo we settled into fight training which was a well earned respite from the brain workout that morning. The entire session was dedicated to offence. Shihan ran us through the mechanics of a good jab & right, striking-moving-striking & several combinations. We did a lot of punching using just our left which was mighty effective. I must write up the combos we did but without thinking too hard we only worked our punches, a right gedan mawashi (leg attack) & jodan ushiro mawashi (spinning roundhouse to the head). It was all goood. We finished with a nasty conditioning workout which I'm sure will creep into our sessions within the week (at least by Thursday :)

On Sunday morning we reviewed the self defence & kata (surprisingly some of it did sink in).

Our final session was spent on defence. In particular we worked our defence against the 4 leg attacks, built up to middle mawashi's & front kicks & jodan mawashis. Every defence included a setup and retaliation. By the end of the class we were mixing up our new defence tricks with the offensive stuff of the previous day.... needless to say it was chaos... but I know I wasn't the only one inspired by the concepts introduced. Can't wait to share them with the class & see what happens!