UK Meet 2002
by Melanie Box
My first ever UK Meet! I had been given some idea of what happened by my Sensei initially, (Zoltan Dienes) as he had attended a couple previously. Also, I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Agar-Hutton (the organiser) at one of his Master Classes in June this year.
I arrived at Stevenage Leisure Centre at 9:00am, the event was due to start at 10:00am. I was the first to arrive!
Scouting the location didn't take long. A purpose built, enormous hall, about the size of two large netball courts and space around them! Shortly after I arrived I was joined by Keith LeBhan, one of the instructors and then the Agar-Hutton family, with Robert babbling and frantically running around sticking posters up showing areas and places to register. It's well worth the trip just seeing this ;)
I first of all interviewed Keith - please see his interview to find out more about this exceptional martial artist.
After an individual warm up and introduction we went to the Areas of the hall we had booked and classes began.
I took part in the following:
Area 1 - Zoltan Dienes - Gedan barai for self defence
Area 1 - Chris Barron - Hip usuage in Seidokan Karate
Area 3 - Dave Baker - Ju Jitsu, striking and locking for self defence
Area 3 - Neil McCarthy - How to control distance with low line kicks
Area 2 - Robert Poyton - Systema striking and conditioning drills
Zoltan Dienes
As he is my Sensei, it followed that I attended. It was reasonably well attended. We went through most of the female defences. For further information please visit www.ussu.net/shotokan as this is the University of Sussex website where I train.
Chris Barron
What an intensive session this was! It was basic movements of a kata set up in such a way that it was repeated north, south, east and west. He would first show us the move and run through it slowly and then we would pick up speed and then eventually race each other. Shortly after us doing this for 20 minutes he then asked us to do 50 situps, we had a quick water break and then moved on to further basic movements. He was very precise and observant and none of us in the class did less than our best. It was great that we could quickly move as one in the group doing these too. A very exhausting session for me this was.
Dave Baker (Joseki from MAP)
After a short introduction we started out on some blocking techniques. Raising the arms in a defensive position and using it as a block, moving into the assailant. From there, twisting your arm round them to put them in an arm bar - then using your front leg, push their head down to flip them over and do all sorts of painful things to them on the floor. This was most enjoyable :D Either being the assailant of the defender…
I teamed up with a chap called Richard, who seemed as much as a glutton for punishment as myself…which helped. Sensei Dave is a very dynamic instructor and pushed us through several difficult techniques (for first timers anyway) in a way that we could all understand and accomplish them. Really, really enjoyed this session and the bruises are just about to go now from it.
Neil McCarthy
This was the class I suffered most in. I was teamed up with Mike Flanagan and Jimmy Bores (ckdstudent) separately in this session and was beaten up quite proficiently by both. I am not the most accomplished kicker in the world and would much rather punch the life out of people any day…yet Neil has a persuasive air about him. He had us running up to each other and kicking each others knees in no time. He even coerced us into throwing each other on the floor too. Thankfully this was all done with a very large kick bag, so no serious injuries were about to happen.
Whilst teamed up with Mike I was asked to act as the aggressor in kicks while he defended with a block using his leg. Timing was of an essence here and managed to only break into his guard twice - but grateful I managed that much. We found that we were very defensive in this and kept on moving back, which didn't actually help the defender as they were projecting their response. Neil came over and suggested we "root" oursleves like our training teaches us and it seemed to make all the difference to both of us. Even when I was defending with a blocking kick, Mike seemed reluctant to attack.
It was a very good session. I found Neil very easy to talk to and question and he seemed to imply that everyone's training can be of help to the techniques he was showing us - which I can quite believe.
Robert Poyton
In this session I was teamed up with Richard McEvoy most of the time. A hard-hitting Irishman and that's no lie L
To be honest with you, I am not used to being hit at all, which is precisely why I attended this class. I have always enjoyed and quite frankly preferred kata to kumite, so knew that this was an extremely large area of my training that I haven't utilised. I wanted to see how I would react and behave to being physically attacked and if I had the 'gumption' to actually hit someone else. I found out I could take a punch or two and could hit someone…though not very hard L
Robert took us through the breathing exercises they use to 'cushion' the blows so to speak initially. He explained it was very important to relax the body to a point where you could 'roll' with the technique. We did spend a bit of time trying to accomplish this and thankfully I managed to pick it up reasonably quickly. For a Shotokan person to relax though…that is no mean feat!
We started off with gentle 'skin' blows to the upper chest area and would increase the level of strike gradually to a point where you could tell your 'attacker' to stop. I was surprised how much I could take - but that was probably due to the rolling technique we had been shown. We also learned to block blows to the head (roundhouse) by utilising our shoulders to take most of the pressure out of the blow and to deflect it. (Bruises have not gone yet).
We also did a pressure test of some sort where you would use your breathing and stance (at different heights in stance) to fend off gradually increased pressure on various parts of your body. Unfortunately, I was not very good at this. I think strength has as much to do with technique with this particular demonstration. Neither of which I have, that can compete with a 3rd Dan!
It was fun hitting a 3rd Dan though….
Overall…
This was my first UK Meet and I loved it. I am going to spend the next year promoting this to the fullest at every opportunity…in a bid to force Robert to do another one next year J
In all seriousness, I would strongly recommend all martial artists to go to this event next year (if Robert is daft enough to arrange it again). It was a fantastic opportunity to do the things you hear about from other arts and never get the chance to see. You normally pay the same amount for a 2-3 hour seminar in one field of expertise. I paid £20 for the day and was given instruction by 6 accomplished Instructors of various different arts and I hope to take away some of what they have shown me and be able to utilise in my present training.
Thanks Robert…it was really, really good J
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