MAP Meet 2018

Speaking of the raffle. I left the Kickshield I won (that LFD kindly gave me the ticket for) in Mitch’s car!

 

No rush for it mate. If it’s any use for you guys feel free to use it.

 

THANK YOU DUNC-loved the ground self defence techniques,and the stick kukishinden.{hope i have got this right?}
Nothing is too much for you,
you have a lot of patience.
thank you.

 

Gutted to have been unable to get there. Had some abdominal pain Friday night - got no sleep at all. Thought I might perk up in the morning but didn't, then thought I might go and watch. Packed my kit anyway and headed off but had to turn back. Spent the next 48 hours ish in bed. Probably a return of an annoying un-treatable non-life-threatening condition that I've had no symptoms of for about seven years. Back at work today but still a little uncomfortable.

Sad to have missed the San Da and ju jitsu sessions...was really looking forward to those in particular. The pictures look great! Sounds like you all had a great time!

N ext year!

 

Seconded!

 

We both enjoyed the Meet tremendously and I would like to thank everyone for welcoming us. I will write about how I enjoyed the sessions, but only once I get home and to the keybord. I hate writing on the phone. We are currently exploring London.
But thank you everyone and it was nice finally meeting you!
I am also looking forward to seeing all the pictures

 

I am already home, so time for some review!

HEMA
This was something completely new to me, I don't think I have ever held anything like a sword before. I am glad Aegis taught us several slashes to put into a combination, and then drilling them and others in pairs. I really had fun there! It was interesting to hear the explanation that sounded like swordfighting was something like playing chess for your life. I think I learned a lot in this session, but not overly much so that I couldn't take it in. Awesome class.
Now I regret I can't learn more

Traditional Japanese weapons
I have learned a bit of kobudo before (but no bokken), so I was interested how similar or different this session would be. I was happy I wasn't completely new to handling a staff, although the way we used it here was a bit different. And against a sword - awesome I did my best to do the stances as we were shown and everything, but the main thing is that it was really fun swinging the wooden weapons at each other And in many different ways, which was cool to try. Again, there was a nice balance between how easy it was to try and figure out what to do and not to be overwhelmed by all the info and unnecessarily complicated stuff. Perfect for trying out in one short session. I liked Dunc's teaching style and the whole session was great.

Sanshou
I was looking forward to trying some striking art that may be a bit similar to karate, so I chose the Sanshou. And also because the style sounded foreign to me, so I wanted to know what it was about. To be honest, and this is, of course, not a critique, it wasn't my cup of tea in that this style probably uses boing gloves all the time. I am not very used to it and couldn't get over how I can't close a fist properly. Both our borrowed gloves however started to fall apart a little and create a mess under us, so we took them away, which was more comfortable and I could focus fully on the techniques shown the take downs and everything were really nice, a bit different approach than what I am used to, which broadened my horizons, although I could see some similarities. It was also interesting to see how the stuff shown was geared towards competition and points. A bit different approach, too. The stuff taught was shown well and I am glad we could try as many things as we did.

Ground self-defence
I was also looking forward to this session since I already learned Dunc was a great teacher. I enjoyed it a lot! My partner and I couldn't figure out most things at the first try, but at least we had a lot of fun trying and Dunc was always there to help and demonstrate once again, which was very helpful. We were usually able to more or less do what was shown after that. Ground fighting is something that is useful and I appreciated the fact that we weren't taught in a competition style as I don't have ambitions there, but rather some useful techniques more toward self-defense, too.

I really enjoyed all the sessions I went to and had a great time. My only regret is that I couldn't try all of them. Running two parallel sessions was great as there was a good number of people in both, but I just regret I couldn't split myself in half
Also I failed to talk to everyone. It was great Simon invited us to join several people for a dinner, I was a it surprised that not that many people went there. Although I understand many probably had to head home by now.
I would like to thank Simon and Mitch for organizing such a great event and for the gifts we got, like the pads from the raffle, which we got by Simon giving us his ticket. We will have a great use for them in the dojo. We were able to stuff them into our backpacks so we could take them back home. My back pack didn't really survive the stuffing, but that is another story

A huge thanks goes to Late for Dinner, who went (far) out of his way to pick us up early on Sunday and drive us to see nice things in the vicinity. We were able to see many nice things, church, the canals, etc. that we would normally have no chance to see. He spent the whole day with us, also giving us a taste of his kung fu style. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences to our karate. In the short time we were shown and could try a lot of things - interesting drills, weapons (staff, butterfly knives I haven't even seen before) and were able to try to get a feel for a short hand form and a staff form. It was awesome! I asked how comes he didn't teach at the MAP meet, too, and it turned out he actualy did in the past. No wonder, this additional session was awesome too! And he also introduced us to scones, which I fell in love with and now I need to find out how to make them at home So, very very big thanks!

From Monday around noon until our flight Tuesday evening we've been sightseeing in London. We were only able to basically run through a few places, but it was all great. And thanks to Aegis for meeting with us for lunch

Thank you everyone to make the meet happen, we had a blast. If we are able to, I think we'll gladly come next year, too!

 

Oh Dang, yeah, me and my typos

Actually... maybe. I am not sure what to imagine under, but if my idea is right, then clowns might be perfect for it

 

I'm glad that you enjoyed MAP meet, the day out and the scones! It was really good of you two to come all this way to join us here in England and I'm sure that everyone can see the great time you had training and visiting this fair isle. It was great having you visit.

Oh, and just for you Nachi, here's a link to a British icon that might make you happy! ;' )



LFD

 

You made it all the better for us, though! Thanks again, as I said, we really appreciate what you did for us

Awww, awesome! Thank you! I need to try!

 

It was really awesome how far you two came! In theory next year I'll have moved out and will have a bit of space, so if you and your partner would like to see a different bit of the country you'd be more than welcome to crash at mine, save paying for a place and I'd be happy to pick up and drop off at airports or train stations or whatever! (I mean, I'd have to check with the boss, but shewho is very easygoing!)