Stoke Seminar July 2007

Another successful seminar hosted by Kagami Shin in Stoke-on-Trent over 15th/16th July 2007.

Saturday saw 45 people attending The Wallace Sports Centre for 2 days of Kendo with instruction from Terry Holt (7D), Geoff Salmon (7D), KC Yung (6D), Gary O'Donnell (6D) plus a welcome visit by Miyagawa Sensei (6D).

This venue conveniently has 2 sports halls and after the opening address we were split into 2 groups, 2Dan+ with Geoff, Gary & Miyagawa Sensei in one hall and everyone else with Terry and KC in the other. This allowed each group to be taught independently at a level relative to their skills.

As usual Terry had a plan for the seminar and the day was broken down into segments so that various aspects could be covered. In the 2Dan group this took the form of short sharp drills with 4/5 repetitions of a technique and then change partner and repeat for the next one. In between instruction and options were pointed out by the Sensei to help us improve.

There then followed a section on refereeing. Half the group did shiai and the other half took turns in refereeing each match. This was a good practice with questions raised by us and definite answers given by our Sensei. This has become a feature of seminars in the last couple of years and is a valuable practice. I’d also advise anyone to attend the Shinpan Seminars that are held during the year.

After this there was mock grading practice. The group was divided into sections by grade and then brought out in pairs to do a grading. As we were due to have a real one on Sunday this was an opportunity to get some feedback on performance and hopefully apply this for real next day.

The final session was a Sensei Keiko with us all together in the main hall.

The evening saw 27 of us at the ‘Beijing City’ for a Chinese buffet. The previous evening Terry and David Spacey negotiated a good deal for us and if there had been 28 perhaps we would have got a bigger discount. For details see David!

Sunday morning and all quiet in the dojo…grading nerves. A short shinai and kata practice to get everyone moving before the grading began.

I was glad to see there was a very short ‘sick’ list when I was taking the registrations. It saved me having to write medical histories on the judge’s papers.

We did the Yondan grading first as John Fitzgerald had a flight to catch. As he passed I can assume he had a pleasant journey to Japan. We then reverted to the normal procedure, Ikkyu, Shodan ect.

Congratulations to all those that passed and for those that did not try again next opportunity.

It just leaves me to apologise for the roads in Stoke, constantly changing making Sat Nav’s redundant and to say thank you to you all for attending.

Thanks to the members of Kagami Shin for their work over the weekend, providing the lunches, making tea, sweeping up ect. An event’s success depends on the good attitude and commitment of the host dojo, so no one will be on a charge this week 

Finally thank you to all of our instructors for the weekend, I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did and I will see you all next July in Stoke.

Steve Plimbley