his year saw a change of venue for this event that had previously been held for many years at the Thanet Club run By Richard (Dick)Todd.
The Club in Herne Bay (Shogun Aikido Kai) is a purpose built Dojo and is owned by the local Judo Club, and is conveniently situated next to the local train station. The line up of instructors was confirmed as Satoru Tsuchiya 6th Dan (Shodokan) and BAA coaches Paul Wildish 6th Dan, Shaun Hoddy 6th Dan and Vanda Fairchild 5th Dan.
This is the first time Tsuchiya Sensei has taught at a BAA event and the turnout reflected this with some 60+ Aikidoka from across Europe (Czech Republic, Spain and Northern Ireland) on the mat for the first session at 9.30am (early I know but there was a packed agenda).
There was a Coach level 1 course run by Paul Holding Sensei who is the BAA Coach development officer.
After the formalities and safety talk the first session was taken by Paul Wildish Sensei, the content focused on the weapons section from the Dai-San and in particular the ‘sword taking’, each of the five techniques were explored in detail giving the student a comprehensive
understanding of the mechanics of the kata.
After a short break Tsuchiya Sensei taught the Goshin Ho, with the content centred on using a relaxed wrist and arm to make the techniques more effective, Tsuchiya sensei explained that although only 49 techniques are used for grading purposes there are many more available.
Third session Vanda Fairchild Sensei taught Tanto Kaeshi Waza, exploring movement and counters and Tanto Atemi Waza.
After lunch we did it all again, Paul Wildish Sensei this time looking at Jo from the Dai-San exploring each technique in detail so to nderstand the kuzushi.
Goshin Ho again from Tsuchiya Sensei followed by Vanda Fairchild Sensei Tanto Kaeshi Waza.
Mat activity halted around 5pm so the Level 1 coach attendees could be assessed.
Followed by the Kyu and Dan Grading, This led to the following promotions:-
- James Abernerthy 3rd Kyu
- Gary Maiden 1st Dan
- Martin Dean 2nd Dan
- Kelvin Shiel 2nd Dan
- Lee Adams 3rd Dan
A second full days training started again at 9.30am, with Tsuchiya Sensei deciding the Jo-suburi would be fun, after the warm up using the Jo we explored the 6, 11, 21 and 31 ( I think – heads a bit fuzzy about this) a very enjoyable session and something slightly different
to start the day.
After a short break Shaun Hoddy Sensei took everyone through the entire Koryu Dai Ichi, excellent technical direction, which no doubt
improved every ones understanding of this important Kata for Tomiki Aikido.
I would like to thank all those instructors who gave their time freely and to the Committee of my club who gave up their weekend and made the event possible.
Lee Adams