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Due to unforeseen circumstances, Sensei Brennan was unable to attend Saturday’s Autumn Course. However, Sensei Michael Sherlock stepped into the breach at short notice and conducted an exciting and informative class for the 50-or-so assembled black and brown belt students.
Sensei began by dissecting the basic choku tsuki punch and then working on the timing of this technique with hikite. After this he moved onto commonly used kicks, with students practising a kicking combination which allowed for all abilities of flexibility; however, students had to differentiate between gedan, chudan and jodan in their kicks, even if kept low. Sensei then introduced speed and timing through the use of commonly-used freestyle combinations and varied the timing of the techniques to remove students from their comfort zones. With senior Dan gradings looming, students then practised the special combinations, with all students beginning with the Shodan combination and eventually each grade working on their own grade-specific combination. This was particularly useful for higher grade students who could then see the technical difficulty of each combination advance through the grades.
The class then moved on to partner work which involved one person attacking mawashi-geri, with the defender blocking and then countering with ushiro-geri. Sensei demonstrated each aspect of the technique, emphasising smooth ushiro-geris with correct timing and distance being crucial to the success of the technique. To finish, the class worked on kata. Brown belts worked on Bassai Dai, 1st Dans on Empi and 2nd Dans and above on kata Nijushio. Sensei broke down each section of the kata and students practised each sequence several times, with Sensei also demonstrating bunkai applications for certain movements.
There was a superb atmosphere in the class and the feedback received afterwards was very positive. Sensei also commented on the high level of interest and enthusiasm coming from the students. The USKF looks forward to seeing Sensei Brennan and Sensei Sherry for a course and grading on November 1st.
J Madden
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