Womens' Course Halle , Germany
I have been conducting a women's seminar at the Honbu dojo, Elephant & Castle in February annually for the last five years, which has always been well supported by the ladies from Germany . So this year I was invited by Jana Nendel to lead a women's course in her home town of Halle in June and I was very pleased to see 30 women come from all over Germany and three from England.
The course was held in the Budokan, where Jana's partner Jan Stoltz is the instructor. It was a wonderful venue, with a good sized dojo, kitchen and shower facilities that made me feel like we were at home! The Saturday training started at 10:00 and we covered an extended junbi-undo, some moving combinations, bunkai and some kata, finishing at about 17:00 with some wall of death padwork!!
On Saturday night we went out for dinner with about 20 of the participants and we could have been in a medieval castle in England - there were authentic swords and shields adorning the walls and a live jester that was very talented in juggling, magic tricks, dancing with fans and some very macabre storytelling - this was washed down with some Pilsner beer and rough cut bread & dripping (for those who wanted)??!!
Next day training started at 10:00 and we concentrated on sanchin kata and training techniques and then moved onto kicking combinations, partner work and kata. We all ended the day with some final spirit training on the pads.
The weekend really seemed to fly past and after we had said our farewells, Jana's parents treated the English contingent and myself to a wonderful BBQ at their home and we got to sample the local firewater!!
My thanks to Jana and her parents, Jan and all the participants of the gasshuku for their most generous hospitality and all those who worked so hard to make this weekend a success.
I look forward to seeing you either in Bournemouth or in the near future.