Poland Gasshuku May 2008 This Gasshuku was held in Piotrkow Trybunalski at the request of Sensei Tomasz Golebiowski. The training was over 3 days with about 52 eager people in attendance. Due to the dates it was a ceremonious time in the Polish calendar in which most children were attending Holy Communion. I was privileged to be present at such an event, at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. It was something I would not have missed for all the world. To me it is important to be in such an environment and to absorb the energy of such a person and the occasion that portrays the passion and faithfulness of the people in attendance. On a more lighter note I was privileged to see a rare sight in Poland, and tradition says that if you see this person, a chimney-sweep in Polish ( kominiarz ) you will have good fortune. Well I can say it is true because I had the opportunity to go fishing and within an hour I caught 10 fish! In England you must return the fish to the water however, in Poland it is forbidden to put them back so you must take them home, so my companion Cezary Konwa took them to an other lake and released them much to my pleasure. At the beginning of training I was introduced to a group from Romania who are members of IOGKF it was a pleasure to meet them. Their Chief Instructor is Sensei Victor Popa who trains with Sensei Bernard Cousin of France. It was a well organised Gasshuku and a tribute to the future of the Polish Federation of IOGKF in its pursuit of excellence and the traditions of Goju Ryu Karate Do. I would like to say a big thank you to Sensei Thomas Siewkowski and Thomas Golebiowski and look forward to seeing you again soon. George Andrews PDF slide show of images can be seen at the following link. The presentation will auto advance every 7 seconds, if you press the esc key you can manually scroll through click here |