Sensei George in Sheffield, April 19-20th 2008

This was to be Sensei George's first visit to Sheffield since we located to our new dojo since it's demolition. I wanted to make this weekend special and when I had the chance to book the judo room at the English Institute of Sport for the Saturday session I jumped at it. This would be brilliant as Sensei would get to see this world class venue and 'christen' our new dojo on the Sunday.

I was not wrong, Sensei was very impressed by the venue and started the session by making great use of the space with shuttle runs, something that would not be possible on Sunday morning! My students had requested kata training, I passed their feedback onto Sensei and they were not disappointed. With almost 30 students in the room there would be no having to look over your shoulder to see if you were going to barge into someone or have your foot stamped on. Kata from Gekisai Dai Ichi to Sepai were covered in great detail in small groups along with some bunkai. So at home and enthused by the training was Sensei that he only realized we had overshot our session when we were joined by some pee wee gymnasts. He was amazed how quickly the session had gone by.

I whisked Sensei away from the venue to a different and watery one. I settled down to fish with Sensei at Loxley Fisheries on the outskirts of Sheffield. I had taken the lions share of fish at Sensei's local pond in London at the beginning of the month, but I was unaware of how difficult this home tie would be......... in a nutshell it was freezing. My car thermometer had read 8c but this didn't account for the wind direction from the East (Siberia or it felt that way) Despite all my outdoor gear I was freezing and what was worse I was catching nothing but looking around I wasn't the only one. In the end it was an away win for Sensei and we scurried home to a roaring log fire. The biggest fish of the day was the one on Sensei's plate at one of our local pubs.

On Sunday morning I drove Sensei past the flattened site of the old dojo, it made him sad to see it and reminded him of the feeling of loss when the marble factory dojo was destroyed. Surprisingly he took to the new dojo straight away I had expected him to be shocked at the size as it is smaller than the old one, he remarked that it has a good feeling.

Basics kicked off the session which progressed in to various Nage Waza against a variety of kicking techniques. A reminder of how the forthcoming grading will feel for some came in the form of rounds of shadow 'boxing' and kicking interspersed with 'full burpees' By now it was impossible to see outside, as the windows were entirely steamed up. The pace was taken down a notch and the seniors had their kata scrutinised, then we all came together to finish the class with Sanchin and Tensho katas.

I would like to thank Sensei George for the weekends inspirational training and to those from other dojos in Sheffield who came along and supported the course.

Sensei Andy Barker, Sheffield Hallam Dojo

Under Sensei's watchful eye	Basics	Kata Practice	Repetitions	Kata
Gekisai Di Ichi	Concentration	Gekisai Dai Ichi	Saturday Group	Sunday Group & Milly

Home | Articles