I've been meaning to up load some pictures and put up a small report on the Kumite camp we had June 23 & 24. Arakawa Sensei organized the weekend camp using 2 large dojos at the Kuki City Recreation Centre. Over 200 people participated, mainly from his dojo.
Instructors
Seiji Nishimura - Pro karate coach many people know, 2x WUKO champion, great seminar instructor with lots of interesting drills. He's very much into the WKF 3-point scoring system, known for his leg skills and take-downs, among other things.
One thing he taught were lots of plyometric drills all contained inside one ring for the kids where they ran different footwork patterns. One drill he did was stick down numerous bits of white tape on the floor in various positions and then ran the different groups (I saw him drill the elementary kids) through various kumite drills where they ran all sorts of routes between the tape.
Another thing was he had them do was run between 2 litre pop bottles filled with water (so they wouldn't topple so easily) doing a new set of patterns.
I didn't see his kumite technique seminar, although I have been lucky to attend many other ones here and in Vancouver when he came several times in the late 90s, but the plyo drills were great and very karate specific.
Ko Matsuhisa - Current Japan National Team member, he took 3rd place at the WKF 2006 Worlds 75-80kg. With amazing leg skills, he fights with a mix of Japanese & European styles. The session of his I took was all about being relaxed and exploding into a technique. He warmed us up by running about 5 metres, jumping, landing in a small athletic crouch, and then rebounding out into a lunging gyaku zuki. Very helpful.
He was extremely quick and light on his feet. If you watch my Seiritsu Karate Club video intro on Youtube, you will see his amazing ushiro mawashi techniques.
Shun Matsumoto - Head coach of the Utsunomiya Bunsei Girl's High School karate team, by far one of the most successful clubs in Japan, having produced JKF and WKF champions. I watched him only for a short while he was really digging into a description of how to launch an attack from a position with the least pre-notice possible - no pre-loading of techniques and using the centre of the body coupled with relaxation in the lead knee to start the motion.
While I couldn't be there for all 3 days (!) one day was more than worth it. And I was glad to see Arakawa sensei had organized such a great event, pulling in very knowledgeable and experienced instuctors from within the Wadokai to teach things that can be of important use both in the association and in general tournaments.
Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment