A treat for the Region 9 Instructor group, with Southern Zone Director, Sensei Mark Case taking the Thursday night Senior Class. It was a fairly solid class, focussing on basics, combos and kata. Following the bow in and introduction by Sensei Joe Van Strijp, Sensei Daniel Tregenza took the class through a comprehensive warm up before handing the group over to Sensei Mark. The first section of the class focussed on basics, whilst moving backwards and forwards in stance. Basics combinations followed, including a couple that proved a bit challenging for some of the lower grades, and even a few higher grades as well. Kicks followed, including targeting partners. Sensei Mark, partnered with Sensei Joe, then put two of the combos together to work as a partner drill, refer photos below. This once again proved a bit challenging but soon all were working well.
Following a break, it was time for kata, and the group was divided into three for Saifa, Sepei and Kururunfa. After several run throughs, the groups moved onto Bassai-dai, Sanseru and Shisochin, all under the watchful eye of Sensei Mark. The lower grade group stayed with Bassai-dai but the two higher grade groups combined to run through Kanku-sho and Seisan. It was interesting to watch the students who were not familiar with these Kata cope, but they all did very well. Following the bow out, Sensei Mark spoke briefly about the night's training and then announced he would be back on Thursday 8th July for a combined Region Black Belt assessment class. A class photo commemorated the night and most present took the time after class to have a chat with Sensei Mark.
