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12/01/2012: Shihan Class

Once again the Instructers of Region 9 and Region 23 benefitted from Shihan Stacy Karetsian spending a few weeks early in the New Year back home in Adelaide with family. It is an ideal opportunity for him to catch up with the locals and take a Combined Senior Class. It may have been only the second week back training, but around 50 Instructors, including over 30 Black Belts, from Region 9 and Region 23 attended the session at Secombe High School Gym. After the Bow in and welcoming remarks by Sensei James, Shihan took over proceedings and announced that following a short basics session, the rest of the session would be devoted to Kata.

Shihan got straight into the basics session, a lot which was done in stance moving through. He stressed the importance of the timing of techniques in relation to the completion of the stance transition and the resultant effectiveness of the techniques. He also spoke on correct use of hip rotation which was also something that needed to be taken into consideration, either striking or blocking.

With such a large group of Black Belts in attendance, Shihan took the opportunity to work with this group specifically as SA hadn't had the opportunity for a Black Belt Camp like the Eastern States. The kyu grades worked on lower grade Kata with Sensei James. First up Shihan took the Black Belt Group through Kata Kururunfa. Correct application of the unique wide stance in the early moves of the kata was workshopped as the group went through various sections of the kata. After several run throughs with comments and corrections from Shihan, the Black Belts were then given the option to split into various Dan kata groups of their choosing. Shihan spent a good while with the higher Dan grades on Kata Sochin before joining each group in turn to run through that particular kata and answer questions. The kyu grades also broke in kata groups and worked on their respective kata. Sensei James got the Kururunfa group to work on some applications to assist in a better understanding of the kata, while Sensei Mark Ingle work on applications with the kyu group.

The session lasted around 2.5 hours with the solid work on individual kata with feedback from Shihan proving most beneficial. At the end of the class, Sensei James thanked Shihan for his attendance and instruction throughout the night. It was a good way to start the year and greatly assists not only those recently graded and learning new Kata but also those experienced who gain finer points and feedback from Shihan on their progress.