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Summer Sunsplash Gashuku 2008 - Orlando Florida |
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Tuesday, 29 September 2009 |
This course had been talked about for a few years. It was even delayed by a year due to the Eurocup happening in Norway in 2007 but finally it was here and we were in America.
As a company director it is hard for me to be able to take two weeks off and be away from work, and in different time zones. The staff said what's the worst that could happen. Well that is another story altogether. After a lot of prodding by my fellow karate-ka and my wife Angela I went ahead and made the booking. We would spend a week in Orlando and then venture to the north east of America to visit by brother and his family in Connecticut and friends in New York and Boston. It sure was going to be a busy last week. We went between five states in that last week.
This summer course was being hosted by the American Wado Academy, organised by Tyrone Pardue with Shiomitsu Sensei, 9th Dan, teaching the four days.
Normally the US summer course is held in Tampa or Clearwater but this year it would be held in Orlando, Florida. The main reason was to have it in a location where people could come and make a holiday out of the training as well. It would be an opportunity to bring partners and family from across the world, visit the numerous theme parks in the area, do some shopping and eat some lovely food. At the exchange rates levels this summer, it was a very good time for Europeans to visit, before the credit crunch.
We knew it was going to be nice and hot, and that we could buy new clothes so cheaply across in the US so I don't know why we packed so much. Must have been my wife. It all seemed to be in my case as well. We got to Gatwick airport and headed off to wait in line at the Virgin Atlantic desks. There was a long snaking line and we joined onto the end. We had already heard some murmurings about a delay when an assistant approached us and told us that our particular flight was delayed by over an hour but she could get us onto the next flight out, which was in 45 minutes time, and she would get us upgraded to premium economy. Great we thought. We would get there earlier and be sitting upstairs to boot. Didn't turn out that way, the upgrade disappeared just at the last moment but we did get to America early.
The Hilton Embassy Suites Hotel was recommended and virtually everyone stayed there. The rooms were quite large and split into a bedroom (where we had two double beds), a bathroom, dressing area and a lounge. Facilities included two big TVs, fridge, microwave and a coffee maker.
There was a breakfast buffet in the morning where you could also request omlettes made to order. I think what made it an ideal place to stay was their "free happy hour" between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. After a hard day's training or walking around in the heat, this was very welcome and taken advantage of.
Training was 10am till 1pm every day at a local YMCA hall. On the last day we changed venue to where Romeo has his dojo in Stoneybrook. This was in stark contrast to the YMCA as afterwards we had the use of the fantastic outdoor swimming pool and lounge area.
In the training we would start off covering the kihon, before touching on kata and then breaking off to do partner work with elements from the kata. We never seemed to finish a kata as there was so much that we had to work on and get right.
One particular funny moment was Shiomitsu sensei describing how people tend not to utilise the whole body in naihanchi and end up with short stubby arm and leg movements. He then proceeded to show a rendition where the performer feels as if they are naked, hands covering their modesty, looking side to side before tip-toeing across.
As is usual with sensei's approach, much of the pairwork would be about how to use the body and its weight in such a way as to suppress and attack in a rapid but smooth manner. Always hard to break old habits.
Congratulations to Jan Trip who passed his Shodan grading on the last day.
Thank you to those Tennessee boys for introducing George Dickel to us. That is a brand of Tenessee whisky if you don't know, which we didn't.
The course was a success and had people coming to train from Europe, America and Canada as well as different organisations and even a regular from Goju Ryu. I hope after reading this more people will realise how easy everything is and will make their way across in a few years time.
A big thank you to Tyrone and Ashley for organising the whole event and making those training and the KWAGs (Karate Wives And Girlfriends) very welcome.
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Summer Course 2011
30th July to 3rd August, 2011 Lymington, Hampshire The New Forest and Bournemouth areas will have something for everyone. Click for more info
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