Weapons Course Write Up - Kama by Miss Walker

Thanks go to Miss Katie Walker for the follwing write up she has done for the blog on the Kama section of the recent weapons course.

At the recent weapons course I took part in the Kama. It was a fantastic day and I would definitley take part in the next one in November.

The day began at 09:00 where all students signed in. The cut off time was 09:30, if you were late you did not train. Everyone made it on time and training started at 09:30.

The warm up consisted of a mile run, we then split into groups depending on the weapons we were training with. Then in our seperate groups we were given another warm up specific to the weapon we were using.

The first hour session was kata where I taught. Then after a fifteen minute break we did a further 2 hours of kata and techniques (kihon)

Above: Miss Walker teaches one of the juniors

Then after a 30 min lunch break we did defences. Follwed by 1 hour of free play. This is where you can try another weapon for 1 hour (it is to relax the mind before gradings).

Finally you have a five minute break, then return to your origional weapon, it was now time for grading. This lasted 1 and a half hours, everybody did fantastic and got their next belt.

Below: Miss Rock watches over the students ding kata

Overall the day was a very proffesional, well thought out day, WELL DONE TO EVERYONE!!!

Thank you Miss Walker for the write up.

More Weapons Course

Here are some more images from the recent weapons course



Above: The C.I.T. students who instructed on the day infront of the students

Below: All in training uniform



Below: Mr Thatcher and Mr Hudson (getting choked) Overseeing the Nunchaku



Below: Mr Bedford explains finer points of the Bo



Below: Miss Rock explains how to hold the rubber kama to the juniors



Below: I'm not trying to be biased but here is another pic of the sword students




I hope to post another write up soon on the sai from Miss Walker and Frances. I have just got home late from work so I am not training (it has already started), but will collect it on Sat and post ASAP.

I'am sure you will agree everyone put in maximum effort and everyone got a lot out of the day

A special well done must go to Miss Varley who passed her black belt in Nunchaku jutsu, well done

The Chudow Forum

I am sure most Chuldow people know we now have a forum up and running and I will add a link in the side bar. Mr Bedford has put a lot of effort into setting it up and putting links onto the main site. Thanks Mr Bedford it is a great idea and a great forum. Lets hope it gets lots of regular use.

The site link is

http://www.freeforums.in/phpbb/index.php?mforum=chuldow

Weapons Course - Sword

Chuldow has just held an Iaido course and gradings. Above is a shot of part of the grading that was undertaken by several Chuldow students with Miss Moss in the front of the picture.

The day started off with a warm up for all weapons students (Bo/Jo, Sai, Kama and Nunchaku were also taught, but more of these in the next post). After the warm up we all split into our respective groups for our own training with our own instructors.

First of all Mr Hauer took us through the bowing on process and explained the intricate nature and significance of each move and sword position. Then once we were bowed on came the dreaded knee walking, which is a section no one likes to do, but is an essential part of the process.

Then we learnt 5 stances and practiced them, repition is the best way to learn in many circumstances. Soon we had them up to speed, so we were then asked to work out which stance counter acted the other. This took a while to get my head round but once you have the general idea and get in the mindset it seems to fit together.

We also went through some bokken defences and evasion. It is funny that as soon as Mr Hauer stands in front of you with the foam bokken it seems to concentrate your mind like nothing else.

Before lunch we then practice our forms, each person going up to the required amount of forms required for their gradings.

During lunch we had a time to relax and discuss the finer points of the mornings training.

Above: Mike and Simon about to practice for gradings.

Below: Mr Hauer and Miss Rock go through advanced forms

The afternoon saw us going through some disengage and counters and the higher grades got to go through some advanced work, unarmed defence against the bokken being noteable and something I look forward to doing in the near future. See below Simon and Zoe doing this in their gradings.

And how did this move end up you might ask, well see below for the outcome, Simon can be seen putting alot of effort into the strike but Zoe had the upper hand and completed the defence in fine style.

Below: Doing the forms

Then came gradings, and I'm pleased to say we all passed, I was particularly nervous as this was my first grading in 17 years. The results as as folows I think, Josh passed 5th Kyu, Myself, Miss Moss and Martin Bell graduated to 4th Kyu, Simon and Zoe graduated to 3rd Kyu and Mr Reid graduated to 2nd Kyu.

Many thnks to the organisers of the event and to the instructors for the help and guidance during the day, and also a big thanks to my fellow students who really helped me during the day, I thenk we learnet a lot from each other.

Below: The Instructors on the day

See you at the next course

Further write ups will appear soon for the other weapons studied.

Film Loop

I have added a loop of some Chuldow photo's. It is supposed to be at the top of the page, but I have not figured out how to get it there yet. It has appeared at the bottom though for all to see. I will try to seek advice from people that have successfully put one at the top of their blogs. Hope to have it moved soon, why not take a look anyway and tell me what you think.

Will have weapons course review up soon.

osu

Ian

Profiles

I have added two links in the side bar that will take you to profiles of the instructors, assistant instructors and students of the karate and kickboxing aspects of Chuldow Martial Arts. Profiles will include pictures and a brief write up of each person. I have started with the people already featured in the blog. At the moment there are only pictures and a series of questions about each person. I am hoping to speak to each person and complete the answers. Please feel free to comment on the questions I am hoping to ask, and give ideas as to what else you might want to see on the profiles.


Don't forget that any ideas for the blog are also welcome and I will try to accomodate any ideas I can.

Karate Dan Gradings

Chuldow has also recently held some Karate Dan gradings where Linda Paterson (above) and Tracey Pile (below) and Jonathan Bottomley gained their 1st Dans. Mrs Patterson trains at Wakefield and Mrs Pile and Mr Bottomley are members of Mr Tim Potts club at Huddersfield. Well done to you and we must not forget to thank the instructos and assistants who train and grade you.



Dan gradings are always a nerve racking time and I am sure this one was no exception, to come through it still smiling, though out of breath, is something you can be proud of.
Below is a picture of all 3 new black belts

Thanks to Mr Hauer and Mr Bedford for providing photos of the karate and kick boxing.

Kick Boxing Black Belt Gradings

Last week Chuldow held its Kick Boxing gradings and 2 students gained their black belts, Shona Parker (in picture)and Nicola Rock. Gaining any black belt is an achievement, but especially so in kick boxing, we have all seen how hard they train and the fitness levels they have, so i'm sure that the gradings were probably one of the hardest things they have done physically. All the Instructors, assistants and students, at Chuldow are very proud of you and wish you all the success in your future training. Well done and keep up the good work.

Miss Rock and Miss Parker with their Kick Boxing Assitant Instructors. Thanks must also go to them for all the hard they put in as well

Student of the Month

Kick Boxing student Karla Moore has been named Student of the Month. Well done Karla it is a fantastic achievement, one to which we all should aspire to. Chuldow has many many great students and to be named student of the month is a great honour. Keep up the good work and good luck to all students, next time it might be you.

Chuldow Students Run 1008 Miles

Chuldow students were set a sponsored run target of 1000 miles in the space of a week to help raise money to help pay for Miss Rock and Miss Watson to travel to Germany to represent England in the WKA World Championships.

Each student would give up their own time in training to achieve the target of a cumulative total of 55 miles per lesson.

After 2-3 days the students were about 60 miles behind schedule. Fortunetley this was the most they were behind and at the end of Friday they were nearly back on track.

This left only Saturdays sessions to make up the defecit. After an excellent effort the target was not only reached but was beaten.

To all the students who took part well done, you can be very proud of yourselves it was a titanic effort.

The student who raises the most money will be rewarded. Information on this will be posted as soon as details are released and hopefully we will profile the student.

Again WELL DONE ALL even 20p raise is 20p they do not have to worry about raising.