February Seminar

This weekend we had a training seminar for our adult students. The main focus for the seminar was age uke (rising block), with a number of technical practices aimed at working on the following elements of the technique:

• Relaxing the blocking arm at the point of impact while maintaining form and not letting the arm collapse
• Keeping the elbow of the blocking arm down, with the feeling of weight in the elbow
• Moving back onto the rear leg to accept the force of the attack and "load" the muscles of that leg, without bringing the body up
• Driving off the loaded rear leg bringing the body forward and squaring the hips while maintaining the structure of the blocking arm
• Dropping the blocking hand and bringing it back to the hip as we perform a reverse punch

We also did some technical work on mae geri (front kick) and practiced sambon and kata.

As usual when we have these seminars the intensity of the practice was higher than in the regular classes, with people working quite hard throughout the 2 1/2 hour class. We were pleased to be joined by Ryan and Michael from the New Glasgow club.

The following students were graded at the end of the seminar:

• Tom Crosby - yellow belt
• Lily Crosby - yellow belt
• Mario Pinto - green belt
• Jason Prager - green belt
• Johanne Zinck - blue belt
• Bruce MacInnis - brown belt
• Mike McCann - black belt