Training last night (on the last day of January 2008):

Sensei Mike from Thingwall Dojo made an appearance at Childwall for some extra training in preparation for his upcoming gradings test. Our dojo last night had a 7th dan (Sensei Roy), a 5th dan (Sensei George), two 4th dans, a 3rd dan and even more black belt students after that. It wasn't the biggest turn out that we've had on a Thursday, but the vintage of people in attendance was quite good!

Training involved beginning with Tensho kata practice (senior "heishugata" or closed-fist kata) for black and brown belt students. Sensei Roy explained a lot about the way this kata is performed and the way that different parts of the kata require different tempo and tension.

After this the class was split into 2: Sensei took students who are grading soon to one end of the dojo for kata practice, while Sensei George and Sensei Steve instructed the remaidner of the class in Ippon Kumite training (one punch sparring) and also San Dan Gi - 3 level sparring. This included some variations of San Dan Gi, we even performed one that incorporates a throw / takedown.

The session ended with kakie practice, lead by Sensei Roy.