Final day of the Tora no Maki weekend. Sensei Jimmy Bowden and I went to the Forest Capital Hall to open up, go back to the dojo for some items, and then return to the hall before 10:00am. Did I mention that my knees and hips are sore from the previous two days of workouts? That they're very sore? That ... OUCH!After some working out, we reviewed Heian kata. It seems that many changes occurred over the decades, as some of the older karateka pointed out. A few of them were giving Okano-kancho a difficult time, challenging at almost every turn, so things were slow-going. We broke well after the scheduled noon end time after only getting through Heian Sandan.
Lunch was provided for us by Mama's Italian Family Restaurant, as was Friday, where we socialized and networked some more. A few people were leaving before the 1:30pm seminar; others right after seminar at 3:00pm, including the Schmidt brothers. I thanked them for making this weekend so special and memorable. They probably had the strongest impact on me, which speaks volumes considering the level of karateka present. Special thanks to Sensei Ted Conway, who secured some special hachimakis from Okano-kancho for my crew back at the dojo.
The second seminar began very late. Did I mention that my knees and hips hurt? We went through Heian Yodan (or as they call it, 'Yondan') and Heian Godan. Again, it took a long time getting through the questions and comments from several 'old-timers'. Little time was left, so we went through a couple of taijutsu moves. After the seminar we again took group photos and picked up the mats. The ASKKA founders and technical advisers then had a meeting with Okano-kancho and Sensei Tim Neely. After seeing some of the resistance from old-timers I knew this meeting would take a long while. Stephanie Louie and Kathryn Doi offered me a lift to the hotel. Even though I was no longer a guest there, I went to use the computer and internet access in the lobby. Thank you, ladies. At almost 6:00pm I started walking back to Forest Capital Hall to meet up with Sensei Bowden. Sensei Faupel and Jeff Golia saw me and offered to bring me to the restaurant so Sensei Bowden didn't have to come get me. That worked out great, since the meeting was running very late. Thanks, men.
The final dinner at Mama's Italian Family Restaurant had no agenda, just fun. We all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Sensei Bowden, as it was finally his actual birthday. After a couple of hours we said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Sensei Bowden took me back to the beach house where we had more sangria before getting ready to turn in.
No comments:
Post a Comment