TRAINEES FROM INDIA

Two from India came to Oita for training, Mr. Sudhir Parab (from Mumbai, Bombay) and Mr. Kailas Lohar (from Pune, Maharashta). Both came to me with the desire to begin properly learning the Shotokan style as budo/bujutsu.

 

It was clearly a challenge for them to relearn Kihon but both men did their best and I could see significant improvements, in their movement, by the end of the second session. This is a credit to their efforts.

I’ll not provide fine details of what I taught them except that I focused on the foundational techniques via Heian; continuity with Enpi; and 'Seiryu kata' as a base for understanding relaxation and snap (青柳 - Seiryu Kata performed PROPERLY: Please refer to the following YouTube video reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNcOeu5Fv20).

Furthermore, I taught Sudhir and Kailas proper Gohon Kumite and Kihon Ippon Kumite including first level basic objectives; thereby, helping them link these 'kihon partner training methods' to all other aspects of Karate Training. This will provide a base for future training.

Last, but certainly not least I provided an introduction of ‘Self-defense principles/themes’, which are consistently found throughout the standard Shotokan kata.

To conclude, I’d like to wish both Sudhir and Kailas the very best in their ongoing karate development. Osu, André.

© André Bertel. Oita City, Japan (2019).