Learning something new
Published: Tue, 04/26/16
I learned a Jo kata on Saturday. We don’t tend to use kata in Stav, just exercises and then two person drills. There are good reasons for training the way we do in Stav but it is also good to try something different from time to time. So, now I know a 13 move jo kata which I have practised a few times each day since. It has some nice moves in it and I like the way I end up exactly where I started if I do it correctly.
I learned my new kata in Plymouth. Once a month there is an Aki Jutsu seminar with John Piket which I have attended twice now. There were seven paticipants there the first time I went in February. On Saturday just three, two of those having driven down from Cardiff, so even further than me from Crewkerne. It is always strange to see who turns up and who doesn’t to training events. Of course there are all kinds of reasons why people can’t make an event (various excuses were apparently given including birthday parties and lack of child care).
Then you get events like Fightcamp with every available place sold out (and actually paid for in advance, yes really) in 13 hours. I guess there is a threshold of interest in an event which means that anyone who is seriously interested has to act promptly or miss out. When there is no rush then no action is taken and a very good teacher has three people at their seminar, if anything happens at all.
Personally, I am not complaining because on Saturday I got a lot of attention and the other two students were pretty experienced so we did some very good training, take downs, knife defence and learning a whole kata. None of that would have been possible with the beginners who were around the first time I went.
I too often have the experience of teaching 1, 2 or 3 really interested students in a situation that could have accommodated 8 or 10 people. In those situations it is often possible to do some really interesting training when those attending really learn something. As a teacher I will gain new insights too. When teaching a large group, most of whom do not know why they are even there, then the teacher is really just providing some entertainment. Nothing wrong with entertainment as far as it goes, but when you have studied and practised and art for over 20 years, as Sensei Piket and I have done in our respective fields, then insight rather than entertainment becomes our priority.
So, over the next few months there are some opportunities to train in Stav and a course combining Stav with other HEMA disciplines. The events will be fun but the emphasis will be in bringing real insight rather than just being entertaining. So, not for everyone, but if you think you might benefit then there will be the following opportunities to train and learn.
Axe seminar in Salisbury on the 7th of May http://iceandfire.org.uk/train.html
Close Quarter Weapons Seminar 4th and 5th of June http://stavcamp.org/index.html
Training with Ivar Hafskjold on the 23rd to 25th of September http://stavcamp.org/ih.html
regards
Graham