FIK 2008 Asia Zone Shimpan Seminar Day 2

Group Photo with the Delegates

Day two of the Shimpan Seminar proved to be just as intensive and focused as Day one. Shorter in length running from 9am-1pm (instead of 9am-5pm), the sessions ran at a smooth and speedy pace. 

This morning I met the Sabumnim from Seoul Police, and said hello over Coffee. I seem to have a habit of meeting different Korean Sensei’s a multiple events here, and they all seem genuinely surprised and happy to see me, which is really nice. 

There was another brief lecture today about Hansoku and awarding penalty points to Shiai-sha, as well as news about forthcoming anti doping regulations an practices that are due to come into place shortly. it seems that as part of the GAISF move recently (hence the IKF name change to FIK) doping is a big issue and future events will have enforced anti doping policies and drug tests. There were also some interesting murmurs about the Olympics, although it was not made clear if FIK had any plans to move towards joining the Games. However joining GAISF and bringing Anti Doping policies into place all seem to be preparatory actions for such an eventuality. 

Again the level of Shimpan and instruction was extremely high, and after the practical sessions we had a chance for a Q&A session.

More Ji-geiko again today and I got to practice with another 3 Korean 8th Dan Sensei, which puts my total to 6 this weekend. Practicing with the Korean 8th Dans was very interesting, compared to Japanese 8th Dans they seemed to have a different approach to Ji-geiko. They really fought, and I mean fought. Not just wait for you to move, cut Kaeshi Dou all day, and acted like a Sensei, calm and collected (as some Japanese high grades do)… but really were up for a fight. They kept on me and always maintained the pressure of the fight throughout, they also used lots of renzoku waza, and took me to pieces. It was a fantastic experience.

The Shimpan Seminar was a great weekend and something that I felt very lucky and privileged to attended. It was an experience that ‘ll remember for a long time.