I am actually cheating a little here as most of this post is copied and pasted from my review on the Tang Soo Do forum but I thought I would share it here too!
The weekend just gone was a Masters and Dan Grade Seminar hosted by the EMTF in Rushden. Myself, my instructor and two of my seniors met up just after ten o clock on Saturday and headed up to the midlands, unfortunately luck wasn’t on our side as it took us almost two hours to get out of Cornwall due to some very excessive traffic. When we finally arrived we managed to locate a Chinese take away and headed back to the hotel to watch Cameroon vs Denmark followed by some fighty stuff before retiring to our beds (I say bed, but I actually mean pull-out slab of concrete. It wouldn’t be a blog update without a bit of a moan now would it!). The difference between Travelodge and Premier Inn (for anyone who cares) is that when you book a twin room at Premier Inn you actually get two beds! Gasp!! At Travelodge you get a double bed and either a pull out bed – which will give you the worst back pain you will ever experience, or a sofa which is about a foot wide (an area of bed space I am actually quite used to these days).
We got up reasonably early in the morning and had a good breakfast in the adjacent Little Chef before heading off to the seminar hosted at the Pemberton Centre. We managed to get there before anyone else which is quite common for us and as the hall started filling up it appeared it was going to be pretty cramped with around fifty martial artists from all over the country.
It was a huge experience for me and an honour to be permitted to take part, seeing as it was a Dan and Masters seminar and for that I would like to say a big thank you to my instructor who somehow managed to blag me in! I was very grateful to see another red belt there to be honest and I don’t know how he felt but for me it was like I was attending my first ever martial arts lesson being stood right at the back, very nerve racking! I was determined to give a good account of myself though and tried my hardest to impress although my energy levels did deteriorate rapidly in the heat of the hall.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect really but I knew that we were probably good for a beasting at some point so it was no surprise when we were put through our paces at the start. To be honest I was glad to have a bit of a sweat session to start as I don’t know if I could keep going for a whole five hours without being properly warmed up and stretched (weird how they always seem to stretch before the warm up?). I threw myself into it quite literally and when turning a sharp corner, jogging round the hall I fell flat on my ass, very embarrassing.
I found the basics very challenging especially when we turned and faced the entrance because a) I was then at the front and had all the Masters and Dan grades watching me from behind and b) I was watched by one of the EMTF’s most senior members, talk about pressure! It was good to start with the basic techniques and work our way up to the harder stuff, and it was pretty cramped in there with so many people. There were a few times when I felt a foot breeze past my nose and I had to apologise to a second Dan who I almost nailed when attempting an Edan Dwe Huri Cha Gee who promptly told me to move back from him.
I was looking forward to the Hyung section most and it was great to have a go at Rohai and Jinto which I won’t need for a good few years yet but awesome forms to practice. It was a great experience to train under Master Mantle, who I have been lucky enough to train with before at the mixed styles seminar last year. He is quiet but has a very good style of teaching and if someone had told me I would be able to go through both forms (albeit very badly) without count at the end I wouldn’t have believed it. As a friend and colleague mentioned, his knowledge of the forms and his applications are superb and you can tell he comes from a very hard training background by just looking at his hands.
From a personal point of view it was great to go through the second Dan Gum Hyung as I had practically forgotten it. After doing it over ten times in a row (and coupled with the notes and stick men drawings I lashed together in work yesterday) I am hoping it will stick this time. That was just about the end of me and like everyone else the bottom of my feet were absolutely killing me by that point. I was gutted to not get a chance to join in with the sword Hyung but it looked like a really complex form and was great to watch, so hopefully we will get a chance to go through it in the Dojang soon! The journey back was virtually flawless and as myself and others had work the next day we drove without stopping and got home at just after eleven.
We are a massive part of the EMTF now and every time we attend an event we get a very warm welcome. I found it amazing that two or three people actually new my name too! It’s good to see the EMTF expanding too and there were lots of new faces there, and was great to meet and talk to some very senior Masters at the end who we will hopefully get a chance to train with further at some point.
A big thank you to everyone for an amazing trip, it was a pleasure driving you all and I look forward to attending the next seminar with you whenever it may be. Also a huge congratulations to my instructor on hearing your next grading has been moved forward. If it is to be held at the British Championships later this year as expected, I’m sure you will have a very large team cheering you on!
Tang Soo!
