During March ,eight of the north of England finest Martial Artists gathered together for a Multi style Martial Art Seminar.
This seminar was being run in aid of Sport Relief Charity and was held at the newly built Armley Sports Centre in Leeds.
The seminar was organised by Sensei Sean McHale of Tai Jutsu Leeds, who I must say, made it a day it remember.
As soon as entered the seminar, we immediately knew we were in for something special. As we can through the doors, we were greeted by a line of our instructors of the day, who were from ever imaginable style.
On entering the main hall, we were amazed to find ourselves surround by numerous Black Belts and the hall was decorated from top to bottom with traditional Chinese and Japanese banners, which I thought gave it an excellent sense of authenticity and created a great atmosphere and if that wasn’t enough, we also was treated to excellent music from a very talented local band, which had already appeared on several national talent programs on television.
The band which still hasn’t pick a name for themselves, was performed by their two members consisting of Kristy White and Stephen Malcolm who did a wonderful job in serenading us through out the day, which helped to make it even more memorable.
The Seminar was run on a carousel System, which had us changing mat areas ever 45 minutes.
When we were called to our first mat area, it was to learn Kung fu from a mountain of a man called Sufi Eamon Timmons and his two equally large assistants, who size came as quite a shock as we were expecting someone the size of Bruce Lee, butwe got these guys giants! But despite being giants ,these guys were highly skilful and incredible fast, very stylish. They taught a fascinating Cain form, which they later broke down techniques, which were highly practical.
Next we moved on to Aikido with Mark Danfold, a gentleman I have had the pleasure of training with before and who once again didn’t disappoint. Sensei Danfold was as good as ever as he entertained us some highly effective throws and wrist locks, which he taught in a highly simple flowing way, which helped to bring Aikido to life.
The next move was to learn Kobudo with Sensei Sean McHale, who for 45 minutes beat us senseless with every imaginable weapon from Yawar Bo, Jo Staff, Nunchalk and many more including Bo staff , also using a sweep brush to showing techniques which were comical, but still very painful. Sensei Sean was a gentleman who was clearly very talented and seemed to have a unlimited amount of knowledge in relation to every weapon. He was a excellent teacher with a very dark sense of humour, who turned out to be highly entertaining and someone whose movement was lighting fast.
Next we were taught Karate by Sensei Murray who turned out to be one of the nicest of guys , who showed us the reason behind Bunkai and all it practical uses with it many kicks and striking drills.
We then moved on to praying Mantis with Sufi Andy Norman , a Yorkshire man with a board Barnsley accent who turned out to have the heart and soul of a true Chinese Martial Artist who showed us many techniques , but personally they didn’t seem very practical.
We then move to Gray Don the TV and radio guy auctioneer, who turn out to be a excellent Judo instructor from Leeds who taught us traditional throws including hip throws to haft shoulder throws and he was especially good with the younger students
Next we had Tawondo with Sensei Simon Pritchett an excellent martial artist who showed a massive amount of practical punching, kicking combinations and drills, which in my opinion are the meat and veg for a real martial artist.
Last but by no means, we moved mat area for one final time to learn Tai Jutsu with Sensei Sean McHale. Who was the same gentleman who taught us Kobudo earlier. After our last session with him, we were all expecting some thing spectacular, but to our surprise he started showing us basic throws which were finished a figure four lock and a Arm Bar. None of us could understand why a martial artist of his calibre would just choose to show such basic techniques! But then we found out why. As soon as he know we could do these techniques safety, he then called us in to a large circle and stood in the middle, where one of his instructors blindfolded him, which had us all totally confused! We were then told to attack him with a punch, which one student did a little to eagerly, which was his misfortune. Sensei Sean must have heard him coming and diverted his punch and then threw him to the ground with the same cross buttock throw he had showed us earlier, he then went on to tie his poor attacker in the knots. We were then were told to attack him, which we did and we all ended up the same way as his previous attacker. Lying on our backs in pain, but it was pretty amazing for a guy that couldn’t even see. He then explained that most martial artists depend wholly on one sense (sight) too much and explained that a true should use all their senses. He then gave us the chance to experience this for ourselves, this time we were blindfolded. At first I felt a mixture of emotions, ranging from helplessness ,mixed with a bit of fear and a lot of uncertainty. But after a while we started to get used to it and then I started to understand the reason behind what Sensei Sean was trying to get over to us earlier and then we even started to enjoy it. I really would recommend anyone to train with Sensei Sean for any serious Martial artists.
The main thing I have taken from the day is just how much there is still to learn and I think there was a Black Belt there who wasn’t amazed by what we have experienced today.
I am extremely grateful to all the instructors for all thee hard work and would highly recommend it to everyone.