Sensei Simon picked up Dan, Sam & Dan at 07:45 in the morning for a blast up the Motorways to sunny (not) Swindon. We arrived at the Dorcan center around 09:20 and registered straight away. Changed and ready to go we were treated to a late kick off ( 10:30 ) as the Swindon half-marathon was being run and so many people were late after navigating around closed roads.
A good warm up was followed by some intensive line-work and then into Kata. After running though all the Heian Katas we split into Black/Brown and the Brown belts focused on Tekki Shodan, Basai Dai and Jion. The black belts ran through Tekki Nidan, Basai Sho, Kanku Sho and Enpi. We then all ran though gohon kumite (5-step), Jiyu Ippon Kumite and free style (alternative attacks, freestyle, 2 opponents).
Two hours of hard training later it was time to hit the road again arriving back int eh Christchurch area around 15:15.
Remember when you attend these courses to get a course record book signed as you need at least 4 of these courses (or summer/winter camp) to qualify to grade for your Shodan (in addition to being full 1st Kyu too of course). Regular attendance (8 lessons or more) at the HQ dojo in Swindon is also acceptable in lieu of courses.