Training in Newcastle

Last Sunday I trained at the Ojika kendo club based in Newcastle. Thanks to Silke from our Dresden dojo, who was there for a year and contacted them before my visit, I didn't feel as much as a stranger. It was lead by Graeme Dockwray, 5th Dan, and a good 1.5-hrs solid training. My body condition was better than it was in Nottingham. Nonetheless, I was totally "knackered" after the training. Why? Because of the surprise birthday kakarigeiko. How did they know? dear friend Stephan in Dresden had asked Silke to inform them, making sure I "had fun", even though I left Dresden one day before my birthday. When Graeme asked me to step forwards before everyone, I was completely unaware of the devilish plot, until he showed me an email print-out asking me how to pronounce the name of a person did I see "Stephan...". Then I thought, "ok.. I'm in trouble..".

There were (at least) 4x kirikaeshi, 20 x men and 4x kakarigeiko. Towards the end of it I just went numb. Pain and tiredness put behind, struck on.

A couple pints of beer in the pub always helped. Which was where we headed right after the training. Very nice people. I hope I'll be back some time!

Advice from Graeme:

• when doing tsuki, aim at the eyes of the opponent, and then at some point lower the kensen to strike the tsuki tare.

Newcastle April 2009