Following the Kata European Championships, a Kata Seminar was led by Michel and Laurent JEUFFROY, twice Kata World Champions who hold multiple European Championship titles, the latter is also a member of the Kata Experts Commission.
After a very successful European Championships, displaying numerous variations of Kata, 60 participants stayed to take part in the seminar, giving them the opportunity to discuss their views on Kata and their understanding of the meticulous performance of techniques. Surrounded by such a high calibre of athletes, they were able to learn from one another in order to develop themselves and their abilities, learning from some of the most successful pairs in the world.
Execution is of course very important but by having this arena for discussion allowed the athletes to learn how others train to improve their sequences of attack and defence, as well as working for volume and resistance purposes.
The Monday morning Ju-No-Kata session included 40 participants and was led by Wolfgang DAX ROMSWINKEL who is a member of the Kata Experts Commission alongside Ulla LOOSEN, a double World Champion and holder of multiple European Championship titles. Having a variety of coaches for different styles was interesting for the participants, the Ju-No-Kata had a more analytic concept of teaching.
DAX ROMSWINKEL and LOOSEN assisted Kata Commissioner, Eric VEULEMANS with the Koshiki-No-Kata and the 26 participants eager to learn. This particular session was divided in to two sections, the first concentrated on Omote as it is less known. VEULEMANS went in depth to explain the sequences technique by technique, giving the participants the opportunity to work on both the roles of Tori and Uke.
The participants thoroughly enjoyed the seminar and enjoyed the different approaches of the teachers through each Kata variety.
Author: Thea Cowen