South Africa Instructors Gasshuku - Honbu Dojo, Stellenbosch
DAY 1
Tonight we started at 18:30 South Africa time.
Sensei Bakkies Laubscher at his best. This is where I get my motivation, my inspiration and my guidance for effective Okinawa GoJu Ryu Karate.
Tonight Sensei Bakkies Laubscher asked many times, 'Can one (!) of your punches or kicks knock down a guy your own size?'
I challenged myself. I still have work to do!
We trained only (!) basic punching, basic front kick and loads of body moving (taisabaki). Then applying these techniques in partner trainings plus a good free fighting (irikumi) session.
Then onto Gekisai Dai Ichi & Ni Kata plus Sanseiru Kata and some Bunkai from Sanseiru.
After 1 hour 45 minutes - Tired, but happy!
DAY 2
Today we spent the day on the brown belt grading syllabus.
At the end of the day Sensei Bakkies Laubscher remarked, "You should now be brown belts, more or less." 
;-)
Bearing in mind that the gasshuku participants are all black belts - ranging from 2nd Dan to 8th Dan - for me the message is clear. There is work to do to be a good example of a fit and capable senior karateka.
DAY 3
Day 3 started with a short personal warm-up session for each participant.
Then it was onto KONGOKEN ! We covered all the basic exercises and some variations for about 1 hour of permanent training. This was a very long hour.
Then it was onto PAD training. From very basic single punches all the way up to combinations of kicks, punches and, of course, lots of body moving (evasion, attacking, ...)
The 3-hour morning ended with a repeat of Gekisai Dai Ichi and Ni Kata.
Sensei Bakkies Laubscher again explained how the GoJu Ryu System works with all its components and a holistic approach to a very effective fighting art.
The afternoon was dedicated to Saifa Kata. We trained sequence by sequence of the kata in the finest detail.
During the last hour of the 2 hour afternoon session we trained Saifa Bunkai. Short, fast, effective defences and counters - a fantastic fit to my personal way of thinking presented by a master of Okinawa GoJu Ryu Karate.
Sayonara Party tonight and tomorrow evening the long haul back home (into the cold from >30°C) to Vienna for me.
Another stunning event!
A Big Thank You to Sensei Bakkies Laubscher !
Thank you to my IOGKF SA friends. It is good to still feel, I am one of you after all these years.
