SKIF Course Watford & Windsor 15/16/17/18th November 2007

A weekend training in london gave Dereham karate students Terry Wittkopp & Claire Dawson a rare opportunity to train with a 10th Degree Black Belt master.

Master Hirokazu Kanazawa 10th Degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate is the Worlds Highest Official Black Belt.Kanazawa is one of very view people alive today that has trained with the Founder of the style,Shotokan Karate. Gichin Funakoshi , now deceased.

Training weekend started on Thursday night in Watford for a 3hr training session in basics under the watchful eyes of Diazo Kanazawa the masters son. Also a very competent Instructor.

Terry is a 4th Degree Black Belt Instructor at Dereham Leisure Centre and runs the successful Traditional Shotokan Karate Ryu (School)

Claire was awarded Student of the Year only a few weeks ago at the club and this opportunity was the pinnacle of a years hard training for her.

Terry & Claire had the opportunity of spending time with the Kanazawa`s during their visit to London escorting them around some of the major tourist attractions. Training continued throughout the weekend with the Master amounting to 20hrs over 4 days. This was extremely tough but worth every effort for the experience. Over 300 students from around the uk came to London for this Bi-Annual visit.

Dereham Club will be taking up the invite from Kanazawa next year to go to Japan and train at the Headquarters in Tokyo.