Having heard from some of our club members of how much fun they had at last years Gashuku in Hemsby I decided along with another willing member to give it a go.
The lead up to our weekend was filled with much excitement and nerves. Obviously excitement for the social side, and nerves for the training side of things. Having hardly ever trained with either different instructors or different venues I was incredibly apprehensive. But being a busy Mum of 3 and housewife etc, I was really looking forward to being ‘me’ for a whole weekend. I am sure there are plenty of people that will identify with that statement.
After the manic School run I set off with my estate car loaded with everything I thought I would need (alas, all of you males that think we include the kitchen sink in that statement, will have been disappointed) I did have the tent, airbed, clothes, welly boots (Very needed as it had not stopped p..down all day) and unashamedly my hair straighteners. But Horror of Horrors……I had forgotten my MAKEUP AND SPARE GI!!!! How could the weekend progress with out a bit of Mascara??
Anyway I picked up my trusty ‘tent buddy’, Sheena and the gas stove and some wine (I had remembered the wine glasses!! Impressive or what?), Gaynor and her tent (yep my car is seriously big, 3 females + equipment!!) and off we headed.
We arrived at the camp site and as the rain had stopped, we set about getting our tent up in the dry. Two females and a tent would probably conjure up some giggling, but I have to say we worked well as a team and had a very secure accommodation for the weekend. Whether it would be waterproof would be another matter!! Girl Power at its best!!! I would just like to say Thank you to the endless offers of help from other clubs during setting up. Had we had a problem we would have taken those offers up. And I know our Sensei believes in sex equality so he is forgiven for not offering!
(SENSEI`s NOTE*: iTS ALL ABOUT THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE, AND ITS BAD ETTIQUETTE TO ASK A HIGHER GRADE lol)
I can appreciate he had to make sure his tent was durable cos it was going to see a fair amount of him this weekend!!!!! Ha, ha!
Anyway, with all of this done it was time to let our hair down at the nearby Dolphin Bar. And Boy, did we let are hair down, hey Sensei?!! In fact at 2.30am Sensei was still letting his hair down…And 3.30……..Oh dear was someone going to feel poorly in the morning. Oh dear, this is the morning…..
Bright and early, in fact before 6am, showered, Gi on, head throbbing, we were waiting for a short walk to a neighbouring field to start some Kata training. This was fantastic. Bear feet, sun rising, a field full of like minded people and ive never seen so many Dan grades. The instructors for the weekend facing us for the formal bow. Amazing!! This is what it was surely all about?
After grabbing a quick bite to eat for breakfast, in our cars and off to Gt Yarmouth High School. We had some incredible training from Sensei Hastings and Sensei Garner. What would I take away with me from these 2 sessions? Little things that made huge differences to the way I think and train!! You couldn’t have asked for anymore than that. Unfortunately, after this we had the dreaded team ball games. I hated this part. I’m not a ‘ball game’ person and would just have loved to have carried on with what we had been doing.
However, that over, back in the car with chauffeur Dave. (Thanks for stopping on the way back so I could buy some makeup and Sheena could buy the much needed matches for our Stove!!) (SENSEI`s NOTE*: now THATS camping!!! )
Not dwelling on that, after lunch, yet more ball games, then the beach training… Now this was something I was dreading and it turned out to be the best part of the weekend for me. We had King of the Hill, which was frantic rolling around on a sandy hill, protecting our flag.
Then, the sea training. I have not had sooo much fun in ages. The sea was very comfortably warm but quite choppy. Although, not a swimmer, and teamed up with a higher grade, to look after me, even though he wasn’t a swimmer, so both of us were teamed up with yet another higher grade who also wasn’t a swimmer (safety in numbers and all that) I did not hesitate to just get in there and get on with it. I took an absolute soaking as the waves were sweeping me off my feet more than once, this was exhilarating. By far the best part of the training. We ended up with the Pyramid building, in the very choppy sea. Now has anyone tried to climb out of the sea with very short, fat, heavy legs onto someone’s shoulder? An almost extremely hard and nearly impossible thing to do. But, the encouragement from Darren Webster was just what I needed and I felt I couldn’t let the team down. I was up there for a brief time before I fell into the sea. Result? Completely drowned rat look-alike with transparent Gi!!
The days training was over. And we were all totally shattered but I felt a little sad. It had seemed to fly by in a flash. We had a huge BBQ, then yet more party time in the Dolphin bar. I’m pleased to say we did get to bed a little earlier than the previous night, Thank God. However, that did not apply to some of us, and you know who you are. (5am!!!)(My God that takes some stamina!!)
On the Sunday we had a delightful Hike of about 10 or so miles. Yes I did say 10 or so MILES!!! IN THE RAIN !! That was enjoyable!!!! Then the delightful task of packing wet tents into smelly cars that had had so many wet clothes draped in it to try and dry off over the weekend!!
I would just like to end with saying a big Thank you to everyone from TSKR who I spent the weekend with- Sheena, Darren, Dave, Dennis, Gaynor, Claire, James and Sensei Wittkopp. You all made me laugh so much.
A big Thank you to Sheena, for organising me and being my ‘tent buddy’!! I would not have gone if you hadn’t have gone!! And to James for Piggy Backing me back to the campsite, even though you complained I was heavier than you!!! Big Compliment!! But I did lose 7lb over that weekend……
And special Thanks to Sensei Wittkopp for introducing me to Karate. It has kept me sane over the last 18 months and provided me with so many enhancements to my life. I feel I’m really getting to grips with your saying ‘It’s time to dig deep.’ Anyone reading this may wonder what happened to our Sensei after Friday night……….Well let me tell you…….No I cannot, don’t think you would believe it…… Hey Sensei?????
(SENSEI`s NOTE*: those that know me probably would believeIT ...MRS Meldrew... i DONT BELIEVE IT!!!! lol
SENSEI` FINAL WORD:
Having partied hard on the friday night till far too late into the morning, I was only fit for the training at 6am due to the fact the Tequila, kindly offered to me early on in the evening by Remus, (Thanks for that) kept me standing barely. I can only apologies to my students who were expecting me to participate and lead by example for the full all weekend.... unfortunately I only managed a little bit... This resulted in the PINK BELT AWARD being awarded to me this year for being such a Wuss!! Hence I had to wear that belt at my next lesson... Oh that was a Humbling experience..... Thanks for the report Karen that was really good to hear that the weekend was enjoyed... ROLL ON THE WINTER GASHAKU!
