Dereham TSKR

On Saturday Dereham Club had the pleasure of Stephen Marriott teaching a seminar at our Club. I knew Sensei Marriott many years ago when he was a student of John van Weenens now 8th dan. The same Association I started with. Sensei marriott was a very competant Karate-ka and was always the envy of many students, including myself. Stephen would win most of the Association Competitions he entered and proved to be a challenge for some of the best around. Technically unbeatable. I contacted Sensei Marriott some months ago when I opened the Dereham Club, as he was one person who I thought would be an inspiration to my students. Stephen kindly agreed to come along a teach the seminar for us. I thought that was very commendable considering I hadnt seen or spoken to him for over 10yrs. Stephen has trained since 1985 with many of the best Instructors in the world and has competed recently in the 2006 SKIF World Championships representing his country. I recently met up with Sensei Marriott on the SKIF Summer Gashaku held in Hemsby. See the other page for that story. Stephen came over with his Colleague from Bedfordshire on friday night and stayed locally. Of course I had to show him around the local amenities as I was the host. Sensei Marriott took the warm up after a brief introduction to the class. I thought this was an excellent idea as i was still tired from the night before. You know!!!! He taught for two hours from 10-12 noon. The first hour was mainly about kicking drills, Mawashi Geri. This I must say was very informative and gave me some new ideas to teach at my classes. Its now the Monday after and my legs are still stiff from that. The second hour was applications for Heian Yondan. I think even though some students had little or no knowledge of this kata, they did very well and enjoyed some of the applications involved. I would like to thank Sensei Marriott once again for the seminar. All my students are still smiling from saturday. The best news is that, he will be back again hopefully not that long to wait.