Summer Seminars 2024
I left Vancouver on July 12th to start my annual summer seminar series. I arrived in Prague the next day and was met by Ondra Musil sensei and taken to meet Joe Thambu sensei who had arrived earlier.
It was a 90 minute drive to the mountain town of Jizerka where we would be staying for a week. This is one of my favourite times of the year…..teaching with my good friend and hanging out with another good friend Colin Hallahan from England.
Thambu sensei and I taught two classes a day and were assisted by Ramlan sensei from Malaysia and Mark sensei from Indonesia. The training was spirited and it was fun throwing everyone. All ego on my part but it was refreshing to see stunned looks on peoples faces when my stuff really worked!!
Everything was great and I had more potatoes in one week than I’ve had in a year!
I hope to do it again next year.
Big shout out to Standa from Rychnov who always was there to fold my hakama after every class.
After Jizerka, my friend and fellow sensei Bryan Andrews drove Colin and I down to Ceska Lipa where I was teaching for six days with my student and friend Zdenek Brezna sensei.
Bryan and Colin stayed training until Wednesday and then returned to England.
This week was very special to me as Zdenek is Shobukan Czech and is interested in doing my style of Aikido that I learned from my teachers.
Him and his students have improved since the last time I saw them, so I was pleased to share my knowledge with them. The high lite of the seminar was getting Victoria to finally smile on the mat and meeting Klara who has only been training a few months and was nicknamed Pitbull by me!!…..you know what that means.
Big thanks to everyone for their efforts and a big thank you to Zdenek for filling me up on rice, dumplings and noodles.
On July 26th, we got up at stupid o’clock and Zdenek drove me to the airport for my flight to England. I was sad to leave him and his students.
Neil Saunders sensei picked me up at Luton airport and we drove up to Nottingham with everyone else who lived in England!!!
We stayed with Phil Musson sensei as usual and he was the perfect host as usual. This is the combined Summer School with Thambu senseis group that we have done forever. The seminar was well attended and it was great to the some old faces and especially nice to see some new ones. Finished up Saturday night with the usual great curry at an Indian restaurant.
On Sunday Neil drove me back to Luton where I stayed in a hotel close to the airport, so he wouldn’t have to drive the next day.
I walked to the airport with time to spare but check in was a nightmare…..it took ninety minutes so my anxiety was pretty high. Made my flight but people walking through the airport and security…..let’s just say I’ve seen tai chi proponents move faster.
After an uneventful flight, I was met in Gdańsk by Gregory sensei and driven to their summer camp about one hour from Gdansk. It was a beautiful spot on the lake and there were over 220 kids and adults present. They surprised me with a big greeting and all the kids were screaming!! Gregory surprised me with a crown and cape and crowned me the king of Yoshinkan in Poland……I thought wait until Thambu sensei sees this……. Neil Saunders sensei has started calling me King Robert……I don’t repeat what Carol calls me!!
I taught three hours per day and had a great time teaching the kids because I knew I wouldn’t have to do it again!!
In all three trips there were some constants…..everyone trained hard, the food and beer were great and I had the pleasure of everyone treating me like a sensei. I hope I was up to the task.
I was warned by someone to make sure I took pictures but I screwed up…..hopefully I’ll be able to post some after I get in contact with Ondra sensei, Zdenek, Neil and Gregory.
Thanks to everyone who made the trip very special for me and my sincerest gratitude to Jimmy and Farshad for teaching all the classes while I was away.
This is my first blog post ever…..but it won’t be my last.
Osu,