We were privileged to be taught by 9 times World Karate
Champion at Haslemere karate club on Sunday January 21st
2007, and what a day it turned out to be!
Places for the day had been restricted to just 40 students,
although with a couple of injuries (myself included
having had wisdom teeth removed 2 days before!) and a couple
of people unexpectedly turning up on the day, a total of 42
eager karateka started the course. Sensei Otto made an
impressive entrance with his car and personalised number
plates and we all drew a sigh of relief that the main man
had turned up!
After a brief introduction the students went through what I
can only explain as a thoroughly tiring warm up that got
definitely every muscle in their bodies warm and working,
even muscles they thought they didn’t have!! Basically
Sensei Otto likes you to get warm with Jiyu Kumite and
plenty of it, starting slow and just stretching out the
muscles. 20 minutes later most students appeared to be
sweating well!
Sensei Otto showed the students, of whom ranged from
beginners to Dan grades, various competition moves from
combinations to some very smart strategies and drills. All
the various moves were repeated to slowly get
the
students used to the movements and to try and accomplish
some muscle memory, although sadly it was mostly the memory
of the students that Sensei Otto had to help them with!!!!
On the whole there was more than enough information given to
keep everyone happy and I am glad to say that training a
week afterwards some students where showing that their
memory was not failing them. Some times too much information
can be a little confusing but Sensei Otto seemed to have
kept just the right amount of ingredients in the mix. His
teaching style was also first class and at times very
humerous.
At half time we were able to ask Sensei Otto about some of
his past competitions, like which one of his world
titles was his favourite and some of the more personal
influences that made him strive for his excellence in World
Karate Competition. One of his frustrations was that
competition karate is losing a lot of the tactics in the
fighting and fighters relying on speed rather than strategic
skill. I suppose the first thing that came to mind in sport
I could compare this with was tennis. In the days of Bjorn
Borg and John McEnroe, they both had great serves but the
exciting part were the rallies. Nowadays its a serve game
and whoever has the better serve has the upper hand. I don’t
want to say that its easy, it's just not that interesting to
watch if you know the outcome of a game before its played!
I found that Sensei Otto a very giving man, not only in his
sport but on a personal level which we got from his answers
to some of the questions we asked. (if you want to know what
they were then you will have to sign up to a course as it
really is an experience for any karateka who is interested
in sport karate!)
Sensei then thoroughly warmed us all up again with free
sparring and then proceeded to up the tempo a bit with some
more combinations which he had us all perform at faster and
faster pace. His movement was a joy to watch and totally
effortless for the whole day. I'm sure all those who were
privileged to spar with him or be used
as
his dummy will remember the day for a long time. Sensei then
moved on to his speciality, which were takedowns and it was
a joy to watch him throw some of the higher grade students
around with ease.
Just as we thought we were lining up to finish, Sensei then
gave us some combinations to finish with and ten minutes of
these without stopping finished of most of the students who
hadn't already felt the pace of the day!
At the end of the course Sensei Otto was kind enough to sign
autographs and to have pictures taken with some of his new
fans, which rounded off an excellent days training for all
and let's hope its not too long before we can have the
experience again. I certainly think that all those who
attended walked away with a spring in their step and just
buzzing from the days events.
I would like to thank Sensei Otto from all who attended the
course for training us in competition karate and would like
to think that we may be able to have Sensei back to train
with us again. (Editor - Hopefully this will become an
annual event, watch this space!)
