The 20th January 2008 again saw the Haslemere karate club undertake intensive training with Wayne Otto O.B.E. 9 times World and European Karate Champion, England National Coach and Kumite Karate Consultant. We were honoured and privileged to be taught by him once again and the day proved to be even more successful than last year!

 

Sensei Wayne travelled down from Birmingham almost exactly a year to the day since his previous visit. The event was limited to 50 students, although a couple of late injuries meant that only 48 actually took part in the training session. It did allow Shaun to come along and be the photographer for the day though! This was mainly an adult only event, apart from a couple of younger students who had considerable experience and were keen to take part. The course was mainly attended by local club students , along with some other Wado Academy members, but we were also joined by a number of students from the British Wadokai and we extend our thanks to them. We were even joined by an old university friend of Sensei Wayne's, who turned up halfway through the course with his 2 children and asked if the kids could join in, which they did! The course was open to all grades and abilities. Whilst we do have some regular competitors, the aim of these seminars is to get people to learn more about fighting in general, not just competition fighting.

 

Just like last years event, the warm up was fighting and plenty of it. The students start slow, but of course after a while and when they are warm, then things speed up a bit and when you keep this up for 30 minutes, you could almost see the sweat on the walls. Again Sensei Otto joins in and a number of students get the honour of sparring with him. A few seasoned campaigners on the tournament circuit remarked how he was just "playing with them" when they fought him and were left shaking their heads in admiration.

 

A few bumps and bruises later and once we were warm, Sensei started to work on some kumite drills and gradually worked them up, so that we all got a chance to understand how to move in the correct way.  The drills themselves were challenging, but watching Sensei Wayne move was inspiring and he has a  wonderfully unique and humorous way of imparting his knowledge to students. When he put the combinations together and demonstrated them, he was like lightening.

 

A breakdown of what the course covered was as follows

• the demonstration and teaching of effective techniques

• training using fight scenarios

• strategies and tactics

• kumite training drills

• reaction and timing techniques

• the importance of mental preparation for competition

• advice on performance testing and analysis

• the planning and time line preparation for major tournaments

 

Highlight of the day had to be when Sensei was showing his lightning reaction skills to us and invited Amir to move his arm before Sensei could grab it. You had to be there to appreciate the speed of the guy, (Sensei Otto, not Amir!!!) and Amir was invited to try and grab Sensei, but couldn't get close. That said, it was obvious to anyone there that Sensei Wayne had more than just speed and technique, he had enormous power and he made a point of stressing that although he spends a lot of his time on competition karate, he was very much keen to teach effective "real" karate. If he hit you, then you would certainly know about it! Towards the end of the lesson, Sensei started to work on his awesome sweeps and also on a few techniques he had used in title fights. To see him and actually feel him sweep in the flesh is amazing. One minute you are standing up and in the blink of an eye and without seeing it coming, you are on your back

 

The day was a very intensive workout and 4 hours of solid training took it's toll on all the students, although none complained. It is a testament to Sensei Wayne's teaching ability that he was able to get so much from the students even when they thought they had nothing left to give. The day finished with a 10 minute question and answer session, in which Sensei mentioned the highlight of his career was receiving the OBE at Buckingham Palace. He also gave advise on training methods for the students and any potential competitors and also commented on being pleased that English karate had moved forward since the turmoil of the last few years.

 

Just when we thought we had finished, he stood us all up again and gave us one last blast of combinations for five minutes, which left us all on a high and was a great end to the session.

 

Once again, at the end of the course Sensei Otto was kind enough to sign autographs, belts, DVD's and to have pictures taken with whoever wanted them. Sensei was keen to say he looked forward to next years event and I'm sure all of us do to! Some of the students went to the local pizza place afterwards and it was most enjoyable watching them try to get up again after sitting down for over an hour! Everyone struggled to stand up and we all realised we were going to be very stiff for a good few days, but boy was it worth it!

 

A huge thanks to Sensei Wayne Otto OBE for sharing his knowledge with us once again and thanks also to all who attended. If you should ever get the chance to attend one of his courses, the opportunity should not be missed!