The Cheshunt Karate club held it’s first Gasshuku (training camp) at the Bournemouth International Hotel in Bournemouth from Friday the 26th of March to Sunday the 28th. 15 men and women went there to train and a total of 29 people with the wives and children. The first training session was taken by Sensei Pell from 19.00 to 20.30 on the Friday night, after starting with the usual warm up the group proceeded with kicking and striking drills before partnering up for Sanbon kumite performed at medium and fast speeds and then repeating this with a new partner. We then split into 3 groups for kata (formal exercise) practise with Sensei Pell taking the yellow belts through Heian Yondan, Sensei Paul taking the purple belts through Tekki Shodan and Sensei Ayres taking the rest of the group through Jion. We bowed out to go and find something to eat in one of the many restaurants in the town, splitting up into smaller groups to cater for the varied tastes and with the intention of meeting back at the hotel bar afterwards. Saturday; Breakfast is served from 08.00 until 09.30 in the hotel and as we were starting our training at 10.00, most people got down to breakfast early. The Saturday sessions were split into 4 50-minute sessions, after a thorough warm-up by Sensei Pell the first session was taken by Sensei Paul and consisted of circuit training with the bags. It was a variation of the kind of training the police do in the Public order squad. Needless to say it was physically demanding, interesting, and it was enjoyed by all and cleared away any remaining cobwebs that may have been lingering. The next session was conducted by Sensei Edwards and with everybody warmed up began the practice of the kata Heian Godan. As this was the first time some of the students had practiced the kata, Sensei Edwards went through a few moves at a time until everybody had the basic structure of the kata. He continued with practical bunkai for the coloured belts and advanced bunkai including pressure points for the black and brown belts. The next two sessions continued after a short break to take on some water and carbohydrates. Sensei Ayres was first up and his session was an excellent practical street defence lesson. This included defence and counter measures to various street attacks and the use of eye jabs, neck cranks and takedowns. He also introduced a little known counter measure to the neck hold. Sensei Dewson took the last session of the day and his session was a derivative of Okuri Jiyu Ippon kumite. The difference was to attack with anything and then to follow up with the pre-set technique. This was performed at slow, medium and fast speeds, both sides of the body for the pre-set attacks of Jodan, Chudan, Mae-Geri, Kekomi and Ushiro-Geri. This took us near to the end of the days training and it concluded with Sensei Pell taking everyone through the Heian kata’s and then a cool down to finish. The group now had 4 hours to themselves before meeting up at 6 o’clock for dinner. Some of the group went swimming, others for a walk or to see the sights of Bournemouth. We had a night in the hotel lounge watching England & France in the 5 nations rugby (shame about the result), most of us went to bed around midnight, although some stayed up until 2am burning the midnight oil. Sunday; We had a full attendance for early breakfast, although there were some quiet mumblings about Sensei’s idea of the traditional beach training when we had a nice warm dojo in the hotel to train in. We met in the hotel foyer at 10am, where Sensei led the jog down to the beach to start with a warm up on the sand before beginning a series of free-style combinations. We soon had a chance to put this to good use as we paired up for free style, changing partners every 2 or 3 minutes. This was the first time some of the students had trained on sand, in casual clothes and wearing trainers, so it was a new experience for some. After the usual kihon with eyes closed towards the sea (only a couple of people got wet) we split into 4 small groups to practise the new kata’s learnt. We finished of the session with some practical takedowns, using neck cranks or wristlocks. After a 10-minute stretch out on the sand we jogged back to the hotel for a nice warm shower. Sunday lunch was served at 13.00 and was well received by all. After lunch Sensei Pell thanked everybody for participating with a special mention for the instructors for all their hard work.