By Dave Proctor
On Sunday 14th August Master Daher conducted the Melbourne MasterClass and grading. Present were students from Melbourne as well as representatives from Il Shim LaTrobe Valley.
The MasterClass began with brief warmups followed by Master Daher demonstrating sparring strategies to counter a stepping turning kick
. This consisted of moving 45deg. toward your opponent as they attack then spinning away to aim a back-kick to their centre. After this exercise we moved on to a variety of leg conditioning exercises involving with our partners.
Initially this involved raising our leg, in side kick position, to our partner’s outstretched hand and then lowering it 10-15cm before raising again. After this Master Daher moved us on to further drills; firstly rotating an extended leg, in side kick position, over your partners outstretched hand (this aimed to develop strength in the quadriceps and Gluteius medius muscle – I’m sure I speak for everyone in saying I never knew this muscle existed but mine are letting me know their presence now!!)
After this we continued on with, relatively, static strengthening exercises firstly moving our side kicks around two hands and then in a figure eight around spread hands. This was followed by slow motion front kicks circled around two hands at different heights, with, as a finale, slow kicks directed up and down our partner’s body.
After a brief break Master Daher had us form two lines and then move between them alternating between a turning and a hooking kick. This continued to work our, by now, protesting muscles. To further work these two groups we were asked to move in a line up and down the hall performing hopping turning kicks. We then partnered up again directing a turning kick toward our partner followed by a short hooking kick away from their body.
The kicking session was then finalised with a series of spinning reverse turning kicks at our partner’s hand. As a final summary of the days Master Class Master Daher then had us partner up and engage in one legged sparring. This served to reinforce the utility of the learnt techniques.
From here Master Daher moved onto the Grading portion of the day. The grading progressed smoothly with all seven 10th Kup students performing well. Highlights of the 8th and 7th Kup students were the effort shown by Michael Dance, Master Daher describing Elizibeth Williams’ technique as “perfect” and Sam Sankey achieving a double grading (of course as a reward he now has two patterns to learn for the next grading :-)) . Master Daher further stated he was “very happy” with the student’s stances and technique.
The final group consisted of all seniors from 6th Kup onward. This included a Second Dan grading for Mrs Michelle Harper and First Dan Grading for Mr Mitch Sammut. While there were some criticisms from Master Daher based on some technical issues (application of techniques in patterns being an example) this served to highlight the differences between junior students and their seniors.
In his summary talk at the end of the grading Master Daher reminded all students to look to their seniors for direction in matters such as lining up and etiquette. He further emphasised to the seniors that it was their role in the organisation to set the tone for the club and that to continue to grow and develop a club requires seniors to lead the way, not just their instructor.
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