News & Events

BLACK BELT COURSE IN ITALY - October 2011

TISKA broke significant new ground last month by organising a successful, week long training trip to Cilento, in southern Italy.

On Saturday, September 10th and Sunday 11th  approximately 150 black belts flew from Gatwick to Naples.

TISKA has taken students abroad before, but this was the first time Nidan and below have been invited to participate in a masters course outside the UK.

After a two hour coach journey from Naples, the students were accommodated at four, four star hotels in the beautiful resort of Cilento.

The training was split into two sections.  A morning session from 9am to 12.30pm and followed immediately by another, from 12.30 until 4.30pm.

Sensei G. Sahota, TISKA's Chief Instructor led the training each day for 7-8 hours, teaching the 1st kyu's and shodans the Nidan syllabus.  2nd Dans and above covered all Shotokan katas, kumite combinations and 3rd and 4th Dans also covered the kata's Gankaku-sho and Seienchin.

On the Wednesday and Thursday gradings took place by some of the students and Sensei was in the dojo for over 9 hours.  Congratulations are in order, therefore not only to Sensei for his dedication, but to all of those who passed their gradings.

The trip also had other benefits.  It was particularly noticeable how well students from all areas got on with each other.  The camaraderie between people who had never met each other before was remarkable.  Long-standing friendships were formed, and everybody seemed to have a wonderful time, which was one of the aims of the trip, of course.