South African Jundokan Junior Brown & Black Belt
Winter Gushuku 2007
The beautiful city of Durban,
situated on the east coast of South Africa, played host to the South African
Jundokan Junior Brown and Black Belt Winter Gushuku.
About 20 junior students from our Pretoria branch of
the SA Jundokan, under the supervision of Nazeem Kazi Sempai flew into Durban
International Airport on the afternoon of Thursday 09 August to team up
with the juniors from the Durban Honbu Dojo.
Ahead
lay 4 days of intensive Okinawa Goju Ryu training under Buddy Govender
Sensei who was assisted by Mark Apollos
Dai Sempai, Sunil Gopal Sempai, Nazeem Kazi Sempai and John Arokuim Sempai.
The Gushuku  'kicked' off
on Thursday night at the
SA Jundokan's Cathedral Honbu Dojo with the traditional washing of the dojo floor. This was a new and surprising experience
for the students of our Pretoria Dojo, however a fitting example was
demonstrated by Buddy Sensei and his senior students!
After Buddy Sensei welcomed
everybody and thanked them for making the effort in sacrificing their long
weekend holiday to improve their
knowledge of Okinawa Goju Ryu, it was down to training at the Cathedral
Honbu Dojo.
The next morning the senior
Black Belts were 'treated' to a morning of Okinawa Goju Ryu Kata and
bunkai. Buddy Sensei then went over the 'tweaks' to the kata as this was
the first time that the seniors
had got together since his trip to the Jundokan So Honbu Dojo in Okinawa.
Those that were invited to join this session were Mark Apollos Dai Sempai
and Nazeem Kazi, Sun il Gopal, John Arokuim, Sheilish Jeena, Ridwaan Badat
Sempai's and Morne' Fourie who was a guest, Amazingly the two and a
half hours assigned to this session just flew by. Saturday
mornings sessions started at 8.30am and finished at 11am. The
Pretoria students and those of the Durban Honbu dojo had an opportunity to
train with each for the entire morning. Many good friendship were
forged during this high performance session at the Durban Honbu Dojo.
At this session Ridwaan Badat and Pratish Ramlal, who both attempted their
Shodan grading in 2006 where awarded their Black Belts from Buddy
Sensei. These Shureido belts were brought back by Buddy Sensei on
his recent trip to Okinawa in April of this year. Another extremely
proud moment for Buddy Sensei and the SA Jundokan. Saturday
afternoo n, the
session moved outdoors to the tranquil Burman Bush Nature Reserve. This beautiful natural 'dojo'
is a perfect
venue, and is also where Buddy Sensei undertakes his own personal training
sessions. The lush soft grass was quite different to the wooden floor of
the dojo. Training outdoors under wonderful conditions is most
stimulating and refreshing. At 4pm the
session came to an end. Thereafter, the Durban Honbu Dojo Junior Brown Belts
attempted
their yearly grading. The
final session on Sunday
morning was held at the Durban beach front. All
the kata was performed in the ocean with pounding waves testing our
stances and balance. Everybody had great fun and enjoyed this new
experience - especially the kumite in the water! After the lush
grass underfoot at Burman Bush the sea sand proved to be an even tougher
task for the juniors balance and stances. After another good
session, 2 teams were formed for a game of beach football. Many of
the students showed some exceptional skill with the football and great
fun was had by all. After the football, Buddy
Sensei thanked everybody again for their enthusiasm and help in making this
weekend meet its expectations.
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