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The workshop was held at Tenaru School from June. 24th to 30th.
They were blessed with the venue which was covered with 200 mats(1 mat is 1m x 1m) donated by Mr. Yong who supported TIMD so much. All the participants were brought by their Black Belt and Brown Belt instructors.
Prior to this workshop, 25 out of 44 participants had already gone through intensive 12 days workshop which was led under the leadership of Alfred Gaote' E and Oscar Wane who gave them good discipline and cared for them, and all received Brown Belt without any injury. They were all new faces to me, but surprisingly all of them knew already higher forms and all One Step Sparring. They extended their stay to this workshop with the approval from their parents since they were high school students. The success of the workshop was never brought without this 12 days workshop. The rest joined on June 25th. The training included breathing, circular motion, basic techniques, one step sparring. But it focused mainly on self-defense. Master Don Horbour surprised all the students extremely as they never saw such techniques before. He emphasized the importance of circular movement to be effective to protect ourselves from assault.
One of the purposes of the workshop was to help them understand the philosophy of TIMD to improve their moral lives and develop their characters. It was done through early morning reading from 5 am and 2 lectures given by Black Belts and Black Belts candidates. No one was late for these study sessions and have shown their great interest in them. One of them said, "It is quite tough especially waking up everyday early morning (4 am) and finish late at night. Anyway it is also interesting because we also studied philosophy which goes in line with the techniques?something that I've never done when playing(practicing)other styles of Martial Arts here in Solomon Islands ." Hearing the testimonies of the students and their parents, and Masters, we could realize deeply how much this workshop gave change and impact upon their lives.
The 2nd purpose was to correct their basic techniques, especially stances, forms, and One Step Sparring. They appreciated for these corrections.
The 3rd purpose was to help them become familiar with all the rules of free sparring and form competitions, and teach them how to conduct matches, how to score the points as judge and referee to prepare for the 2nd PKCT in Japan. One evening, using all the equipments, these were shown and explained. Taekwon-Do, Shoto-Kan, Jeet Kune-Do, Shaolin Kempo, Sports Karate, Jujitsu, Kick Boxing, Wushu, Ashihara-Karate, etc.were present. The gym was newly built just one year ago, and was so beautiful.
Their investment of serving others was truly reflected in their performances of skills, attitude in their lives, and especially character development during for such a short period.
Congratulations to John Laih and Crystal Divine who earned the 1st degree of Black Belt ! In spite of fighting against many good fighters of Solomon Islands one by one, their real fighting spirit appeared, and kept them fighting.
I feel TIMD has been steadily and firmly rooted in Solomon Island, and look forward to seeing some of them take part in the 2nd PKCT in Japan!
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