We had a fantastic day today as we attended our first weapons workshop of the year. Rothwell had a great turn out totalling 12 students and instructors learning the history and proper use of traditional Okinawa weaponry. Amongst the weapons Rothwell students and instructors chose to learn about and use correctly were Aido, Jo-staff, Nunchaku & Kama.

I was so impressed by the efforts of all who took part and graded today, any Karateka who practices kata with weaponry for the first time can attest just how easy it is to forget Kata when you have a weapon in your hands. It is amazing to see so many students both young and old learning the history of the weapons, these students will hopefully one day become blackbelts themselves and be teaching this weaponcraft to future generations of Karateka.

As an instructor and academy owner it isnt often I get to share the mats and learn with my own students. Whilst I love teaching my students it really is a privllage to be on the mats with them learning along with them. It is an even bigger privillage to be on the mats learning weapons with my family. Today 3 generations of my family were learning our resepective weapons, my wife and I, my son and our grand daughter, today i feel truly blessed to have shared this experience with them.

A big thank you to all the intructors who gave up their time to pass on their knowledge, it is very much appreciated.