Master Class with Sensei George Best

Sensei Gary Beggan of Ruach Karate always manages to organise fantastic training sessions for the karateka in the club.
This Saturday, Ruach students were treated to three hours of training from former world champion Sensei George Best!

Sensei George Best was in the England squad with Ruach's lead instructor, Sensei Ronnie Christopher. In fact, Sensei George mentioned Sensei Ronnie several times during the training session. Sensei George is perhaps best known for his spectacular defeat of Sensei Masao Kagawa in the 1988 JKA World Shotokan Cup in Australia.

Sensei Joey led the warm-up. As the majority of the class were brown belts, he put us through a gruelling stretching routine. He really tested our core strength with some yoga-based techniques!
When Sensei George Best took over, we started this part of the session by learning a new kata: Chinte. This kata involves lots of unfamiliar techniques that some of the less experienced members of Ruach could have struggled with. Fortunately, Sensei George's relaxed manner and friendly style put everyone at ease and allowed all karateka to give their best without fear of making mistakes. 

Getting to grips with Kata Chinte

In seemingly no time at all, the whole class was able to get all the way through this unusual kata (it even ends with the karateka hopping backwards across the dojo floor!)
Then Sensei George had us working in pairs in order to work through the bunkai of the first few moves. It was then that Sensei's formidable skills as a fighter began to shine through. We learned about application of power, generating power, and use of the hips to deliver that power to the target! All inspiring stuff!
Sensei demonstrated the effectiveness of tate shuto as a block rather than just a preparation. He got involved with the karateka, demonstrating the technique with them and making sure everyone understood how to approach the technique properly.
After the bunkai, we then started to look more at kumite. We were put in groups of three and asked to focus on speed and reaction time using pad work. It was rather exhausting and very good fun!
Lastly, before we ran out of time, the karateka were shown one of Sensei's fighting techniques that he told us Sensei Ronnie has also used in competition. 
After everyone had practised the technique with a partner, the time ran out and the session was over. Sensei was happy to stay behind to talk to people and to have his photograph taken.
It was an inspirational and very enjoyable experience for everyone present, from yellow belt to 2nd dan black belt!