By Per Vedel, Member until 2016

The course was held by Søren Renshi and Martin Renshi, and as the first instructor course ended, the second one starts with a role play: A pair of instructors and the rest are students with various disturbing characters, from flirtatious parents, hyperactive students to students who want to fight. Everyone must do their best to help spoil the otherwise well-planned training. There were eight of us in the team, which is why we naturally completed four cases so that everyone could try to be in the firing zone.

I was there, as the first pair of instructors, and I must say that my students were a bit lethargic: They didn't really give the challenge that I had expected, which Søren Renshi also commented on in the evaluation. After that, we gave it real gas and challenged the following pair of instructors.

The purpose of these cases is to push the instructors to the limit and preferably a little more. The situation is, of course, unrealistically extreme, but the characters played are real enough: It is quite common for the children to stand and chatter while the director shows something, but I have, among other things, experienced parents who correct their children during training and people who sit and shout.

After playing through four cases it was time for some theoretical knowledge. Søren Renshi talked about the past and present. The affiliation with and in the Jokokan organization and the Bujutsu Kodosokukai. We heard about Shindenkan's 4-step structure, the common thread, the difference between dan and densho degrees, the difference between budo and bujutsu, as well as the difference between Shindenkan and other karate systems. All in all, a summary and an elaboration of what is written in the syllabus handbook and on the internet... Have I forgotten something? I myself got an explanation of some of the things I hadn't understood myself, and a confirmation of the things I thought I understood.

If you are the type who thinks that the role-play cases that the instructor courses are about are borderline-crossing, then get over it and have fun in the meantime. Get the limit crossed, learn a little more about yourself, and look forward to interesting theoretical teaching.