OBC – Mandatory Re-Certification Courses – What are skills worth if you can't remember them and do them anymore!

OBC is a help to all local schools, instructors and students, who through OBC have a structure, methodology and support to maintain competences, at the same time as the level is continuously raised, so that we in Shindenkan ARE a multi-track martial art - both in word and deed.

In season 2018/2019, we start with the most advanced OBC courses, and thus have the whole season to train them, before we work our way up to the OBC Competence Mark graduation at the end of the season.

As one of the instructor forces at Honbu-dojo, I have been honored to assist Kimu Sensei during the execution of OBC 6, which includes Task Fighting 3 and Ju-jutsu 3 and the combination of the 2, namely ShindenFight Basics.

Both in Ju-jutsu 3 and Task Fighting 3, through the previous courses, we have come so far with technique, attitude and mindset that we are faced with the difficult task of dealing with the realities. In all stories and movies, it is a battle that the hero wins by putting himself aside and doing the right thing. Namely, purposefully and without regard for personal risk to take responsibility and defend oneself and others.

In the real world, there is no spotlight and background music, but still plenty of challenges. Not everyone is clear about what they want and that they actually want to fight for themselves and their loved ones. Not everyone makes the decision in the split second that may be available, and not everyone is aware of their responsibility in relation to influencing themselves, their family, their local community and the whole world with their own set of values - that is, to be a positive factor, and a decisive factor when there is a need for it.

Do you take the latest Fake News at face value, or do you look at the facts yourself when the official story sounds fake? Do you take a stand or do you say "never mind it doesn't concern me"?

Everyone was allowed to consider this in the Ryugi (Philosophy part) of the course.

I myself am an old sports karate fighter, with 2 bronze medals from the World Cup in Japan (a few years ago J), and I am well aware that sports karate is NOT reality. It is a form of competition governed by rules and judges. Reality is NOT like that. In the real world, the rules are broken and the referees are not present in many places. Thus, it is up to me to take decisions and responsibility, and do the right thing - RIGHT NOW and HERE, when the situation demands it, and not when it suits me. It is also up to me to take the consequences when I do not act – the consequences not only for me, but to a large extent for my family as well.

I know that, but do I also do it when the situation calls for it? Am I clear about my responsibility and take it in a split second?

That's what we tested under safe and secure conditions in ShindenFight Basics. Before then, we had gone through selected parts of the Ju-jutsu 3 and Task Fighting 3 courses, and had added additional knowledge and technical skills, thereby raising our level of competence, which is Kimu Sensei's express goal with the OBC courses – a continuous spiral of development, with ever-increasing level.

In ShindenFight Basics, the test was to start from basic situations, where we were ready in turn to, as an attack, do locking and strangulation techniques, as well as counter to the same. When the command was given, it was to fight down through lock and strangulation, or to fight a certain part out of the pants to get free from the strangulation. Because who likes lying helpless when the idea is to be able to defend yourself. And at this level, there is no doubt that we are training for potential life/death situations. Which could also be seen from Kimu Sensei's demonstrations on Søren Renshi. It was a matter of direct and merciless techniques that were deployed in split seconds - no hesitation, no excuses!

The reality showed that far from everyone was clear, and reacted at the very first time to defend themselves immediately, and without hesitation or doubt - which gives a much greater probability of coming out of the fight unscathed and as a winner.

But the experience of being helpless was quickly transformed into a will to fight and an attitude that "it must …… not happen again", after which they fought intensively in all the selected situations.

As we were all well spent and sore from several hours of training, Kimu Sensei spent the last half hour summarizing the entire OBC course. He did this by again saying the unsaid, breaking the taboo, by going through all the different efforts of the participants, expressing them, and pointing out and praising all the cases where the course participants had broken their own comfort zones and boundaries, and performed beyond the usual high level. All the cases where the participants had learned from their own and others' efforts, switched to a new gear, performed even more, and been an even better training partner. Because what is knowledge worth if you don't use it. And what is recognition and a higher level worth if you don't acknowledge it – acknowledge that you've gotten better, and not just been lucky.

And it's not always the easiest; nor on a Friday night after a long work week, a long training session, when you are drained of energy and have been running on the spare tank for at least half an hour.

But it was really a fantastic effort everyone put in! Be proud of yourselves.

Because you can do much more than you and others tell you, and you have just shown it!