Written by Jens Iversen, Federation Chairman Shindenkan Denmark.
Shindenkan is a multi-track competence organization with a 1,000 year unique cultural tradition, with almost 60 years in Denmark, which always sets great demands on the passing on with the most effective, optimal and motivating structure and we have just finished a fantastic 2024 POMW season with team no. .6, who with fantastic togetherness, development and learning, have done just as fantastically as all the previous POMW teams - yes, maybe even better 😊.
Chief instructor Kimu Sensei actually started the course already in the fall of 2023, where Shindenkan Honbu's development and competence center analyzed the members' needs in relation to POMW I-II-III and recognized that here too, even better learning could be created through an improved structure and optimized approach .
At Shindenkan we are dynamic and after we carried out a vital value-based paradigm shift in 2018, in order to ensure our level of competence, with the paradigm shift "Balance between breadth and elite", Shindenkan has organizationally developed and improved concepts with a focus on the community, which basically consists of all members in Shindenkan , breadth as elite, and with great success returned to its roots and our level of competence has never been higher 😊.
As always, Shindenkan meets the members where they are and that led to a strong update, concept improvement and development of several new initiatives which were implemented in a fantastic POMW I-II-III – 2024 process 😊.
I've said it before and I'll happily repeat myself because Shindenkan is a great place to learn and I'm very proud that Shindenkan's amazing toolboxes have successfully supported another team through POMW I-II-III - because there nothing accidental in Shindenkan and there is always a focus on the whole and a higher purpose.
POMW I-II and especially POMW III, which is the most challenging and clarifying module in the course, teaches us a great deal - and especially about ourselves! So after successfully completing POMW I and POMW II, which together constitute POMW Fundamentals in the first half of 2024, it was time for POMW III – POMW Intermediate, in the 3rd quarter of 2024.
Both the new and the old in team 6 were very excited when we got started, partly because all the new POMW participants, with the attitude in the right place, had made a particularly good effort in the home training and now had to prove their level of competence in POMW Shooting. And partly because a lot of intensive time was spent on the preparation and support for the new POMW concept, and the effort was especially great on the POMW III implementation, where many new components had to be implemented.
All of Shindenkan's courses are very carefully developed, thought out and planned by Chief Instructor Kimu Sensei so that the participants get the maximum benefit, while at the same time the entire course has meticulously detailed planning, so that the execution itself is incredibly precise with plenty of space for all the participants and as always with great room for learning, both about oneself, but equally about others! Because as Bismarck said: "Every idiot can learn from his own mistakes, but a true master also learns from the mistakes of others".
Short about POMW?
The POMW abbreviation stands for - Project Old Modern Warrior and the starting point for POMW was the old Japanese martial art grandmaster, Minouchi Sensei's theory that it is the man behind the weapon who determines the outcome of the action and that is how it has always been in history - read much more www.pomwproject.com.
· POMW I and POMW II = POMW Fundamentals
POMW Fundamentals is therefore made up of the connection between POMW I and POMW II, where POMW I is safety, dry shooting with hardball and laser, - yes, POMW II is safety and wet shooting with cal. 22 and 9 mm.
· POMW Fundamentals + POMW III = POMW Intermediate
In POMW III we are on the outdoor shooting range and the difference from POMW II is that it is a terrain (open) shooting range and the shooting takes place approx. 80 % with 9mm CZ Shadow pistols and approx. 20 % with 0.22 guns.
Participants will learn to shoot at multiple targets at different distances, heights and targets. There will be different shooting positions and there will be transition techniques and split times involved. POMW III has its starting point in practical shooting, which has its starting point in anti-terrorist police and military shooting, which today is trained civilianly as one of the fastest growing shooting sports; IPSC – shooting's Formula 1.
ALWAYS safety – safety – safety
Chief instructor Kimu Sensei thoroughly reviewed the safety around the shooting range, ammunition and responsibility, safe loading procedure and, not least, safe gun handling - because we cannot have too much focus on safety.
This resulted in a sharper focus on compliance with safety and that the participants have control over their ammunition, how they move on and around the shooting range and not least their gun handling – because we know that in the end it is always the person behind the weapon who is responsible.
POMW III implementation
POMW III was carried out with great success over 3 + 1 days and we were incredibly lucky with the weather, high sunshine and good temperatures on all days. An effective plan was set from the start and with Chief Instructor Kimu Sensei at the helm, POMW III was carried out with a super fantastic Living POMW setting and atmosphere, which means over 3 + 1 long days from 07.30 – 20.30 with 100 % settings, super high concentration, intensive shooting and learning for all of us participants – new and old.
Our Chief Shooting Instructor set the bar high both with safety, shooting technique, communication and an overwhelmingly good mood and was in absolute top form, so that all participants got the necessary sparring and a clearly increasing number of successful experiences.
As I have previously written: there is nothing random in Shindenkan and there is always a higher purpose where we learn a lot about ourselves and POMW III is the most significant and brings it all together in a culmination for all the participants with a very steep learning curve over a course with both dry home training, indoor and outdoor wet training in 9 months.
The POMW course has already been completed with great success 5 times previously and there have been many POMW shooters through the very exciting and unique course. But looking back, all POMW teams, both the former and the current one, have lived through exactly the same development and that is what Living POMW is - one of Shindenkan's fantastic toolboxes, packed with knowledge and learning about the world and yes 😊 with a lot great knowledge and learning about yourself!
But team 6 has completed POMW I-II-III in the new concept and it has been a privilege for me to follow the development and see their strength, togetherness, joy in sharing super cool experiences with each other - and then it was also cool for us old shooters to rejoin and rediscover the Living POMW setting.
Rounding off
As federation chairman, I have witnessed a very significant development over the entire implementation of POMW I-II-III 2024, with a lot of home training, the introduction of the new POMW concept and not least the way in which Chief Instructor Kimu Sensei has had an extremely positive focus the new shooters and their development. It has been a great inspiration and learning for me and the other old shooters. 😊
Next step – Maintenance
We have now completed POMW I-II-III and I wish a huge congratulations to everyone who has completed and passed the competence courses. Now it's up to everyone to maintain their skills through the planned instructions for POMW self-training and maintenance going forward 😊 We're just going to be great and I'm looking forward to getting started.
