Blue sky and warming sun accompanied the participants from the dojos Braunschweig, Leipzig and Königslutter during the two-day course on 14^th and 15^th April 2012. The techniques shown could be either newly learned or deepened for the advanced.
Roland Herlt (5^th Dan) showed after a light warm-up program, cut blocks on different strokes. These were then extended by counter techniques and shortly before the break we were able to check our progress in the just practiced techniques in a 1vs1 once again.
During the break we gratefully accepted the offered coffee and biscuits, then we continued with the cutting and stabbing techniques of Palis Palis.
The basic techniques, which at first were only practiced individually, prepared us for the following partner exercises. Incorporated uncleanliness in the attacks and blocks were corrected quickly and motivated by the resulting easy hits with the stick on the partner's hands. Due to the high concentration while practicing we didn't notice how fast the time passed and were surprised when Roland announced the second break.
Further it went with the cuts and blocks of Palis Palis, which were practiced in different combinations. Later Roland extended the defense techniques by Abanikos, which presented us with a coordinative challenge. After several hours of training we were all not quite fresh anymore. Shortly thereafter Roland ended the first day of the course with another 1vs1, using the last Abaniko techniques we practiced.
Afterwards we let the Saturday end with a common dinner with sausages, successful pasta salad and baguette. Afterwards everyone drove home and looked forward to the 2^nd day of the course, even though some of them had a slight aching muscles.
The second day brought as part of the slight warming the challenge, in a confined space, for everyone to run Redonda in confusion.
After this had been mastered, the basic strikes and blocks of the turning techniques continued. As on the first day of the course, after a phase in which everyone practised on their own, they soon trained with different partners and shortly afterwards counter techniques were added.
After the first break in which Wilfried conjured up coffee and biscuits again, Roland showed us the same side and different side blocks of paddling techniques with different counter possibilities.
For the last part of the course he had saved the Dulo. Blocks and counter-attacks revealed painful points on the body and required a lot of coordination in order to really hit the desired spot with this small object. Finally there was a 1vs1 with different weapon combinations: Dulo against stick, Dulo and unarmed, as well as unarmed against unarmed. Changing partners forced everyone to adjust to slightly varying techniques again and again.
Then we said goodbye to each other with a little muscle ache and the good feeling of having learned something new again.

All in all a very interesting and demanding course.
A big thank you to Roland and the Dojo Braunschweig, for the management, respectively orientation and organization.