Sparring Methodology Seminar - Report

On Saturday 15th March, a large contingent of dan grades and all levels of brown belt from the

Bedford Area made a short trip to Cranfield University to train under Sensei Brian Bates

(Zanshin Karate) and Sensei Les Bubka (Les Bubka Karate Jutsu). The seminar was themed on

sparring methodology incorporating locks and throws.

The warm up, led by Sensei Bubka, was both mental and physical. We had paired work to get

our minds active before break falls and rolling.

Each sensei took half hour slots, first up Sensei Bates took us through wrist, elbow and

shoulder locks. We played with different locks in 3s - one person to watch for safety and then

added in an element of breaking a cycle and into a lock.

Sensei Bubka then took us through a series of throws/takedowns. We looked at importance of

posture, use of body weight and momentum.

Sensei Bates then took us through applying some pressure and we worked various feeds before

applying pressure and working different locks and restraints.

Up next, Sensei Bubka took us through a failure cascade kata before we worked with our

partners to create our own.

The session finished with padding up and doing some sparring with locks, takedowns and

strikes. It was great to see people stepping out of their comfort zones and giving this a go. It

was a fantastic session that was extremely well delivered and covered a great deal of content in

a fun manner.

Having trained with both Sensei Bates and Sensei Bubka before it was great to

see them both and train under them again.