Pictures can be found in our Gallery

On the 17th of December Imperial Scotland hosted the second visit of Master Nicholls to Dalkeith Campus in Midlothian.

This time he was to concentrate on the patterns and their applications and it was well supported with a massive turnout of senior grades.

The class was warmed up by Mr Dutton in his usual exuberant style before Master Nicholls entered to rapturous applause. The class started with looking at the self defence applications of the An Palmok Makgi from Chon-ji which was something that few of the class had considered and set the course for the rest of the morning. From there it progressed to Dan Gun and the various applications of the Sang Palmok Makgi and the proper performance of the low and rising block before looking at Do San and the release, Jaep Syul Tae, of the Sonkut Tulgi, a movement that is not often performed with any realism in the pattern. A session of partner work soon demonstrated how the release should be performed and a new sense of power was added to everybody''''s pattern.

The various applications of the Sonbadak Ollyo Makgi and the moves leading up to it in Joong Gun were studied, again something that not many of the class had thought about before. It was helpful to have someone of Master Nicholls standing to explain the various applications to the moves from the patterns and the whole group certainly learned a lot and will look at their patterns from a new angle now. It was interesting to understand that some blocks that have always been thought about as blocks may have striking, or other, applications.

The class progressed to look at the various forms of side kick and the use of the variations in both the patterns and in applications. The workshop also looked at various stepping techniques and the use of sine wave, or the ‘taekwon movement’ before looking at various sparring techniques.

It was an honour to host a Master Nicholls seminar and Imperial Scotland look forward to repeating it in 2007.