Imperial Host Master Jose Maidana Workshop.

Master Jose Maidana VII, National Coach for Argentina flew over to London to train with Imperial students. Accompanied by Mr Dalton VI (IUTF) a training session was scheduled for Wednesday night at 7pm. Joined by Master Hogan VII and Mr Pat McCarthy VI Imperial students lined up eagerly awaiting Master Maidana arrival.

Mr Dalton run the group through a very disciplined and thorough warm up and we were all raring to go. Master Maidana entered the hall with Master Nicholls VIII to a round of applause, after a brief introduction it was straight to business;

Trying not to disclose too many Argentinean secrets Master Maidana explained that their sparring is broken-down and each part practiced separately and then combined. Asking the class to suggest different stances they use in sparring Master Maidana identified four important stances and numbered them accordantly. By practicing various combinations up and down the dojang we were tuning our bodies and movements to stay balanced when cover varying distances. Being able to move forward and backwards with great speed while maintaining equilibrium will help deliver a well balanced blow, making it more effective and harder to evade.

Moving on to kicking drills which were demonstrated by Mr Dalton, who after 8 recent workshops with Master Maidana in Ireland had become well versed in the combinations we were all about to practice. Master Maidana first distinguished between competition kicks where speed and delivery are paramount and the traditional kicks practiced in patterns took the group through several combinations. Paying particular attention to the most efficient means of covering distance, and the effective striking range of various techniques.

Now combining punching with the above skills the targets were no longer static. Moving up and down the dojang we practiced the combinations by advancing too and retreating from the moving pads.

Master Maidana''''s relaxed approach makes the techniques look simple and easy to perform, with his constant smile the two and a half hours passed in a flash. I would like to thank Master Maidana for his time and the insight he has shown us into the Argentinean training regime.

In closing Master Maidana thanked everyone for attending and expressed how it was a pleasure to train with us. He also announced that Master Nicholls would be conducting an IIC for his INO in June and invited us all to Argentina.

Mark Skyrme
More pictures available in the gallery