It was a great privilege to have the presence of Master Nicholls VIII at Milton Keynes to mentor 38 invited CITKD students. New faces and old were excited to hear the teachings of Master Nicholls and the demonstration of great technique and superior power.

 

Saturday morning brought a packed hall of CITKD students warmed up and ready, at 10 am Master Nicholls started, focusing the session around defining the difference in application of kicks e.g. Technical and sparring, also clearly emphasising the correct foot pivot through Turning Kicks, Side Turning Kicks, Front Kick and Side Front kicks. He explained the technique and the importance of the foot pivot, with the students soon clearly demonstrating a Turning Kick with a foot pivot angle of 45°and a Side Turning Kick with a foot pivot angle of 75°. The Front Kick and Side Front Kick separated full-front stance of a normal Front Kick and introduced the effectiveness of planting the rear foot for a Side Front Kick and only rotating the front leg during the progression of the kick (which is seen within Joong-Gun Tul).

 

Power development was the main focus in the second session, although not in an aggressive manner but more so in the natural kinetic power gained through body mass and its application maximising power of technique in a natural motion. Master Nicholls demonstrated with an ease and relaxed posture (1) Pull Back, Fall and Double Punch to small target (2) Pull Back, Fall and Turning Kick to small target (3) Pull Back, Fall and Double Punch or Turning Kick variation on call. An exercise, which initially demonstrated an example of attack then reversed to become a counter attack through Dodging and it’s application to tournament sparring, demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique.

 

Master Nicholls stepped aside to allow two fellow senior grades to lead the seminar whilst he conversed with Mr Chand and mixed within the students, Mr Luckman IV demonstrated a Vertical Kick progression, where as Mr Moore IV demonstrated a Side Kick Variation emphasing power and Kinetic power through clever use of body mass.

 

Master Nicholls returned to cover some pattern work and power development in patterns, focusing on Chon-Ji and Dan-Gun Tul applying emphasis on great technique through sine wave and accuracy. Master Nicholls’s vast knowledge of Taekwondo left an imprint on all those students who attended, in particular offered the idea of patterns as a form of meditation. A form of our art that you could do in any situation such as the airport where Master Nicholls recalled being delayed in airport security and took this moment to flow through patterns as a form of meditation. This marked the end of the session.

 

“Class face Master Nicholls 8th Degree, Charyot, Kyong ye. Taekwon”

 

On behalf of Mr Chand and his students we would like to thank Master Nicholls for the Saturday 12th April 2014 Seminar.