Sensei Simon Oliver - Course Report

On Saturday 6th September, a large number of CFTS students made their way to St Thomas

More School in Bedford for a seminar with Sensei Simon Oliver, 7th Dan. Sensei was assisted

by Sensei Paul Ives, 5th Dan, and his daughter Kaida as well as Sensei Dan Young of CFTS for

demonstrations. The Instructors Committee was on hand to assist students throughout the first

two sessions as well as getting a chance to join in too.

The course was split into 3 sections:

1. The Core Principles of Application to Heian Nidan

2. Bunkai/Oyo/Henka to Sochin

3. Taira Bo Drills

First up, yellow belts and below were given a session on Heian Nidan. Sensei Oliver gave the

background to his training and the history of his style and the kata we were covering. To begin

we looked at the starting techniques and how to incorporate the correct breathing and utilising

the stance kokutsu dachi. This was then followed by a look at how to use gyaku uchi uke.

Sensei explained the 5 elements of combat; evade, enter, close quarter, takedown and

completion as well as the points we look to strike to on an aggressor. Applications to the

opening sequence of the kata and the gyaku uchi uke sequence then followed.

Next up, was the green through to black belts - just short of 80 people took part in this session!

This session covered a look at our federation kata, Sochin. Like the first class, sensei

introduced himself, his background and gave a very insightful look into the history of Sochin.

Sensei took us through application to opening sequence, layering this and showing how to use

both hands, moving the body and then finally going into stance. We then looked at the tate

shuto sequence and again we looked at moving the body and ‘te dum’ for striking. This

incorporated a look at the breathing and using the body as we strike.

We moved onto manji uke which use the concept of muchimi, sticky hands, for striking and

tsukami for gripping. This showed students a practical way of looking at hikite. To finish this

session we covered application to the shuto uke, either against 1 punch or 2 punches.

The third and final session was a bo session for brown and black belts. This covered the ten

Taira Bo Drills. Sensei Oliver and Sensei Ives took the class through these 1 by 1 and allowed time to

recap as we went through them. These drills are a core part of Sensei Oliver’s kobujitsu

syllabus and sensei reiterated that if students picked up 2 or 3 of these drills then that was good

start to their bo work. Sensei Young and Kaida then demonstrated the drills to finish and Kaida

demonstrated the bo kata Sunakake No Kon to the class. To do this in front of a large group of

nearly all strangers at a young age was good for our younger students to see.

Each session finished with a group photo and to finish the seminar as we were doing the closing

remarks, Sensei Simon McMahon presented Sensei Oliver with a gift of some fine cigars on

behalf of the federation as thanks for 3 excellent sessions.

This was the first CFTS course with an external instructor since 2019 and it did not disappoint!

Feedback from students was glowing and Sensei’s comments were equally very complimentary.

Hopefully we will see Sensei again for a course in the future!

Watch this space for an interview with Sensei Oliver in the near future.