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For the 3rd year running Fudoshin club members travelled down the M4 and M5 to Pontins Brean Sands for the annual WKF Spring training course on Friday 12/May. Club members who travelled to Brean included Sensei Rob Windsor (who will be demonstrating the new sport of 'Texting' at the 2012 Olympics - see picture on left), Nick Mugridge, Phil Sears and Ed Stewart. The course was led by Sensei George Grimes (7th Dan Renshi) and Sensei Tony Heap (7th Dan Wado-Kai).

Training started in Friday evening with a session from 7pm to 9pm. Fudoshin club members then took the opportunity to relax at the bar in the Pontin's Ballroom - just the place after a 2 hour sweat. Most people were in bed by 3am after showing the locals (and our friends from Bristol) the "Fudoshin Shuffle" on the dance floor (!)

Saturday (13/May) kicked off with everyone (except Ed and Nick!) meeting up for a stretch and warm-up on the beach at 7:15am. After the warm-up there was a football match with Sensei Rob Windsor showing off his silky 'Liverpool FC' skills (he fell over a couple of times!). After the run it was back to the dinning room for a full cooked breakfast before training started again from 9:30am to 1:30pm.

After a fair amount of snoozing/sleeping on Saturday afternoon (except for Sensei Windsor who watched his beloved Liverpool beat West Ham in the FA Cup Final) everyone doned their "Mexican Bandit" gear and set-off for the party in the Ballroom. Our friends from Bristol were a bit surprised at our 'outfits' but to be honest we thought their's were funnier! Training caught-up with us and we were all home and asleep before 2am!

After a great night out only Rob and Phil could prise themselves from their beds for a run on the beach at 7:15am. The run was followed by another game of football. This time Rob and Phil were on opposing sides and the only way Rob could stop Phil's awesome skills/footwork was through a highly illegal Rugby tackle! Ed and Nick caught-up with the boys at breakfast and everyone was ready for more training from 9:30am through to 1:30pm.

All agreed that the training was fantastic and everyone at Fudoshin came away a little bit wiser and inspired to train harder. As ever, it was great to meet-up with people from other karate Clubs and everyone agreed that next years event was a must for our training calendar. The picture on the right shows us with our friends from Bristol, from left to right: "young chap who's name escapes me"; Paul Burnham; Nick Mugridge: Sensei George Grimes; Ed Stewart; Sensei Rob Windsor; Errol; Phil Sears; and James. Hopefully you can join us on the trip next year!