Thursday, January 06, 2005

Errol is coming to town

Errol's this very friendly British guy originally from Trinidad who
visits his mom here from time to time. He's been doing Kendo for a
million years and is instructor at Nenriki in London, apparently a
very strong dojo in Europe. He's been extremely supportive, morally
and financially. Every time he visits I try to give him all the
necessary time he needs to share his knowledge. He's enourmously
generous in his teaching but at the same time very demanding. No BS
Kendo around him... He's of the "old school", that is Itto-ryu, where
style is secondary to effectiveness and cahones... I like that. So he
drives the guys to their limit every time. Not sure how they see him,
they seem very confused by his approach, much more agressive than
me... While I don't necessarily agree with his pedagogical methods
I think it's really important the students hear and experience what he has to say. After all that's how I learned Kendo: with one nice and calm sensei on one side and a slave driver,
maniac on the other. I quickly bonded with the second, turning into a
Kendo zombie overnight. My attitude has radically changed since; I'm
still a Kendo maniac but a bit less hardcore and demanding of new
students.

Anyway, he'll be here for a month so plenty time to have fun!