Nürnberg June 2019

Workshop with Bernhard Boll

Aikido lab

For 29th and 30th June 2019, Christian Veith from the Aikidowerkstatt Metropolregion Nürnberg had invited to a seminar with Bernhard Boll. Bernhard came from his new residence Balerna (CH). Previously, he had cordially invited the Aikidoka of his previous dojo Hechingen to participate in the seminar. It doesn't take too long from Hechingen to Nuremberg on Saturday morning. After his own experiences in the previous year, when the entrance to the dojo was not so easy to discover, he also sent a plan to Hechingen so that the dojo was easier to find.
Before the start of the actual Aikido training, Michal from Prague put in a shift of Misogi, but some of the participants held back gently, it was once again a very hot day of this summer. Fortunately, there are large trees at the dojo in whose shade you can park the cars.

Group photo

Intensive Training

In the morning, Bernhard Boll mainly taught techniques from the 1st Dan, as in the afternoon there was an exam. Since almost all participants were already black belts, it was a repetition with refinements for them. Nevertheless, it was a strenuous practice because of the summer heat.
During the lunch break we dined in a Vietnamese restaurant. It was surprisingly more pleasant indoors than outdoors. A light breeze blew through the open windows and made the stay bearable.
The good food and the generally very hot Saturday prevented some deeper insights into the techniques in the afternoon... it was mainly sweating. One participant even refused to put on the Hakama, because it was too warm for her. Nevertheless, Philipp Zerweck successfully passed his exam for the 1st Dan and was able to perform well despite of the heat.
The 3 Aikidoka from Heching traveled back home and for dinner we went to the nearby pizzeria La Trattoria. There it was possible to relax a bit in the shade and one or the other glass was emptied on the passed exam. Bernhard and Yvette went to the hotel at Heideloffplatz for the night. Interestingly, it was also this hotel when he first came from Tübingen to Nuremberg in 1980 for an Aikido seminar at Post SV, it was probably a seminar with Hirokazu Kobayashi at that time.

Since there were three third Dane among the remaining participants on Sunday, Hitoriwaza and Kumitachi were on the program. Together with Michal and Christian we worked on a good realization. In order to be able to perform the entire Tsuzukiwaza, you must fist know the order of the techniques. Then you have to find meaning in the movements, after all, we were not born as swordsmen. After that, there is still enough fine work to be done. For the participant from Prague, who had not been active in Aikido for so long, it was something completely new, but it did not make her frustrated at all.
By the end of the workshop, everyone had learned something new again. We are looking forward to seeing each other on the same mats again next year.