[Opperioav]

I was there that evening at Hatamoto Kendo Kai and yes, while it was incredibly odd that he put us as beginners in at the deep end it's also possible that he went for a sink or swim technique.

Sensei said halfway through the session that he was incredibly impressed with our progress and that we had no 'physical dyslexics,' which was an incredibly good thing as he went on to say that some people are completely unable to do Kendo.

The session, if anything went incredibly fast, what was an hour and 45 minutes seemed like no more than half an hour but it was Sensei, one Sempai, myself, Damien and three spectators so it was literally all eyes on the newbies. We spent the first probably fourty five minutes to an hour working through correct handling, footwork and such but this became progressively complicated throughout the practice as Sensei performed what seemed to be stress testing in relation to our ability to hand eye co-ordinate especially in doing men-men cuts (can't remember the exact terminology, but the one where you step forward cut, step backwards cut.)

But yeah, I assure you the session was real, otherwise I've paid money for a pretend shinai and a dream and in which case I want my money back!