September 2012: visiting Kendo Club at Carpi (Modena)

I was invited to make a course on RNA-seq for the European COST-action EuGESMA. The course was held in Modena from September the 17th to September the 18th. It was a good occasion to meet other European scientists and off course to practice Kendo. I found that a section of the Modena Kendo Club practices on Monday in Carpi, a little village 20 Kms from Modena, Kendo Carpi. I contacted Luca Canovi the instructor of the Carpi Dojo and I went there at 9:00 PM. As previously highlighted to me by Luca, the club is new and the dojo relatively small. We were in 7 persons for the Monday training, considering also me and Luca. Actually it was the right number of persons, due to the limited size of the dojo. Since the majority of the students is at the very beginning, Luca focus his lesson on the basic concepts of kendo. After warm-up and suburi we practiced kihon-no-kata that actually results quite good for beginners to build the right posture. After we spent other time in basic big techniques and on kirikaeshi. Students were beginners but very committed. They never stop and practiced with high concentration. For me was very useful because I could spendmuch of the time as motodachi which is important to me to learn more about opponent timing and reactions.I had a very pleasent time in Carpi and I hope to visit the Dojo again.