Thanks to all those who made sure that we were once again able to offer the school owners an extremely informative Leadership Congress, and an interesting and varied international seminar in Hockenheim for all EWTO members: the organisational team at EWTO head office, which ensured that professional preparations led to a smooth registration process for the events and always had a receptive ear for individual wishes and comments; the IT team that provided images, light and sound so that the talks, information, slide-shows and the evening event were optimally presented; the film  and photo team for recording the event and last not least the team from Stadthalle Hockenheim, which cared for and supported us outstandingly during the seminar.

But the effort is not restricted to just organising such an event. Above all, there are the talks and teaching sessions which must be prepared for and carried out as well.

Leadership Congress

In the Leadership Congress, an extensive programme once again ensured that the school owners were provided with up-to-date information. Following the welcome and information concerning the timetable and event topics by GM Oliver König, Grandmaster Keith R. Kernspecht first presented the latest book published by EWTO-Verlag about Kaicho Jon Bluming, documenting a major era in the history of the martial arts.

He then began the first teaching session in both theory and practice on his major topic, namely "Inner WingTsun". During the further course of the Congress there was another session with him on this extensive topic area.

How to minimise risk through good planning when seeking to teach WT on a full-time basis was the subject of a talk by Sifu Andreas Ertl from Munich.

In the next session DaiSifu Thomas Schrön presented results from his Bachelor dissertation in which he studied the differences in self-defence capabilities between WT students, and how to optimise them. Together with GM O. König he also had the participants carry out a number of practical exercises.

GM Oliver König had prepared talks on the subjects of "FightFit Class" and "WT and Grappling", and he was assisted by DaiSifu T. Schrön during his practical demonstrations.

As an event like this cannot concern itself exclusively with teaching content, but must also include organisational aspects such as the professional – either full-time or part-time – progress and success of school owners, this was followed by a detailed talk given by Dominique Brizin about the microsites for the EWTO academies and schools, plus important information from EWTO head office.

The fact that the Congress participants were more than satisfied with this concept and the presenters is confirmed by the feedback questionnaires returned at the end of the Leadership Congress. Let me add my grateful thanks to all those who took part.

International Seminar

After this successful entry into the Whitsun weekend, the last preparations were made for the EWTO's International Seminar starting the next day: final rehearsals for the Escrima and WingTsun demos, light and sound checks for the evening event.

On the Saturday morning the participants streamed into the Stadthalle in Hockenheim to register with the organising team from head office, be welcomed by the instructors in the different disciplines and attend the introductory talk by Dr. Hubert Beitler on this year's motto "Form follows function", after which they divided into groups to enjoy three days of extensive training in their latest forms: in WingTsun with the grandmasters Keith R. Kernspecht, Giuseppe Schembri and Oliver König and the masters Thomas Schrön, Jürgen Kestner and Sven Weipert, in Escrima with Grandmaster

Bill Newman and his Escrima team which was enhanced this year besides the masters Thomas Dietrich and Bernd Hoyer by a third freshly graduated Escrima-master, Sascha Böhringer, and in ChiKung with the ChiKung team – represented by Sifu Petra Weipert and Sifu Regula Schembri. In addition there was a FightFit session with GM König and DaiSifu Schrön plus a brief introduction to Sensory Awareness with Sascha Rimasch. Many thanks are due to all the instructors, masters and grandmasters for their effort and commitment.

The evening event is a regular fixture, of course, and once again the Escrima and WingTsun demo team put together a superb show which was spectacularly staged by the IT and film teams. As a special highlight of the evening, Stevie Starr took to the stage with three live goldfish. Starr is a British illusionist. His act is based on the principle of regurgitation, i.e. objects are swallowed and then deliberately retrieved from his stomach. Incidentally, all three goldfish survived the evening unscathed and are in the best of health.

The fact that all were able to enjoy the entire seminar, including a superb buffet at the evening event and at bistro stands during teaching breaks, without growling stomachs was due to the efforts of the catering team in the Rondeau.

I would like to thank everybody involved once again – and especially of course the participants – for enabling us to spend a great weekend learning, teaching and celebrating together, for it is only together that we can be this strong.

Birthday

And finally some advance notice: as the posters, flyers and the large banner already revealed, we are celebrating the EWTO's 40^th birthday next year, once again in Hockenheim from 14^th to 16^th May. So be sure to take part in this anniversary seminar. We look forward to seeing you!

Best regards from Heidelberg
Your Andreas Groß