Indian Club Swinging Weekend Sheffield UK 2013

The first International Indian Club Swinging Weekend 2013, held in Sheffield UK, organised by the Indian Club Swinging Teaching Institute.  Many thanks to all the instructors with a special mention to Mike & Elaine Simpson of Sheffield Indian Club Swingers, for organising and co-ordinating the whole event.

The Instructors

Krishen Jalli UK – INDIA Heavy Clubs Swinging from India (top left)
Harry Allick UK Fancy Club Swinging (top centre)
Colin Hughes UK Body Awareness & Movement with Indian Clubs (top right)
Russ Ogata HAWAII Light Club Swinging mixed with Martial Arts Movement (bottom left)
Mike Simpson UK Military Style Club Swinging (bottom centre)
Paul Wolkowinski AUSTRALIA Gada-Mace Swinging, Zurkhaneh Style Meel Turning (bottom right)

The CLUBS

The following is a brief description of the clubs and the demonstrations, starting with the lightest clubs, through to the heaviest. As you can imagine the selection of clubs was extensive.

The lightest and smallest were a mix of Tear Drops and Victorian replicas circa 1lb in weight.

The use of these clubs was presented by Harry Allick in his demonstrations, although lightweight these clubs presented challenging routines. Many exercises involved wrist circles on an outstretched straight arm, which are surprisingly demanding.

Colin Hughes discussed and demonstrated body awareness and movement with Indian Clubs, drawing attention to ligaments that offer a sense of spring and soft bounce to optimise physical function and all round health.

Military Style and larger Victorian replica Indian Clubs range in weight from 1kg up to 2.5kg.

Mike Simpson presented the use of these clubs for both one club swinging and two club work. Single club combinations involved outward heart shaped swings, hand change, inward heart shaped swings, pendulum reverse and repeat. Once the basic combination was mastered full arm circles were introduced to spice things up.
Russ Ogata showed combinations of club swinging mixed with Martial Arts Movement, focusing on stepping and transferring body weight from one foot to the other, whilst performing slower deliberate moves with clubs.

Heavy Club Swinging

Persian Meels weight increase is substantial compared to the Military Style and larger Victorian replica Indian Clubs, on average starting at 4kg and upward.
Krishen Jalli led a group through the complex intricacies of closed arm club swinging, the difficulty of these moves sent most of us running to grab lighter clubs in effort to practice and understand the movement concepts.
Paul Wolkowinski used the same clubs to demonstrate Zurkhaneh Style Meel Turning, a closed arm style from ancient Persia still practiced in modern day Iran. The basic low cast movement involves an inward back swing of the meel with the hand pushing the club over the shoulder held close to the neck, followed by turning the shoulder and body to bring the club to the front order position.

Gada Mace

The Gada-Mace used extensively in Indian Wrestlers Akharas (gym), Paul Wolkowinski discussed the importance of good technique involving both arms descending to the maximum during the rear section of the swing. The demonstration followed with examples of 360 swings, 10 to 2 swings plus combinations. The session then broke up into small groups to practice.

Friday 13th September 2013, Instructors Day.

Friday was a meeting day for instructors, some of us had flown in from distant destinations, and it was a great opportunity to meet face to face for the first time. There was no schedule, each instructor had time to talk and display their personal techniques. Giving others a chance to join in impromptu swinging sessions. Everyone had great fun trying out different Indian Clubs, Persian Meels and Gadas (Mace).

Saturday 14th September 2013

Following registrations on Saturday, Mike Simpson welcomed all attendees to the event.
Everyone had plenty of time to have a good look at all the clubs provided, plus many brought their own, some new, some old family heirlooms passed down from older generations who actively took part in Indian Club Swinging in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Plus there were also many antique Indian Clubs to be seen and admired.
The training sessions commenced at 11am running two per hour.

• SESSION ONE
  

  Harry Allick – Fancy Indian Club Swinging Workshop

Harry Allick – Fancy Club Swinging No 1
Krishen Jalli – Heavy Clubs Swinging from India.

• SESSION TWO

Paul Wolkowinski – Gada-Mace Swinging
Colin Hughes – Body Awareness & Movement with Clubs No 1

• SESSION THREE

Mike Simpson – Military Club Swinging
Paul Wolkowinski – Zurkhaneh style Meel Turning

• SESSION FOUR

Russ Ogata – Light Club Swinging mixed with Martial Arts Movement
Colin Hughes – Body Awareness & Movement with Clubs No 2

• SESSION FIVE

Harry Allick – Fancy Club Swinging No 2
Mike Simpson – Club Swinging Styles

A good day of Indian Club Swinging was had by all, as a final note, many of us have met via Youtube and Facebook, and it was a pleasure to meet them face to face.

Sunday 15th September 2013

Sunday saw a smaller group than Saturday.

The training sessions commenced quickly running one per hour.

• SESSION ONE

Harry Allick – Fancy Club Swinging No 3

• SESSION TWO

Paul Wolkowinski – Gada-Mace Swinging – Zurkhaneh style Meel Turning

• SESSION THREE

Mike Simpson – Military Club Swinging

• SESSION FOUR & FIVE

All instructors took part in summing up the weekends events
Russ Ogata – workout summing up elements from all sessions
Colin Hughes – Body Awareness & Movement with Clubs No 3
Harry Allick – presenting a display of fantastic wrist work involved in Fancy Club Swinging
Mike Simpson and Paul Wolkowinski then went onto having an impromptu swing off in a discussion based around how we arrived at various transition movements, some were learnt from books others discovered by accident or mistake. Great fun.