The week, including accommodation, meals and extra curricular events was organised by Igor Sehic the Croatian B3 Representative. My journey involved car (driving to Liverpool Airport), plane (flying to Pula), minibus and ferry (to the island of Losinj) and took 12 hours… but it was worth it! Every day was full of activity; starting with breakfast in a harbourside café and then training sessions a top instructor and time to see the island.
Day One : We trained under Coach Rich Cotterill, in an idyllic part of the island looking out over the sea underneath a canopy of trees to shelter us from the sun. We spent a fantastic morning digging into and drilling the finer points of the CCM ( Coach Cot Method ). In the afternoon we had a short drive out to a local cove for a swim in the clear blue waters before returning for some evening training. Steve Baker instructed part one of the evening session and showed how he uses the combative movement and principles of B3 CCM incorporated in to his incredible stand-up fight. Part two of the evening was taken by Vicente Sanchez who showed how to train defensive movement and range in the full power training elements of the B3 system.
Day Two : Martin Medvec started off the day with a superb session on the finer points of handling a blade and his integration of the B3 movement and the CCM. The next session instructed by Radek Mačák covered the intricacies of movement for defence and attack within the CCM.
Day Three : The day started with another session from Martin Medvec covering the use of defensive movement and manipulation of an opponent in 1-12. We then had a brilliant session from Richard Cotterill on how to maximise training of CCM with padwork. In the afternoon we had sometime to do some sight seeing and another swim in the sea before returning to have an evening session with by Vicente Sanchez and involved full contact stick drills integrating punching.
Day Four: We set off early for a full day boat trip around the island stopping on the way to swim in clear blue waters, have some perfectly cooked fresh fish for lunch and visit a local village. On our return, in the evening, we had an awesome and very technical, pad drill session with Pep Padovano. For the second session of the evening, we attended a local dojo for a sweat inducing BJJ session instructed by the phenomenal BJJ Instructor, Dani Prantner.
Day Five: The day started with a brilliant Martin Medvec session on the 1-12 with a knife and manipulation. This was followed by a fantastic empty hand drill from Steven Baker. The day was topped off with a delicious evening meal in a beautiful, mountain top, open air restaurant where we laughed with friends and watched the gorgeous sunset.
Day Six : The first of the final morning’s sessions was another mind blowing technical pad session from Pep Padovano and the week ended with a great session from Radek Mačák showing us how to integrate movement drills in the CCM. Our last afternoon allowed for a final opportunity to relax, do a bit of sightseeing or go for a final swim in the clear blue sea.
All in all, it was a fantastic week of training, non-martial arts activities, sightseeing and spending time with friends. During the week, each Instructor taught a different aspect of their B3 training within the syllabus, highlighting how the Coach Cot Method can add something to everyone’s training in one way or another.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, the island made the perfect surroundings and I would say a big thank you to Richard, Igor and all the other attendees for making it a Summer Camp to remember for years to come.
I can’t wait for the next one!
