or several years now, a trainer further education course has been started before the official start of training in the new year. A good black belt does not necessarily have to be a good trainer, which is why Tatsu-Ryu-Bushido has been adding an additional qualification according to the DOSB standard for over 30 years. An experienced student can also become a good trainer. On 12 January 2025, we met at Tatsu-Ryu-Bushido in Limburgerhof, not for the usual New Year’s training course, but for exams and the trainer school. With Sensei Timo Gartner as examiner and Sensei Thorsten Klein as uke (exam partner), Martin Paetz and Tristan Engel both passed the 3rd kyu exam (blue belt with stripe). Both exams were very good, even though Timo went deeper into the subject matter than necessary to test the two examinees for what is missing in their understanding of brown. Meanwhile, Saiko-Shihan Christian Wiederanders was leading the training school in the other hall, imparting a lot of theoretical knowledge to our candidates. Timo and Thorsten now took the time for a little free partner training with the bokken, with appropriate protective equipment. When we were able to bring both groups back together, Sensei Timo Bo (long stick) was on the programme, but not the light demo versions of the Bo that you sometimes see in demonstrations, but the Bo made of white oak, so that we could train with the force and range of the weapon correctly. This training is not a matter of course for a white belt and shows him how difficult it is to handle such a weapon and how sensible it is to learn the long stick as an advanced student. The advanced students also received a training session with the JO (medium-length stick), so that it was a very varied day for all of us. We are looking forward to the next trainer schools on 23 February and 9 March 2025.