by David D’hose
The weekend of August 29 and 30, 2026, the ENF organised a shinpan seminar in Brussels under the direction of Technical Director François Dermine, 5th Dan, with the assistance of David D’hose, Renshi.
A large number of ENF practitioners from Germany, France, Italy and Belgium answered the call. Our President, Kirsi Höglund, and Vice-President, Mark Berghaan, were also present. Thanks to this great gathering, we were able to focus on various refereeing situations and moments.
On Saturday, François presented us with a number of carefully selected video excerpts. This gave us the opportunity to revisit refereeing situations from past European Championships and compare our methods with those used by the AJNF.
After these discussions, we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Laurence Dumonceau, Secretary of the Belgian Federation. The afternoon was devoted to putting the observations from the morning into practice. Technical exercises based on the shikake-oji of the upcoming European Championships were led by our Technical Director, followed, at the end of the afternoon, by bogu practice to round off the day.
We were then able to continue discussing this great day over a delicious dinner featuring oriental flavours.
The following day, we got back into action with David D’hose, who explained the requirements of his Nishu examination in Japan and reminded us that becoming a referee can only be considered by good practitioners with sound and correct technique.
The morning was centred around a simulated technical competition, during which the referees reviewed all the protocols associated with their role, while the practitioners went through those they are expected to follow during a competition.
Some of the exercises were particularly original, such as one in which a referee had to describe, live and orally, everything taking place during a shikake-oji match.
The afternoon gave the referees an opportunity to review the refereeing protocols for a shiai competition, while the fighters were able to put themselves back into a combat situation.
One particularly interesting exercise involved the fighters being asked to perform a very specific strike and then asking the referees, who knew the intended strike in advance, whether they considered it correct or not.
The seminar came to an end with, I believe, a general feeling of satisfaction with the experience, and we all agreed that it should become an annual event.