Sensei Keith @ Selby

Sensei Keith Gullen 7th Dan IJKA was teaching and grading at Selby tonight.

It was great to see a few of York Club down, a big welcome to Maja, Simon, Michael, Lucas and James.

Maja and Simon were grading along with Kelvin, Phoebe and little Josh from Selby. I am sure Maja and Simon benefited from the extra York club support.

Above: Sensei Keith teaches back stance

Sensei Keith is a Kihon man, get the basics right and we have something to build on. That is why I train with Sensei Keith on a Wednesday. It doesn't matter what grade you are there is always something to improve on. Or like me everything!

Above: No escaping Mae Geri!

You partner will never be too far away when you are holding on to them. Sensei Keith drilled the club in Mae, Yoko and Mawashi geri.

Above: Sensei Keith teaches Sanbon Kumite

Sensei went on to develop the Kihon into kumite, from beginner to black belt there was something to learn.

While Sensei Keith and Andy graded the five students that missed out on the last gradings at York I took the rest of the class for Kata.

We started with Kihon, punching Choku-Zuki to the front and 45 degrees, we went on to punch at targets, Michael, James and myself to practice contact. This was developed into Kiba dachi followed by stepping and punching Gyaku-Zuli developing power from the hip. After all the Kihon I went on to teach Di Ichi and Di Ni, two kata that are basic but are great for developing good form.

The grading did not finish until nearly 8 O'Clock, congratulations to Maja and Simon from York, and Kelvin and Josh from Selby ( I have updated your member pages already with your new grades).

Phoebe was very disappointed and a little upset, she did not pass this time round.

I explained to Phoebe that Karate is a bit like life, we are not all winners, but if we work hard we will succeed. Phoebe has bags of potential and is an excellent karateka when she want to be. I am sure she will be the first to agree that she has not trained as hard as normal for this grading and the transition to a colour belt is a big step. These are adult gradings and a high standard is maintained by consistency across Europe.

Remember that we have our display and Christmas photos next week so bring down all your certificates and medals that you won this year and do a bit of showing off!

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