Kato Shihan - York - 12/13th June 2010

Kato Shihan ne rei, yet another brilliant weekend, Osu!

As usual a mix of Kihon, Kata and Kumite, followed by gradings.

Well done to everyone that graded and to the following Selby Karateka:

Luke and Shauna graded to 10th Kyu.

Jamie and Nathan earned their Green belt by achieving a temporary 6th Kyu grade.

David graded to full 6th Kyu.

Abby, Josh and Lewis all earned their Purple belt by achieving a temporary 5th Kyu grade.

It will be great to see you all in you new belts next week and will hopefully motivate you to step up your training and look forward to consolidating your kata and start learning new ones in preparation for future gradings.

Many thanks to Claire for taking some great photos which I have dropped into a short presentation.

Above: Kato Shihan - York Course - 13th June 2010

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dojo closures

There will be no training at Barlby Dojo on Sunday 13th June due to training and grading all weekend with Sensei Kato.

There will be no training at Hambleton dojo on Wednesday 23rd June due to unavailability of the Hall.

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Open Course with Kato Shihan 12/13th June - York

Above : Kato Shihan at last Years course

Sensei Kato 9th Dan IJKA chief instructor is coming to the Haxby Dojo at Wiggington Recreation Hall on Saturday and Sunday 12th/13th June 2010.

Full details of the weekend:
Saturday 12th - Wiggington Recreation Hall
1.30pm for 2pm to 4 pm training
4pm to 5 pm High Grades Only

Sunday 13th - Wiggington Recreation Hall
9.30am for 10am to 1pm training and gradings

Training Fees - £18.00

Grading Fees - £10.00 / £6.00 (12th to 10th Kyu)
If you are grading you MUST attend the course as well.

Please ensure that you attend as many sessions as possible as we approach grading. Paul will collect Training and grading fees in advance, so we can make a single payment on the day.

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SSKC Competition is Tomorrow!

Above : The Cups and Medals

It's not too late to get some final practice in to increase your chances of walking away with some of the SSKC silverware.

Please ensure that you arrive promptly at 13.00 hrs to register so we can start on time.

Good luck to all the Haxby, Selby and York Karateka and look forward to what I am sure will be a brilliant afternoon.

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Record Sunday!

There was record attendance this Sunday with a total of 6 Dan grades and 31 members training.

Our numbers were bolstered by members from York and Haxby training at Barlby in preparation for the competition in May.

All karateka even beginners that have not graded yet will be encouraged to take part in what will be a brilliant afternoon on Sunday 2nd May.

Can I ask that you return your entry forms this week to enable me to conclude the planning phase and order all the cups and medals.

Haxby and York clubs are keen to relieve us of as much silverware as possible, so we must keep our training up. We will still be training on Easter Sunday so don't eat too many Easter Eggs during the day and you can always get an extra session in on a Wednesday to increase your chances of walking away with a medal or trophy.

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SSKC Competition - Sunday 2nd May 2010

SELBY SHOTOKAN KARATE CLUB
Presents the 2010
SSKC Karate Championships - Sunday 2nd May 2010

Barlby High School, York Road, Barlby, Selby YO8 5JP

The aim of the championships is to teach our students about and provide our higher grades with experience in running competitions, so they can officiate in Open championships.

We need the support of every karateka from Haxby,

Selby and York dojo to make the event a success.

There will be up to thirteen events with Cups and medals for each event.

Registration 13.00hrs, Championships start 13.30 hrs prompt!

With the assistance of our sponsors we have set a nominal fee of £5.00 for each karateka, this covers entry into all events that your Sensei will select you for.
Your fee must be paid to you club by 9th April when entries will close, there will be no entries on the day.

Event 1 – Under 9 - Kata – Mixed
Event 2 – Under 12 - Kata – Mixed
Event 3 – Under 17 – Kata – Mixed “The TSB Cup”
Event 4 – Over 16 – Kata – Mixed – Beg to 3rd Kyu “The Lawrence Hannah Cup”
Event 5 – Over 16 – Kata – Mixed – 2nd & 1st Kyu + Under 22 Shodan “The Lawrence Hannah Cup”
Event 6 – Family Kata – (Parent + Child or Child + Child) “The Gough & Kelly Cup”
Event 7 – Under 9 Kumite – “Knee boxing” – Mixed
Event 8 – Under 12 – Kumite – Shobu Ippon – Mixed
Event 9 – Under 17 – Kumite – Shobu Ippon - Mixed “The SSKC Kumite Cup”
Event 10 - Over 16 – Kumite – Shobu Ippon - Male – Beg to 3rd Kyu “The HT Scaffolding Cup”
Event 11 – O16 – Kumite – Shobu Ippon – Female – Beg to 3rd Kyu - “The HT Scaffolding Cup”
Event 12- O16 – Kumite – Shobu Ippon - Male – 2nd & 1st Kyu + U22 Shodan “The Denby Security Cup”
Event 13 - O16 – Kumite – Shobu Ippon - Female – 2nd & 1st Kyu + U22 Shodan (TBC)

The Events will be run on two adjacent areas to the semi finals.

The Over 16 and finals of the junior events will be undertaken on a central area.

The event will conclude with cup and medal presentations and an IJKA Yorkshire 2010 photograph.

All karateka will be expected to stay to the end of the event to support your club. The event will conclude at approx 17.30 hrs.

IJKA Yorkshire Kyu Gradings

Kato Shihan 9th Dan IJKA World Chief Instructor was at Selby for the whole weekend. Following the Saturday and Sunday sessions karateka took part in the IJKA Yorkshire gradings.
Over 30 students graded and all achieved either a full grade or a temporary grade - Congratulations!
Selby students achieved 10 Full grade passes and 7 Temporary grades.
If you click on the member button in the sidebar you will see that all your grades have been updated.
I would like to share with you a little information about karate Kyu gradings in the IJKA, which will hopefully help karateka and parents alike.

Grading Levels
There are Childrens (Pee Wee) grades 12th Kyu to 10th Kyu and Adult grades 9th Kyu to 1st Kyu. Each Kyu grade is a step towards you Black Belt. Karate is not a Sport, it is a martial art.
The study of the art requires a maturity and originally there was only adult Kyu grades (9th to 1st). To enable younger children to take part the Pee Wee grades were developed for children who started Karate before they are 11 years old. After their first three grades a child will commence "Adult" grades, this could be at a relatively young age ( 8 or 9 years old).
9th and 8th Kyu are beginner grades where the examiner is looking for a basic understanding of stances, technique and kata.
7th Kyu (Yellow) to 4th Kyu (Purple/White) are the mid Kyu grades, significant improvement between grades is expected and the standard between each grade is very demanding. Each step in these mid grades is likely to take a student 24 to 30 training sessions (very rough guide). A child/youth is likely to take a little longer than a adult. If you only train once a week it is likely to take 6 months between full grades.
3rd to 1st Kyu grades, the Brown belts is another big step up. Most karateka who train regularly will take a lot more time between these grades. Youths / cadets and young adults tend to progress faster than older karateka. It is not uncommon for Students to be a brown belt for a considerable time and indeed not all Brown belts will have the determination to develop to a Black Belt.

Grading Elements
When you grade the following Elements are tested:
Kihon- Basics (Single or Multiple technique combinations dependant on grade)
Kumite - Sparring (Stationary, 5 Step, 3 Step, 1 Step, Semi-Free or Freestyle dependant on grade)
Kata - Set pattern of Moves (Heian Shodan to Bassai Dai for Kyu grades)

Each of the three elements are tested and the examiner is looking for evidence that you have reached the required standard to receive a full grade. They will note if your effort has fallen short of the "Full Adult" standard, if you have achieved the standard, or if you have excelled.
To improve your chances I have the following tips:

Train regularly at your dojo - It is very difficult to achieve full gradings to Yellow belt and beyond if you are only training once a week. If you can't train twice a week at the dojo, you should be practicing at home. If you were learning a musical instrument you would practice....karate is no different.
Look confident. It is easy to look confident if you are confident so follow my first tip.
Spirit. You must show an appropriate level of martial spirit.Whether it is a Kia!, or the execution of a technique.
Effort. You must demonstrate 100% effort during your grading. We are all different ages, shapes and sizes, we will not all be able to perform the same technique / kata in the same way but we can all give 100% effort.
Mistakes. They don't matter, if you have taken on board all of the above. The examiner will ask you to try again. If you have poor technique and no effort, this is not mistake and you will probably not be asked to try again.

Grading Results
The following results are possible:
A full grade Pass = You have achieved the required standard and will progress to the next level.
A half grade Pass = You have fallen a little short of the required standard in usually two or all of the elements. You will progress to the next level and will be able to wear the appropriate belt. At the next grading you will be re-tested on your current temp grade as well as the next grade.
Fail = You have fallen short of the required standard probably more than once on two or three of the elements. You have not achieved the standard to progress on this occasion.
Double /Triple Grade Pass = You have excelled in all three elements of your grading. You have a high skill set and have shown 100% effort. Multiple gradings are normally awarded to a talented Karateka that for some reason has missed the opportunity to grade and may have trained regularly (twice a week) for 9 months or more without grading. It is fairly rare to multiple grade and is usually only at the beginner Kyu grades (12th to 8th)
Removal of grade = The examiner is entitled to grade you at what ever level commensurate with your performance. He can reduce your grade. You should listen to the advice of your Sensei. If you are new to the Association or indeed the style of Karate your instructor will recommend when you are ready to grade. You can of course put yourself forward to grade and you will be graded on your performance on the day. ( I would not recommend this)

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Thank you GRF

Above: GRF's Offices

Many thanks to Andrew Rees from Grimsby Resin floors for providing SSKC with sponsorship to facilitate our club hosting Kato Shihan over the weekend 20/21st February 2010.

GRF provide Industrial flooring solutions throughout the UK, specialising in the food industry. This is the second time GRF have provided sponsorship, the last time would have been in about 2004.

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GRF

Nowhere to hide.

Unfortunately Josh couldn't make it this weekend so it was left to Gullen Shihan, Mike from York and myself to represent IJKA Yorkshire at Kato Shihan Whitchurch course this weekend.

For one reason or another numbers were well down and there was nowhere to hide in the dojo. The lack of karateka meant that those of us that managed to make it were getting very personalised tuition, brilliant.

There was a strong focus on short quick kihon, designed to develop speed and reaction for kumite. This was the main focus for the weekend training, but Sensei still managed to get a fair amount of kata into the sessions as well.

On the Saturday we trained in Heian Shodan, Tekki Shodan, Junro Shodan and Kibaken Shodan. In Heian Shodan Sensei explained how with slight alteration within the transition of a movement more power could be developed, there is much for me to do with personal practice here.

The work on Tekki Shodan was really useful, Sensei corrected some of the errors in my technique. This is great because the club has a number of karateka currently learning Tekki Shodan.

Next was Junro Shodan, I have been training in the first three Junro kata with Gude Sensei at Haxby over the last 4 or 5 weeks. So It was handy to confirm a few of the finner detail.

Lastly on Saturday we practiced Kibaken Shodan, this is not a kata I have seen before and to honest I was struggling.

First thing Sunday Gullen Shihan was running through parts of Empi with me and then he went onto Kanku Sho as a warm up.

Kato Shihan taught the Meikyo series, Shodan the standard Shotokan kata, Nidan (Asai ryu) and Sandan (Kato Ryu) . Shihan also taught Matsumura Rohai and concluded with Kibaken Yondan.

Again I found the Kibaken kata not that easy to pick up and will need to train in it a few more times.

Sensei did some great bunkai to Meikyo and it was a great refresher it has been a while since I have practiced it.

Meikyo Nidan is one of my favourite Asai Ryu kata and this time round I picked up even more detail that I was not aware of.

Meiko Sandan, I need to go away and learn properly. Luckily Sensei Simon from Haxby was down tonight and was asking a couple of questions on M3, I might not be able to remember the kata but I managed to remember all the moves that he wanted to check with me. Hopefully I can practice the kata with Simon over the next 2 weeks, in case Sensei teaches it while he is with us on the York Course at Barlby on the 20/21st February.

Sensei also gave me three Dan grade certificates, Helen and my Nidan and Dom's Shodan. Helen I hope you will be able to collect yours soon.

Above : Dom and I with our Certificates from our gradings in December 09

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What Block Jim?

As you raise through the grades you should put some effort in to improving your knowledge of karate terminology. This will improve your understanding and in most cases make your training and grading easier as you will understand what you about to do before it is demonstrated.

Jim (visiting from the Haxby dojo) had described a block tonight as "Ude-Barai", but how does this translate to English?
While we are all familiar with "Gedan Bari", Gedan meaning lower level and Barai as sweep or parry.
To confuse things a little "Ude" is often interchanged with "Wan" and both mean arm.

So "Ude Barai" is arm sweep, it would be very difficult to sweep with the top of the arm and that it why it is usually referring to a forearm sweeping block or parry.
The forearm is "Zenwan" or sometimes "Shubo" which literally translates as "arm stick".

Different parts of the forearm also have their own terms:
"Haiwan" is the back of the forearms in left arm in H2 move 1.
"Naiwan" is the inside of the forearm (Thumb side)
"Gaiwan" is the outside of the forearm (Little finger side)
"Shuwan" is the underside of the forearm
remember all of the above are parts of the body not names of blocks in them self.

So Jim What you understand as "Ude Barai" could be explained as "Naiwan Barai" - Inside of forearm sweeping block / parry. Not every instructor will describe the same block in the same way, because as you can see you could describe the block detailing the inner forearm, the forearm or the whole arm, none of them would be wrong just not so specific. You could also add terms to the description to explain if the block comes from the outside or the inside, if it is at one level, rising or blocking down, seamlessly never ending......

My best advise is to try and pick up a few terms every month, you should be able to describe all the moves of all the kata you already know. If you think about it you may get stuck even at the beginning of H2?

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Welcome to Shotokan Karate at Hambleton

Just a quick post to say a big welcome to Charlie, Michael, Liam, Jamie, Sabrina, Harry and Megan who all tried Shotokan Karate for the first time tonight.
If you didn't get a chance to make week 1 please just turn up next week and look forward to joining in.
I'll ask Sensei Rebecca not to get so carried away on the warm ups next week.

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Thank you Sensei

Many thanks to Sensei Mike Gude - 5th Dan - Senior Instructor Haxby Shotokan Karate Club for travelling to Selby to take our younger members, while we held our club meeting.

Our senior members also enjoyed a session of Sensei Mike's kumite training for the last thirty minutes of training. Osu!

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SSKC "New Years" Meeting

Many thanks to all the members / parents that managed to attend what I hope will become an annual event in January. I was able to provide some detail to our planned diary that has been sent to all members and appears on the "Diary" page of this blog.

The clubs aim with its diary of events is to provide additional training and competition opportunities for those members that want to add to the normal weekly club training and IJKA Yorkshire Kato Shihan courses during the year. I would like these opportunities be available to all our karateka that would like to attend, without financial restraint on individuals or parents. A big aim I know.

We are a not for profit club and we try to set our fees so that we just cover our hall hire and insurances etc. My challenge to our karateka was, if they thought that this was a good idea we had better do a bit of self help.

Fundraising for these additional activities will be very much raised by our members, for our members. Our arrangements for fundraising will be formalised at our club AGM in May, but our members present were keen to make a start as soon as possible.

Julie has kindly agreed to take an initial lead as our "Fundraising Officer" the post will officially become available for election at the AGM. Funding will be raised for two causes:

1. The development of our senior Kyu grades and Dan grades by attending seminars, coaching and instructor courses etc, for the good and benefit of the club. The idea is to develop our members to become our instructors / club officials of the future. This is a long term cause of continued investment in our members.


2. The development of a "squad fund" to provide support for SSKC members of any grade to take part in local, regional, National and International competition.

Julie will in the coming weeks put together a fundraising committee to help her plan the clubs proposed events. They already have a few ideas to work on. Again, to be formalised at the AGM, but I would propose that any monies raised would be held in the clubs bank account, accounted for separately by the clubs treasurer and expended by a committee of 3 club members: Chairman, Secretary and Fundraising Member.

Look forward to hearing more about SSKC fundraising from Julie and her team in the near future.

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2010 Diary of Events

Below is the Diary for this Year, it is quite full because we have strong ambitions for our club and its members for 2010.We plan to start with a "New Years" club meeting which we would like as many adult members and parents to attend.

The Aim of the meeting is to discuss the outline of the attached calender and draft out an outline of actions for our club officials and members. If we leave this until the AGM we have wasted five months! I hope this will become an annual event to enable us to "kick start" out training and preparation for the year ahead.

10th January 2010	SSKC Barlby School	SSKC "New Years" club meeting
20th January 2010	SSKC Hambleton School	10 Week "Introduction to karate course"
6/7th February 2010	Whitchurch	Black and Brown Belt Training
20/21st February 2010	Barlby / York	Kato Shihan Cse & Grading
28th February 2010	SSKC Barlby School	Spring Beginners Course
6th March 2010	Dartford SKC	Hazard Shihan Course
7th March 2010	London	Kato Shihan Course
15th March 2010 (Monday)	Edinburugh	Kagawa Shihan Course
2nd May 2010	SSKC Barlby School	Club Competition
8th May 2010	Guildford	International Shobu Ippon Shotokan Open 2010
22/23rd May 2010	Whitchurch	Black and Brown Belt Training
30th May 2010	SSKC Barlby School	Club AGM
12/13th June 2010	York	Kato Shihan Cse & Grading
16/20th June 2010	Tallin, Estonia	IJKA European Course and Championships
19/25th July 2010	Hungary	Gasshuku
16th August 2010	Worldwide	Asai Sensei Memorial Day
12th September 2010	SSKC Barlby School	Autumn Beginners Course
?? October 2010	Sheffield	AMA Yorkshire Open
23/24th October 2010	York	Kato Shihan Cse & Grading
?? November 2010	Nottingham	JKS Nationals
4/5th December 2010	Whitchurch	Christmas Course & Gradings
19th December 2010	SSKC Barlby School	Christmas Display

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JKS (GB) Open Nottingham

This weekend nineteen karateka from Selby boosted the IJKA Yorkshire contingent travelling to Nottingham for the competition to thirty-seven.
Many thanks to our hosts Campbell and Langley Sensei for organising the competition and extending the invitation to join them.
We have never really been a competition orientated club but we are slowly trying to build into our training some preparation and build up a small team. It was very encouraging to see so many of our club members come and compete for the first time.
Although I am always a little disappointed at my performance I do find these events very motivational in my overall training. It spurs me on to make further improvements.

The IJKA results were as follows:

• 1st Place - Holly Bamford - Haxby Club - Ind. Kata - 10 to 4th Kyu - 10 to 15 years - Mixed
• 1st Place - Eve Nixon - York Club - Ind kumite - Any grade - 12 to 14 years - Girls
• 2nd Place - Max Baudouin - York Club - Ind Kata - 10 to 4th Kyu - 16+ years - Mixed
• 3rd Place - Elanneor Dook - York Club - Ind. Kumite - Any grade- 9 to 11 years - Girls
• 3rd Place - Julie Dallison - Selby Club - Ind. Kumite - 10th to 4th Kyu - 18+ years - Female
• 3rd Place - Paul Brant - Selby Club - Ind. Kumite - Any Grade - 40+ years - Male
• 3rd Place - Shaun Bushby - York Club - Team Kata - Any grade - 16+ years - Mixed
• 3rd Place - Jordan Rankin - York Club - Team Kata - any grade - 16+ years - Mixed
• 3rd Place - Simon Flint - Haxby Club - Team Kata - any grade - 16+ years - Mixed
• 3rd place - Tom Smith - Haxby Club - Team Kumite (Seibukan "B") - any grade - 13 to 15 years - mixed

Josh, Ellie, Abby, Amy, Lewis, Liam and Shauna were first on in the under 9 kata. Poor Shauna was I think the very first on. It is not easy when you are not even sure what should be happening. This happened to Rebecca at the European championships, it is very daunting. Don't worry about freezing, I do it all the time. Just look forward to the club competition in May. Abby did particularly well as a yellow belt knocking out a 2nd kyu, she was very unlucky not to be in the medals, may be next time?

Leila and Jammie competed in the 10 to 15 years section, which was always going to be tough. You both performed your kata as well as you could with no mistakes. Well done, you both have quite a few years left in this age band so better luck next year.

Claire, Alan and Julie all competed in the 16+ age group for 10th to 4th Kyu. I think as adults sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves. As normal with a couple of minutes to go I was trying to run through kata in my head and couldn't remember anything, I started to panic (as usual) and thought just forget everything, relax and go out with an empty mind. It actually worked. You have all done your first event now, it will be easier every time from now on (promise).

Rebecca was not competing so it left only Helen to fly the SSKC flag. I think her opening round was a split decision unfortunately going to the other karateka.

Dom, Mickey and myself were in a massive group of over thirty competing in 3rd kyu and above over 16 years. Poor Mikey was drawn against a really strong Japanese karateka. It seems that every event Mikey enters he has a really tough draw. I was just glad to finish my kata without a mistake, I usually get knocked out and then wait for the kumite.

The standard of kumite was really strong and unfortunately Shobu Ippon Kumite is not something that we practice very much of at all with our low grade youngsters. We tend to have a strong focus on Gohon kumite up to 4th Kyu and then Jiyu-Ippon Kumite from 3rd Kyu to 1st Kyu. I personally see this as a strong foundation to long term development, but it may be a short term disadvantage for competition preparation.

Claire, Alan, Julie as adults starting karate later in life I think kumite is difficult. We are not as flexible and we were as a youngsters and have been told for the last few decades not to go round punching and kicking people. Now our Sensei is shouting instructions from the sidelines , we can't hear them properly and having trouble breathing with this gum shield in our mouths. We keep think we are delivering scoring techniques, but no flags go up and the referee appears to be suddenly mute. The time keepers clock also seems to have stopped because we are starved of oxygen and there is not even a sign of the 30 second warning. When it does eventually come to the end of the round it is a draw and this bloke wants us to carry on for another minute when all we want to do is collapse in the corner out the way...welcome to Kumite, it does get better. Our big surprise of the day was Julie who gained a bronze medal for 3rd place in the Female kumite 10th to 4th kyu age 18+ years, not bad for a 7th Kyu, Gold next year?

Mikey competed in the 3rd kyu and above kumite a very tough section and was unlucky not to progress further.

Andy, Mike and myself competed in the "old mans" kumite which unfortunately was all a bit of a mix up, from entrants to the odd decision.

All in All, the JKS (GB) Open gave our club the opportunity to compete at a level in between our club competition and the IJKA Europeans. Hopefully we can all look forward to May when we will hold our club competition and I think it will be July in Tallin, Estonia for the Europeans but this is yet to be confirmed.

I would like to thank every one of the IJKA karateka for representing our three clubs, your discipline and conduct were a credit to our association. Otagai-ni-rei.

Many thanks to Gullen Shihan our coach, Sensei Mike,Ian and Bernard for acting as our representative officials, without whom none of us can compete. Sensei-ni-rei.

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JKS Open 21st November 09

The “Runners and Riders” are sorted and I have returned our list of entries to Campbell Sensei – JKS (GB) for 2009.

What a great turn out, thirty-eight karateka from IJKA Yorkshire will be travelling to the competition this year, with a total of Seventy-four entries to twenty-one of the thirty events run.

Above - The travelling contingent for 2008

I am particularly proud that we have eight entrants to the 9 years and below kata event, three entrants to the 8 years and below kumite event and 12 entrants to the 9-11 years kumite event. It is great to see our karateka getting involved in competition at an early stage of their training. It is also encouraging to see our adult low and mid grades stepping up to the mark and representing IJKA Yorkshire.

Hopefully the majority of the competitors can stay and support the squad for the whole day so that we can get a team photo at the end. Maybe we can win a couple of medals along the way, with such a good turn out there will always be someone to watch / support.

Above: Becks, Helen and Emma gained bronze at team kumite in 2008

Many thanks to sensei Ian Shaw from Haxby and Bernard Schilke from Selby who have kindly offered to act as IJKA officials for the day. Without their support we would not be able to enter.

Look forward to a great day and good luck, Osu!

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York Course and Grading - 10/11th October 09

Sensei was back in York for his autumn course and grading. Many thanks to Sensei Ian and Mike for hosting the weekend. As well as attracting karateka from the IJKA Yorkshire clubs of Haxby, Selby and York, we were also very pleased to see Karateka from Sensei Anne Hastings dojo, Leeds, Sheffield and members of the "Whitchurch Mafia".

Saturday for the first two hours was mainly focused around Kihon and Kihon Kumite, the third hour was was for black belts only learning the Kato-Ryu Kata Kibaken Sandan.

Sunday morning, more Kihon before the higher grades (purple belts up) went through Tekki Shodan and Hangetsu, but using sanchin and neko-ashi dachi instead of hangetsu and kokutsu dachi stances. While students graded the black belts had no time to rest they were put through their paces learning Kibaken Yondan and Godan. I was very pleased to get Kibaken Sandan in my head in one session, but Yondan and Godan will take a few more visits before I even have the sequence of moves.

Well done to all out students, Shauna graded to 11th Kyu, with Amy and Ellie achieving 10th Kyu.

Nathan, Jake, Leila and Liam were grading to 8th Kyu, achieving 3 full grades and a temporary grade for Liam. (Stronger kumite required Liam). Julie and Abby attained Yellow and Jammie only just missed out on a full grade but still gets to wear his yellow belt with a temporary pass.

Josh and Lewis were attempting the big step up from yellow to green belt. Both the boys came away with temporary grades, a good result for both these youngsters and they must now work on a period of consolidation before moving on.

Kelvin, Alan and Lucy all graded to 4th Kyu, excellent! Again you will need to work hard for best part of a year before you make the next big step up in grades to brown belt.

Both our brown belts were successful Michael attaining 2nd and Josh 1st Kyu, well done! A comment from the grading panel that your kumite was not as focused as your kihon and katas, something to work on in the next few months.

Above: The karateka of IJKA Yorkshire

After the presentation of the certificates Rebecca presented Sensei with a hand made 3Kg Kit-Kat. The massive four finger chocolate biscuit was hand made at Nestles in York and as well as the famous Kit-Kat logo sported the Kanji of the IJKA.

Above: Rebecca presents the IJKA Kit-Kat to Sensei Kato

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Kato Shihan - York Open Course - 10/11th October 2009

Above : Kato Shihan - York Feb 09

Sensei Kato 9th Dan IJKA chief instructor is coming to the Haxby Dojo at Wiggington Recreation Hall on Saturday and Sunday 10th/11th October 2009.

Full details of the weekend:
Saturday 10th - Wiggington Recreation Hall
1.30pm for 2pm to 4 pm training
4pm to 5 pm High Grades Only

Sunday 11th - Wiggington Recreation Hall
9.30am for 10am to 1pm training and gradings

Training Fees - £18.00

Grading Fees - £10.00 / £6.00 (12th to 10th Kyu)
If you are grading you MUST attend the course as well.

Please ensure that you attend as many sessions as possible as we approach grading. Paul will collect Training and grading fees in advance, so we can make a single payment on the day.

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Night out in York

Many thanks to Haxby dojo for hosting the night out in York last night. A couple of beers followed by a curry and another couple of beers.

Thanks for the invite and see you for training next week.

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Hiroshi Shirai Shihan course - Birmingham

Above : Hiroshi Shirai Shihan - 9th DanWSI

Shirai Shihan was born on 31st July 1937 in Nagasaki, Japan and started Karate in 1956 in Komazawa University.
His instructors there were Nishiyama & Tsujima Sensei. He received his Shodan in 1957 with Yamamoto and Kano Sensei.
He then attended the JKA Instructor's course from 1960 to 1962 with Watanabe, Kano and Nakajama where Nakayama, Nishiyama, Kase & Sugiura Sensei were his instructors. This was the course after Asai Sensei. He won the Japan Championships in 1962.

Sensei Shirai became a 9th Dan in 1999. He is the head of the World Shotokan Institute (WSI) and has been based in Italy since 1965.

Above : Shirai Shihan with members of IJKA Yorkshire

Gullen Shihan, Gude Sensei, Simon, Rebecca, Michael and myself travelled the 500km round trip to Birmingham today to train on the Goshin Shotokan Karate Do course. Both Shirai and Kase Shihan were a big influence in Sensei Andy's karate. I could recognise the way Andy builds his Kihon and develops his kumite drills from what we were taught today. Shirai's karate has a strong feel of Budo, the single 100% attack with nothing held back.

To me the training had a feel of Hangetsu, we would start with application and then train Goshin kata. A feel of strong controlled techniques starting "uchi" so that a rapid second technique could be blocked and countered. Techniques were practiced with attacks first in four and then eight directions. Defences were also executed with the attacker stepping in, walking towards or from behind, each time being subjected to a double attack.

Everyone will take away something different from the course, but for me I felt that I could react and turn 180 degrees in defense quicker than normal in the Goshin style stance.

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