Tag: Training

…students do not have the same passion.

Written by Shihan on August 23, 2016. Posted in Karate, My thoughts. No Comments on …students do not have the same passion.

I have been debating with myself whether to write the following blog or not as it may seem a little egoistic, but after some thought I decided to go ahead after all this is a blog. I have to turn back the clock a few years to when I started training, I would take every opportunity to train which in the early days was not so easy. There was never a question about how far or how long it would take to go somewhere to find a dojo, so I suppose going to Japan was a natural step.

Now lets come back to the present time, the opportunity to train is a lot easier as kyokushin karate has spread and there a many dojos and good instructors about. I travel quite frequently sometimes to small towns and big cities to teach yet I am still suprised that students do not take the opportunity to attend the training and learn, after all I am a member of the WKO technical committee I would think that most high grades would take the chance to come along and find out what’s happening and ask questions.

As I said at the start I would go anywhere to train but I am afraid that the present day students do not have the same passion or perhaps its society in general that makes people the way they are.

Sayonara Party 1975

Written by Shihan on February 10, 2016. Posted in Karate. No Comments on Sayonara Party 1975

Singing was a very popular pastime at the sayonara parties in the early days. The master of ceremonies would call on someone to start and then he would ask the next person to sing etc. Having lived in Japan I was aware of what was going on so I had a very simple song prepared just in case. But for some people it came as a little shock.

Well it’s over…

Written by Shihan on January 12, 2016. Posted in Image highlights, Karate, My thoughts. No Comments on Well it’s over…

Well it’s over, Christmas and the new year celebrations are slowly becoming a distant memory. 2015 was a big year for Göteborgs Karate Kai, we celebrated our 50 years anniversary and it was fifty years ago i walked into a dojo.

I cannot even start to sum up what has been achieved in the Dojo over the last fifty years perhaps the fact that we are still going strong says it all.

The first part of 2015 was taken up with organizing the 50 year party, which was held in June with about 150 guests, some from Norway, Spain and of course Shihan Heath from Wales.

Presentations were given, speeches made and some light entertainment was provided by some students.

We also had guest trainers from Brazilian jiu jitsu and a personal trainer who gave us some tips on weight training. At the end of the year three students went to Japan to try for their next Dan grade, Sensei Theresa, Sensei Luis who both succeeded for 4^th Dan and Sensei George who succeeded for 5^th Dan, which makes him a Shihan. The first one we have produced in 50 years, so I guess you could say that at GKK it takes 50 years to make a 5^th Dan.

Most people would talk about how many champions they have or how many competitions they have won but maybe it’s better to think of all the people that have been helped by the training they received. As a dojo we are still going strong and most new members come to us by word of mouth and the old students who have stopped training bring their children to train.

That must say something about Kyokushin Karate and the dojo when parents bring what could be the next generation to the dojo.

Japan 2015

Written by Shihan on November 11, 2015. Posted in Camps, Image highlights, Karate. No Comments on Japan 2015

Well by know everyone is back in their own countries after a hectic few days in Japan. The World tournament is only held every four years, but what a tournament, on the final day Tokyo metropolitan Gymnasium was sold out.

The atmosphere was electric, for those who had travelled from far away it must have been a great experience. The fighting was hard, but I thought that low kicks where not so popular this time, rather the kaiten or rolling kick seemed to be in favour. Low kick were used but I can’t remember seeing any scores from them, but we did get some spectacular knockouts with no injuries.

Anyway after the Tournament there was the usual Sayonara party, but for many it was not sayonara as we had our seminar and grading yet to come. The seminar was full, we had 420 participants from 49 countries and 109 who wanted to grade, this was the biggest so far. So you can see that the WKO Shinkyokushinkai organization is growing.

Trying to give as much knowledge to so many in such a short time was hard, but I did my best, after the seminar there was the usual grill party where the students who passed the grading was announced.

All in all a very successful trip to Japan, we should say thank you for all the work that was done before hand to make the event a tremendous success.

Honbu

Written by Shihan on October 4, 2015. Posted in Image highlights, Karate. No Comments on Honbu

Honbu 1971 consisted of a basement where there were changing rooms and showers. The first floor was the entrance and a small dojo, the second floor was the main dojo and then the office and finally Sosai’s living quarters. I lived behind Honbu at the uchi-deshi apartment.

Kihon application

Written by Shihan on September 28, 2015. Posted in Karate, Videos. No Comments on Kihon application

In this clip I am showing some application ideas of mawashi uke and kake uke. I also let the students practise different levels of bunkai in groups and make them analyse different techniques so they can come up with their own ideas. This helps them to understand what they are doing.

When do you start preparing to train?

Written by Shihan on May 25, 2015. Posted in Karate, My thoughts, Philosophy. No Comments on When do you start preparing to train?

Are you the kind of person who runs into the dojo at the very last minute and then thinks about Training? Most of us like to get to the dojo at a reasonable time in order to stretch and warm up a Little. My blog this time is about when do you start preparing to train, here are some simple tips for you.

If you start from work or home the idea is the same, try not to think about the days problems rather think about the training thats going to come, take a deep breath.
When you take off your shoes place them tidily on the floor, this means that you have left the outside world and have started your preparation.
You take off your daily cloths and put on a clean white gi, another step in leaving not only the outside world but also your ego. Once the gi is on we are all one.
When you enter the dojo you give a loud Osu showing that you are ready to do your best and train hard.
Great your Sempai, Sensei to show them that your ready.
Lessons usually start with Mokuso, this is the final step before you can start training the last chance to leave the outside world and focus on what is to come. Breath deeply and slowly and calm your mind.

So don’t think that your training starts when your instructor says Hajime, think again.

So the year has started…

Written by Shihan on January 30, 2015. Posted in Demonstrations, Karate, Videos. No Comments on So the year has started…

We started 2015 with a small demonstration at a local shopping centre, it was only for 15 minutes. 15 minutes to show what Kyokushin is all about is an almost imposable task. We demonstrated Kihon, ido keiko and then using focus mits to show some good power and energy using kicks and punches which seemed to impress the spectators and finally some tameshiwari. Even after all these years tameshiwari is still the most popular.

So the year has started for Gothenburg’s Karate Kai, let’s hope it’s a good one.

Is kiai a lost art?

Written by Shihan on October 2, 2014. Posted in Image highlights, Karate, My thoughts. No Comments on Is kiai a lost art?

It seems that wherever I go in the world Kiai is slowly disappearing. Its slowly being replaced by something that sounds like an old steam train. Kiai should represent a combination of energy and technique culminating in ichigeki, the final blow the finishing technique. What we have now sounds like someone trying to blow out a candle. Get back to basics and practice your Kiai.

Summer training

Written by Shihan on August 14, 2014. Posted in Image highlights, Karate. No Comments on Summer training

This is one of the reasons we have steps outside the dojo. Sometimes you have to test yourself in different ways, walking up steps on your hands or seiken is just one way to do that. We took advantage of the nice weather to do some outside training on a Friday night. There was also the usual hopping up the stairs, running etc hopefully this helps strengthen the legs. You just have to be careful when doing such training in fact you should always be careful.

As in instructor you should always be aware if any of your students have any injuries that might prevent them from performing a particular movement safely if that is the case give them an alternative.