Club Notices
With the recent changes to the club name and badge it seemed the perfect opportunity to offer the opportunity for club members to be able to purchase club embroidered gi and over-gi. These were officially unveiled this week and expertly modelled by Mike and Faye in the videos below.
If you wish to purchase either an embroidered gi or over-gi please speak to Sensei Sue.
Grading
Special congratulations to our newest yudansha. This evening as a culmination of years of dedication and hard work Elijah Farrel-Reid, Libby Conway, Natalia Bak and Rouédel Farrel-Reid passed their shodan (1st Dan) black belt grading. They all exhibited a very high standard whilst taking what is always a challenging and grueling examination.
We know how hard you have all worked to achieve this grade and on behalf of everyone at BWCSK and from Sensei Sue and Sensei Richard we would like to say very well done to you all.
We would also like to congratulate everyone who passed their kyu gradings this evening. We were very pleased with the standard on display as a result of all of your persistence, hard work and diligent training. Well done from Sensei Sue, Sensei Richard and all of the BWCSK team.
Competition
Jacob McBride took part in the Rhondda Open Karate Championships in Wales this weekend coming away with a bronze medal in the Adult Kata and Silver in the Under 16s Kata plus a Bronze in the Under 16s Kumite categories. Well done Jacob, another brilliant result for this exceptional young man.
Training
A number of students set out on Sunday 24th February 2019 to Sensei Mandie Read of Dudley Shukokai Karate‘s dojo to have a training sensei on the mats. The dojo ias fully kitted out with tatami mats and other equipment giving us the perfect opportunity to practise throws, sweeps and competition kata. We covered basic throws, reaps and sweeps with escapes from grabs and other scenarios.
Training
Just a few short videos of the first class at longbridge on Wednesday night with the juniors and seniors working on Keri Waza (kicking techniques). Starting off slowly, then building up speed, this helps students guage distance, use correct technique and control when striking a target. Still a work in progress but a good effort by all.
The second class was an improtu kobudo (weapons) class by request with the seniors working on the bo kata shushi no kon.
On Monday night at Weoley Castle, we had a few surprise visitors with some old friends and former students of Shihan Cummins, Daniel Eccles and Yvonne Skalban dropping in and sensei Richard Amuzu coming by for a bit of bo practice.
Training
As they say a picture speaks a thousand words and this entry in our Dojo Diary series of posts is going to take advantage of that old adage. Here are a few photos and videos from the Weoley Castle dojo on the 7th February 2019 where the session concentrated on kicking and sparring with Sensei Sue Hession.
Grading
Great session tonight at Longbridge Methodist Church, with Shaniah Hopkins earning her 4th kyu due to her exceeding dedication which has saw her more than surpass the requirements for the grade and a merit certificate for attending 32 training sessions in January applying herself dilligently in all
.
The main topic covered in tonight’s training was elbow strikes (Empi Uchi)
upwards strike (Age Empi), downwards strike (Otoshi Empi), Side strike (Yoko Empi), backwards strike (Ushiro Empi), roundhouse strike (Mawashi Empi). These were practised as a kata and with partner work to practice them from both karate attacks and swing punches and grabs. Amazing where did two hours go .
Training
We had a great session on Monday night with Sensei Sue Hession at the Weoley Castle dojo, Ajay Reeves, Shania Hopkins, Archie Tullock, were competion training for an upcoming competition in March. They all did very well and did their parents proud.
Another great session on Thursday night finishing off with weopons training with Jacob McBride and Michael paul having their first attempt at a kata with the sai. Great first attempt by the two students.
Competition
On the day that would have been the late Shihan Cyril Cummins birthday, two BWCSK students entered the Kwon Grand Slam Series 2019 competition both doing very well in their respective categories. A fitting way to celebrate our late Sensei’s birthday.
Shania Hopkins whilst she didn’t medal she came 4th out of thirteen entries in her category her first big kumite competition and the same for kata excellent for a 10 year old
Jacob McBride won Silver in Adults Kata and Kumite brilliant for a 15 year old, he also won Gold in under 17 Kumite and Gold in Pairs Kata with Harley Cottis (from our friend and also Shihan Cummins former student Sensei Steve Garland’s The Fudoshin Dojo),
Training
This week at the Longbridge dojo on Wednesday Sensei Sue took everyone through their paces teaching what was new kata for some whilst also preparing some students for an upcoming competition. Sensei Richard took the opportunity to continue along the same theme and work on a kata the students were already familiar with, Bassai Dai.
It is always important to revisit and constantly practise everything we have learnt as well as learning new things as we progress along our karate journey. To that end on the advanced class we concentrated on the details of the kata trying to iron out any little mistakes that inevitably creep in to our kata and explain some of the common variations that are prevalent plus examine in detail each technique and possible applications for them.
On Saturday we continued with Nijushiho, going through the kata again several times and letting the students explore some of the bunkai with partner work. We then moved onto Bassai Dai a kata that everyone was familiar with but concentrating on partner work with the pairs trying to explore the bunkai themselves in order to get everyone thinking about why they do each part of the kata and how they interpret it. We finished the session with a look at each individual’s grading kata.
