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.
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.
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.
Training
A good second class tonight at the Weoley Castle dojo with the brown and black belts covering a lot of ground. All the Heian kata were revisted. Bassai Dai, Jion, Hangestu, Enpi and Kanku Dai for the 1st Kyus. For the dan grades Meikyo and Chinte were covered and we started / revisited Unsu for the 1st and 2nd dans.
Training
We had a great advanced session yesterday with the black and brown belts at the Longbridge dojo. Earlier in the session we revisited the Heian kata and later Sensei Sue Hession worked on the Shodan grading kata whilst Sensei Richard Amuzu took an depth look at Nijushiho and its bunkai before finishing off with Meikyo.
Training
Another good advanced training session tonight with the black and brown belts at the Longbridge dojo. Todays session concentrated basics (kihon waza) and semi-free sparring (jiyu ippon kumite) with an eye on the upcoming gradings. The session emphasised the importance of correct fighting distance (maai) and strong technique in the attack and counter when sparring.
