Christmas Party

Monday the 10^th of December saw everyone arrive at the dojo for a reason other than training. It was time once again for our annual Christmas party. As had become a bit of a tradition with our parties we had hired something inflatable to keep everyone amused – this year it was an inflatable ‘jousting’ platform where you struggle to knock your opponent off their podium, whilst trying to stay upright on yours. No surprises it proved to be hugely popular with young and old, with a constant queue of excited potential combatants.

 

Making a welcome return were the fighting kangaroo suits, which whilst open to all some of our younger members struggled as they couldn’t see out of the neck hole as the suits were too big.

 

For those of us who wanted a welcome change from hitting each other there was a disco (kindly provided by Helen and Robin) and in the smaller room there was a quieter area for people to chat and enjoy some of the pizza and home baked goodies that were on offer.

It was great to see some of our friends from Selby had chosen to join us. Abi, Dave (and PJ) all came along. Abi has just started working down in Oxford so we don’t get to see her anywhere as much as we would like.



 

 

 

 

As usual we were touched by the generosity of our members and their families who once again amazed us with donations for raffle prizes. This proved to be a highlight of the evening and I don’t think we have seen anyone as excited as Thomas F to win a light fitting and a box of Tea!

We like to take the opportunity at these events to thank some of the people who have worked hard to make the club the success that it is today. Sensei Ian thanked Sensei Mike for his hard work and dedication in providing the instruction for the club – none of the instructors get paid or take any money for their efforts, but without them the club could not function.

Sensei Mike then managed to surprise Bob with a small token of our appreciation. Bob, as well as helping to man the sign in desk, has become the clubs unofficial photographer and bus driver. He cheerfully offers his help in any way he can. Without the support of parents and family members the club would not be able to provide as many opportunities for our members.

Thank you to Brenda, Lorraine, Helen and everyone else who helped out on the night, or to arrange the party. Thank you to everyone who donated gifts for the raffle and to Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian for making the club the warm family friendly place that we all enjoy so much.

2012 proved to be a very successful year for the club, roll on 2013 as I am sure will be going from strength to strength!

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Haxby Karate Kids - December's Friend

It was no surprise to me, who was taking Dojo home for Christmas!

Having been awarded him in November, Oliver was having so much fun that he didn't want him to leave just yet.
He was determined that he was going to keep Dojo so he made every effort and got those points rolling in.
Oliver was keen to check the points board every session to see who was closing the gap.

This is the first Christmas that Dojo has spent with friends and I'm sure that come the first training day that he will need to shed some of the festive cheer that he will of put on.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all members and their families a very Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year

Lorraine

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Beginners Class - Your Local Link

The January 2013 issue of the Your Local Link featured a photo alongside an article about our beginners class we are holding on January 14th. http://www.yourlocallink.co.uk/

With kind permsission of Your Local Link


visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

New Year Beginners Class

Have you made a New Years Resolution to keep fit, or would you like help shifting the extra pounds you have put on over Christmas - then come along to our New Years Beginners Course:



visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

JKS Christmas Course and Dan Grading

The JKS Christmas Course 2012

 The JKS Christmas Course is always a highlight of the year. To be honest we don’t really need a reason other than it is an opportunity to train with both Sensei Alan Campbell and Sensei Scott Langley. But it is also a great opportunity for some of our up and coming brown belts to come along and see the type of training they will be getting on the regular Black and Brown Belts courses, essential if they wish to be consider for their Shodan grading.

Sensei John standing out from the crowd!

This time we came by the bus load! Brenda having once again arranged the loan of the mini bus (which Bob kindly volunteered to drive). Representing the club were Bethany, Elizabeth, Adam, Jonathan, Dael, Brenda, Holly, Lorraine, Pete, Sensei Mike, Sensei Ian, Sensei John, and Sensei Jim.

Dael showing excellent control

The training, as you would expect, was excellent. Sensei Scott focussed on relaxed movement, only keeping kime for a split second, and using kime at any point of a movement not just at the end. This culminated in a different approach to Heian Shoad – where instead of stopping at the point where the attack or block is delivered, you stop at the preparation point for the next move, but still have to deliver the attack or block with full kime. This was a very interesting (and challenging) exercise and also nicely displayed just how useful kata are as a tool for teaching karate. We then finished off with defences from multiple attackers.

Bethany being toughened up by Brenda!

Sensei Alan nicely complemented this theme by looking at more relaxed and circular self defence techniques, and some toughening exercises. Finishing off with taking us through Nijushiho, and advanced kata, which has much to challenge you, but when performed well is very graceful.

All in all it was a hugely enjoyable course, and a great opportunity to train with some friends from the JKS, and make some new ones!

Brenda, Adam, Bethany & Elizabeth

The bus then departed leaving behind just some of the senior members of the club. A couple of whom were trying hard to control their nerves as Lorraine and Pete were going to be attempting their Shodan Gradings.

Sensei Mike, once again was asked to be part of the grading panel, and the rest of us could only watch nervously as the gradings started. Both of our karateka did themselves and the club proud, putting in very strong grading performances – I know that they will provide a whole list of small things that they feel they did wrong – but sometimes we are our harshest critic.

Sensei Mike with the grading panel

All too soon (but having been there it seems like an eternity!) it was the time for the results to be announced – Pete aced both the Kihon and Kata sections, but was asked to repeat the kumite part of his grading at the 24^th February 2013 – to us it looked like he easily dominated his opponent, but there were a couple of technical points that the panel picked up on.
As soon as it was announced that Lorraine had successfully passed her Shodan grading she immediately burst into tears! (Thank you to Sensei Wendy for running over with a tissue for her).

Pete practicing one of the self
defence applications

Well done to both our karateka. It takes a huge amount of dedication and courage even to attempt your Shodan grading, let alone put in the quality of the performances that Pete and Lorraine did. It is a testament to Pete’s character that he was back to training as normal the following week – karate is a journey and there will be the occasional bumps along the way – it takes dedication, commitment and determination to overcome them.

Following the training there was a JKS Instructors meeting, where once again Haxby & Selby were thanked for our donation to the England Squad fund last year.

Sensei Mike ensuring that Lorraine
 attacks with maximum spirit!

The final part of the day was a meal out in Nottingham with Sensei Alan, Sensei, Wendy, Sensei Scott and others. To our surprise the Haxby & Selby contingent made up half the table! It was hugely enjoyable meal, we all relished the chance to socialise with our top instructors in a very informal setting. Thank you to Sensei Wendy for making all the arrangements – not only for the meal and the course, but thank you for all your hard work throughout the year organising the regular Black and Brown Belt courses, other JKS courses and particularly ensuring that everyone who trains holds an up to date licence. This is a huge task considering the size of the JKS and you do it brilliantly!

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

JKS Nationals 2012

Alex doing Heian Nidan

A dozen or so club members travelled down to Nottingham very early one very wet and windy morning to represent their club at the JKS National Championships. For some of us this was their first test of competition, others have been competing for several years now, but there is always something about the JKS Nationals that make it special, maybe it is because it was our first taste of competition, maybe it is because it is our associations flagship event, or maybe because both the competition and the standard of the competitors has been getting better year on year.

Elizabeth doing Heian Nidan

Jemimah, Bethany, Elizabeth, Thomas (F), Oli, Kian, Holly, Tom (S), Alex and Jim were all stepping onto the mat on behalf of the club. We put in some very strong performances, several team members getting through the first round of kata, and some blistering bouts of kumite but unfortunately missed out on the medals. Our Kata team (Holly, Oli, and Thomas (F)) did themselves proud by getting through to the quarter finals in a very tough field, especially as they only had about a month’s practice!

Look at the focus on Jemimahs' face!

Although we didn’t bring any medals home the squad did themselves, their families and the club proud. The technical standard of our kata was excellent, there was spirit and attack to spare in the kumite, and as always I was very proud of the sportsmanship of the team.



Thomas getting stuck in!

I was particularly impressed this year by our small, but very vocal cheering section. Several sets of parents took the time and effort to bring their children (and others) to the event, and made sure that when Haxby was on the mat, everyone knew about it! Thank you also for making sure that everyone got lifts etc… Without families that are willing to support their karateka it would be impossible to get everyone to the courses, competitions and gradings that they need to go to in order to keep progressing.

A final thank you must, as usual, go to Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian. They always put themselves forward to help with the judging at these events, and if you thought it was tiring sitting on the side lines watching one of these events, imagine how exhausting it must be to have to concentrate on judging competitors all day!

The Kata Team (Holly, Oli & Thomas) perform Tekki Shodan

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Sensei Kitigawa Course 13th November 2012

In November Sensei Tahashi Kitigawa 6th Dan JKS came to England for a week. Sensei Kitigawa usually instructs in New York and we were offered to opportunity to host him in York for an evening’s training. Understandably we jumped at the chance and decided to focus the course on the higher grades so we could pick up some more advanced techniques and ideas from this very experienced instructor.

The course was held at Scarcroft School (which proved quite challenging to find!) as none of the normal training venues were available that night. We knew that it would be a small course, but saw this as an opportunity to get more personal instruction, still four clubs were represented, with our friends from Kaizen No-Michi making the trip over from Grimsby.

The course was excellent, Sensei Kitigawa particularly impressed with his ability to deliver multiple kicks in quick succession, the secret to which he quickly demonstrated was to ensure that the initial knee position was correct and the knee did not drop after delivering the first kick. Another focus of the course was about keeping relaxed when punching and punch from the elbow not the fist, and kick with the knee and not the foot.

We finished off then excellent and memorable evening with an informal meal which gave us the chance to get to now Sensei Kitigawa in a more informal atmosphere.

Thank you to Sensei Paul for handling all the arrangements with JKS England, Sensei Mike for hosting Sensei Kitigawa during his stay in York and Brenda for making all the arrangements for the course and the meal.

For those of us who journeyed to Nottingham for the Black and Brown Belt course the weekend after, we had another opportunity to train with Sensei Kitigawa, and he was the guest instructor on the course. This helped to reinforce the key messages and to start working on some new ones, like correct use of hips and ensuring you get maximum hips twist.

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

New Year's Resolution

If you have made a New Year’s resolution to get fit or loose weight then why not give karate a go. Karate is a fantastic way to keep fit, increase flexibility and improve self-confidence no matter what your age, size or fitness level. If you want to give it a go and see how karate can benefit you then pop down to our free beginners session on Monday 14^th January from 7pm-9pm.

To find out more email info@haxbykarate.co.uk or call 0758 324 9115

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Club Christmas Party – 10th December

We are pleased to announce that this years Christmas party will be held on Monday 10th December 2012 from 6:30pm to 8:30 pm at Wigginton Recreation Hall.

This year, as well as a disco we are planning some more fun games (you never know the sumo suits or fighting kangaroos might make another appearance!) and of course some food.

This has proven to be a great, fun family event and is open to all – club members, and their families and friends. Tickets cost just £5 each (or £15 for a family ticket) and can be bought at training sessions. We will also be holding a raffle, and would be very grateful for any donations for prizes.


visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Flickr

If anyone has any photos of the grading or the Club in general, that we can use either on our website or flickr account then please pass them on to us or tag us on Flickr. Our flickr accout is http://www.flickr.com/photos/haxbykarateclub/

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Another grading sucess

The entire club has really been putting in the effort to get ready for this grading, everyone has been training hard and this really showed on Sunday.

The day started with training for 4^th Kyus and below. We were lucky enough to have both sensei Alan Campbell (now a regular instructor at our grading courses) and Sensei Matt Price (making his first, but I am sure not his last, visit as our guest instructor. Having seen Sensei Matt running the Squad Training sessions after the Black and Brown Belt courses I knew that his instruction is excellent, but what impressed me most was how quickly he had the junior members of all the clubs instantly engaged and hanging off his every word and command.

Sydney with Sensei Matt

After the first hour or so Sensei Matt moved to the more senior members of the clubs whilst Sensei Alan led the gradings. Everyone put in maximum effort to impress the examiners, and impress them they did with Thomas and Harriet both attaining 11^th Kyu, and Sydney (after being singled out by Sensei Matt for her good Stance) passing 10^th Kyu. Richard and Lisa both did well (standing out somewhat as two of the very few adults that were grading and training at that time) and secured 9^th Kyu, well done I always think the first grading can be the most difficult as you don’t really know what to expect! Kian continued his pursuit of his brother Aaron by taking 8th Kyu along with Abigail, Sam and Rebecca (who is managing to keep one step ahead of her mum!).

Phew! The first section of the grading over and already we had 10 successful gradings. More importantly everyone that I have spoken to since the grading has said how much they enjoyed the training and that they have taken a lot from the day.

Sam showing good form with his Yoko Geri Keage

After a short pause and some more instruction from Sensei Matt, this time with the higher Kyu and the Dan grades. The next group of our young karateka were ready to face their examiners. Seven members of the club going for purple belt and I am delighted to say that all of them were successful. Well done to Alex, Rachel, Robert, Lauren, Bailey, Fraser and Jemimah – several of you have other family members who train at the club and you’ll need to work hard to make sure that they don’t start to catch you up! Bethany managed to stay ahead of the pack by not only consolidating her temporary grade from the last grading but also achieving a full grade to 4^th Kyu.

Whilst this was going on Sensei Matt was taking the higher grades through some excellent kumite drills and discussing his views on kumite. I think the one that got the most agreement was that it is a lot more fun to hit the other person than be hit by them! We finished this session with some self defence applications that whilst being practical also proved to be very entertaining! Sensei  Alan finished off the training with a session on Kata, firstly looking at Heian Yondan in detail then taking us through Joko Issei, which was new to most and proved to be a very interesting and demanding kata. I really enjoy these ‘snapshots’ of some of the more unusual or not often practiced kata as they show us the variety and breath of the Shotokan Style of karate.

Bethany and Thomas appear to be enjoying
 their training far too much

With most of our club members already successfully graded the focus now fell onto the higher grades. First up was Alex, who has recently returned to the club after a break from training and sometime experiencing other martial arts. I think it is no secret that Alex was very nervous going into the grading despite the assurances of her instructors, however she really dug deep to put in a strong performance to grade to 3^rd Kyu. Well done Alex, I am sure that your drive and determination will see you to your Shodan.

Last up were our Brown Belts. Thomas, Oliver and Lee were all attempting their 2^nd Kyu and as this was the last group grading there was some extra pressure as all eyes were on them. Needless to say they all rose to the challenge and claimed their next grade. A special mention must go to Lee who achieved this in spite of injuring his ankle earlier in the week.

Oli and Lee get stuck in with the kumite
section of their grading

What a day! With 90 people grading from 6 clubs thanks must go to Sensei Paul for all the hard work he puts in behind the scenes to organise and run these events, and to sensei Alan and Sensei Matt for their excellent instruction. I look forward to the next grading course in February which promises to be even bigger and will be taken by Sensei Alan Campbell and Sensei Scott Langley.

In the meantime, back to the dojo to carry on the journey….

Haxby Karate Kids -The Adventures Of Dojo Chapter 2

Dojo was lucky enough to visit Evie this month. This is what the pair of them got up to!







Evie decide to widen Dojo's gaming abilities to a game of Dominoes. This was totally new to him but Evie was a fantastic coach and soon had him placing tiles like a pro.  I am led to believe though that Dojo did sneakily peek at Evie's tiles when she left the room. Tut, tut there is no short cuts to being a master and he should know that!











Dojo loves being out and about and he was delighted when they arrived at Creepy Crawlies.  He normally has a fantastic sense of balance, however Gi's and wavy slides are not a good combination as Dojo soon found out!  Luckily  Evie did not have the same problem and was quick to come to his rescue and offered some much needed TLC.











Evie only left Dojo for a moment and look what the cheeky bear got up too!  keeping hydrated is very important when you're hot from running around.  The water was Evie's and she had said that if he needed a drink he could have some of hers,  the Cheddars however! that is a mystery and we're still unsure as how he got hold of them.  All we can hope is that Evie's fantastic manners have rubbed of on him and that he did ask first!











visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Older People's Champion - The Local Link

The November 2012 edition of the Local Link (page 19) featured an article about Sensei Mike being made Older People's Champion.

With kind permission of The Local Link www.yourlocallink.co.uk





visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Older People's Champion - The Handy Mag

The York Edition of The Handy Mag featured an article about Sensei Mike being made Older People's Champion. Click here to see it online (page 39)

With kind permission of The Handy Mag


visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

What a night!

Monday 1st October was one of the busiest sessions we have ever had. We held our first ever Over 50's session that was part of the City of York Council's Eng-age 50+ games. Sensei Ian and Sensei Mike had been instructed to bring along their certificates that they had received at the Award Ceremony for Older People's Champion awards. 



A photographer from The Press came to take a photo of Sensei Mike who had been made an Older People's Champion. Dojo Bear was awarded to Evie for all her hardwork during September.

At the end of the evening we held a surprise 

party for Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian to show them how proud we are of them for all their hardwork and dedication to the Club.



Oh and we did some training as well!

              

Older People's Champion 2nd Article - The Press

An article appeared in The Press on Thursday 4th October about the award ceremony for Older People's Champion which of course included Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian.

With kind permission from The Press www.yorkpress.co.uk




visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Haxby Karate Kids - Dojo's Friend

Dojo has chosen a special young Lady to be his friend this time.
The winner for the month of September is Evie.  Evie joined the club in July and rarely misses a session.  Dojo is delighted in the way Evie always listens to an instructor and always tries her hardest.  She watches intently to what is being shown and quickly stands waiting, a little pool of calm, when everyone else is still bouncing around .  Well done Evie, a lesson you have quickly learnt...... to perform well, you must watch and listen first.











visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Older People's award - The Press

An article and photo appeared in The Press on 3rd October 2012 Click here to view 

Sensei Mike has won and Sensei Ian was nominated for City of York Council's Older People's Champion for Sport and Active Leisure. We are very proud of our instructors who have worked so hard to make the Club a success. Due to injury Sensei Ian does not do as much instructing and training as he would like but he continues to work tirelessly for the Club. 

With kind permission of The Press www.yorkpress.co.uk 



visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Free Over 50's session tonight

Free over 50's session tonight at Wigginton Recreation Hall, The Village, Haxby, YO32 2PL, as part of City of York Council's Eng-age 50+ games. Come along and find out how karate can help you develop your fitness, increase your strength and build your self-confidence. The class is suitable for all fitness levels and abilities. No need to book just turn up. Click here for more information

 www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

The Handy Mag - article

The October  2012 edition of The Handy Mag featured an article about Haxby Shotokan Karate Club's Free session for the over 50's

with kind permission of The Handy Mag http://www.thehandymag.co.uk/ 

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Aaron Leads the Warm ups

Thanks to Aaron for leading the warm ups last night at the start of another great training session.

Sensei John took the Green Belts through their grading syllabus whilst Sensei Jim took the rest of the class through basics and five step kumite - for the higher grades all combinations and kumite was in either Neko Ashi Dachi or Kokutsu Dachi in order to work on the stances and the transitions between the stances. The first session finished with Heian Shodan - for the higher grades all the moves that are normally done in front stance were done in Kokutsu Dachi and vice-versa (thanks to Sensei Bex from Selby for the inspiration for this one!).

After the break Sensei Paul took the 1st Kyus and Black Belts through some of the advanced kata whilst Sensei Jim took everyone else through all the Heian Katas, Tekki Shodan , Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, Empi, Jion, and Junro Shodan - it is increasing difficult the more you progress to remember everything you have been taught, so it is good to go over all the kata you know occasionally. Everyone worked hard and sweat was flowing freely by the end! The higher grades were then paired with a lower grade to work on whichever kata the higher grade thought was their weakest, this was followed by a fun kata competition were the pairs were pitted against each other - with some surprising results!

Finally the whole class was brought back together for some kumite exercises - again pitting the higher grades against the lower grades.

A good, fun training session. Well done to everyone for working hard!

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Haxby Karate Kids - Dojo's Friend

The winner of Dojo's admiration for the month of August is Jamie.  Jamie was awarded his certificate on Monday's training session by Sensei Jim.  Dojo had been impressed by the way Jamie paid attention during lessons.  This has showed by the improvement in Jamie's basics particularly with his mae-geri (front kick) and punches.  Jamie is a keen student who trains twice a week and this had not gone unnoticed by Dojo too.  Well done Jamie for all your hard work and we look forward to all the escapades that you two will undoubtedly get up to.


visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Free 'Over 50's Karate Class'

Haxby Shotokan Karate Club is getting involved with Just 30’s campaign to get people to do 30 minutes exercise a day. The Club is holding a special free class for the over 50’s as part of the Eng-AGE 50+ games.  The special free ‘Over 50’s class’ which is designed to show that karate can be learnt by anyone, whatever their age or fitness level is being held on Monday 1^st October from 7pm-9pm at Wigginton Recreation Hall, The Village, Haxby, York, YO32 2PL. 

For more details or to book a place on the free session email info@haxbykarate.co.uk or phone 0758 324 9115. More information on Haxby Shotokan Karate Club can be found on their website www.haxbykarate.co.uk. More details on Just 30 can be found at www.justafewminutesmore.com

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to receive a free training session. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk