Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian's surprise

An article appeared in The Press on 24th April 2013 regarding the Club raising money to send Mike and Ian to Japan for the JKS Annual Trip.

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


visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to find out more about our Club. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

A Very Special Course

On Sunday 7^th April, over 70 karateka gathered at York University for a ‘Special’ Karate Course. We had arranged for Alan Campbell, Scott Langley, and Rob McCartney Sensei to provide the instruction.

The course was split into two sections. Sensei Alan took the adults and senior grades for the first session on Junro Shodan, focusing on correct turning and spinning on the heel or ball of the foot. He then handed over to Sensei Scott who focused on the two handed simultaneous block and attack moves in Junro

Nidan. The class was completed by sensei Rob showing lots of applications to Heian Sandan. There was certainly a lot of discussion after each session about what had just been covered, and a lot of people practicing some of the moves to

make sure that they would not forget them – always the sign of very engaging, useful and motivating instruction!

Meanwhile the Junior karateka were put through their paces by Paul, Lorraine and Jim Sensei. The first hour consisted of warm up games – designed to increase their concentration and attention. For the second session Sensei Paul had arranged for

Kat, one of the Olympic torch bearers, to talk to the children about her experience of carrying the Olympic torch, and there were lots of games based around the campaign for Karate to be in the 2020 Olympics. Things got (a little) more serious in the final session when we had a kumite based competition for the children. There were several rounds of ‘grab the tag’ –

where you have to grab the ribbon in your opponent’s belt whilst protecting your tag – ideal practice for real kumite (and the upcoming Selby Competition!). Medals were awarded for the top competitors by Sensei Alan.

Kat’s endless patience in giving absolutely everyone who wanted the opportunity to have their photo taken with her and

her Olympic torch was rewarded when Sensei Paul surprised her with a cheque from the Selby Karateka who has done nearly 6000 sponsored karate technique in order to raise money to help Kat with her sports training.

This surely was enough to make the course special – an afternoon of excellent karate instruction, karate based fun, games, and a mini competition for the younger karateka, a visit from an Olympic torch bearer! But no, the main reason we were all there had yet to be revealed (well to two of the people there anyway!).

For the past seven months John, Paul and Jim had been plotting to deliver a little surprise to Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian. They had even gone so far as to involve the entire committee from the Haxby Club (with the exception of Mike and Ian of course). The reason given for the course was to allow those clubs which had recently joined the JKS (as the North Yorkshire clubs had) to have an intensive introduction to the Junro Katas, which they may not

have trained extensively in before. The real reason for the course was to raise funds to send Mike and Ian on this year’s annual JKS trip to Japan!

Ian was a founder member of the club back in 1981 and Mike has been instructing for over 20 years. Neither of them has ever taken any money out of the club, for their instruction or for anything else, in fact they have put their own money into the club on several occasions to keep the club going for their students. We felt that it was high time that we showed them just how much

this dedication and passion about the club means to their students. They have never mentioned the effort they have put in to the club or asked for anything in return – when the club nominated them for ‘Older People Champions’ last year it was clear that they did not look for any recognition (judging by the amount of trouble we were in for doing it!). Mike and Ian have never had the opportunity to train at the Hombu Dojo in Japan, and the entire club, felt that this was a suitable reward for their years of leadership of the club. Needless to say we (the plotters) were very grateful to have Sensei Scott there to make the announcement as he would be leading the trip to Japan.

We managed to pull off a total surprise and I don’t think that Mike and Ian could quite believe that over 70 karateka had come to help show what high regard they are held by our community. Indeed it is reflection of how well that they are respected that all the instructors volunteered their service free of charge.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the course for

helping us to surprise our instructors. In particular Sensei Alan Campbell, Sensei Scott Langley and Sensei Rob McCartney for leading the course and providing their instruction free of charge. We would also like to thank Sensei Paul Giannandrea (JKS Scotland – Chief Instructor) for the kind donation of a Hirota Gi for us to raffle – luckily the Gi will be order to size, as I’m guessing the lucky winner (the very tall Dave Stavenau from

Selby) will not be exactly a standard size! A huge thank you to Sensei Paul – without his organisational skills the course would certainly not have been anywhere near as fantastic as it proved to be!

The final thank you has got to go to Sensie Mike and Sensei Ian for their years of dedication to the club, without them the club would not have survived and certainly would not be the thriving, friendly and successful club that it is today.

OSU Senseis

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to find out more about our Club. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

Dojo's Friend

Up to the last minute, it was a closely run race with four possible winners.  Never has Dojo been so fiercely fought for.
In the end two competitors were victorious.
What to do?
Cut Dojo in half?
Have both children live together for a month?
Or.....the more sensible solution of letting each child have him for 2 weeks each!
Neither, I let Dojo choose. Since one of the winners had already had the pleasure of his company he decided to go home with the other.
So, this months winning friend is Lucas with Edward receiving another certificate for all his hard work.

 

Lucas started training with us in August 2012.
If I said that Lucas was quiet, reserved and shy, I'm afraid that I would be telling a fib!
He reminds me of a hi bounce ball.......small,fast with a lot of bounce and great fun to be around.
Every time he enters the Dojo it's with the loudest Osu and the biggest smile guaranteed to brighten up your day.
I have to be careful to ensure that Lucas and his best friend Oli are not together whilst training as mayhem can be assured! However Lucas always brings his unending supply of enthusiasm to training which more that makes up for this.

Well done to Lucas, and I'm sure that where ever you and Dojo go together .......will leave a lasting impression.



And of course I haven't forgotten Edward.
Edward was awarded Dojo in October but that didn't stop him from still trying his hardest.  He is a dedicated Karateka who puts everything into every one of his training sessions, he holds nothing back! Something our main class students could learn from.  Because of this he is becoming a student that Sensei Mike cannot wait to get his hands on. I don't mind, because when he leaves the children's class then I will get to train alongside him and follow his journey with him still.


visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to find out more about our Club. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk

School Holiday Kids Karate Classes Easter 2013

To help work off the effects of any over-indulgence of Easter Eggs we ran two Kids Classes over the Easter Holidays. We decided to open them up to potential and existing students -we were not disappointed with the turnout. Over 20 existing members of the club along with half a dozen or so people trying karate for the first time came along for a couple of hours of fun, games and karate instruction.

Sensei Lorraine, ably assisted by Holly, provided the instruction for the younger karateka, and after a series of warm up games focused on kicking with mawashi geri and mae geri practice, as well a series of stretches to get their legs prepared for kicking and to increase their range of movement.

Sensei Jim put some of the older students through their paces. After covering some important points in kihon they then moved on to some Kumite themed training focussing on movement and defence.

 All in all they were very successful sessions, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and we know they were appreciated by the Karate Kids as several parents had expressed their disappointment that we could not train on Bank Holiday Monday (as the hall was being used by the Blood Donors) – now that kind of dedication from such young karateka can only mean good things for the future of the club!