Summer Grading Course 2019

June 23^rd saw much grading success for Haxby at the summer grading course in York. Where HSKC, Selby Shotokan Karate Club and York Shotokan Karate Club were lucky enough to once again host Hans sensei 6^th Dan.

As usual a prompt start at 9.30 began with Matt Beard Sensei 3^rd Dan taking the Beginners to 11^th Kyu for some grading basics and some interesting drills for the youngsters. Hans Rana Sensei took Charge of the Adult beginners to 8^th Kyu for their first session of the day, beginning with quick paced relay warm-ups to get the blood pumping, followed by some basic drills and so kumite practise.

The next session saw the pee-wee grades in to their gradings, leaving the adult beginners to 8^th kyu with Matt Sensei to work through some grading kata and techniques.  The 7^th to 4^th Kyu’s took their first session with Hans sensei, where he began with some tough core stretches to to loosen us off for some kicking exercises, Sensei said if you want to run you have to walk first, it is the same with kicking if you can control a slow kick you can kick fast properly, so slowly we went forming exact shapes for each section of each kick mai-geri, mawashi-geri, yoko-geri kiagi and kekomi. After we practised some reaction training to move in direction to count while walking.

Up next was the Black and Brown belt session, which began with some partner work focused on kumite and reaction training, balance and position, moving forward and back only jodan and chudan with both being practised on a low squat as we attempted to use full techniques with each attack and block.  To finish before lunch, we learn gyaku tsuki no-kata which confused most more than you’d think.

After a quick lunch break, we warmed back up by running through Jono Kata and all 5 Heian katas and tekki Shodan, without stopping between katas and going through with speed and power each kata formed in to one and you had a lot to do to keep up with where you were at.  Next sensei Hans took us all through the 5 junro katas in detail. Next we did some conditioning exercises jabbing and striking at partners torso and limbs.  Finally, the session was ended with some tough stretching exercises to attempt to loosen off all our limbs and joints after a good long days training.

All the while the gradings were going ahead under the watchful gaze of Keith Gullen Sensei 7^th Dan YSKC and Mike Gude sensei 6^th HSKC Dan and being lead by Paul Brant Sensei 4^th Dan SSKC, some great success for Haxby with a massive 13 members passing their gradings.  The successful grades are:

•   Erin C 12^th Kyu 
•   Grace C 12^th Kyu
•   Zane S 11^th Kyu
•   James H 10^th Kyu
•   Jack 9^th Kyu
•   Robert P 8^th Kyu
•   Adam T 8^th Kyu
•   Annabelle V 6^th Kyu
•   Jason H 6^th Kyu
•   Thomas G 2^nd Kyu
•   Oliver G 1^st Kyu 
•   Hellen B 1^st Kyu
•  Ben L 1^st Kyu

So after a successful day full of hard work and training and much more success than just that of HSKC a day well spent at manor.

A special thankyou to Paul Sensei for organising the day to run a smoothly as always and to Kieth and Mike sensei’s for taking the gradings. Also thank you to Matt sensei for his instruction on the course and mostly to Hans sensei for traveling all the way from Loughborough to instruct and train alongside us.

Oss

Ben

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

Selby Novice Competition 2019

May the forths saw HSKC take part in the annual Selby Novice Competition at Manor CE Academy organised and run by Paul Brant Sensei (4^th Dan) with the aid of many of the instructors from HSKC, SSKC (Selby Shotokan Karate Club) and York karate club.

We had a strong team entering the competition this year with around 25 competitors holding around a total  of 50 individual entries in Kata, Kumite and Family Kata. Spread over two areas one facing kata and the other holding kumite the competition began at 10.30 sharp.

Each even ran smoothly and to good time with all who participated having fun and enjoying the experience of being on the mats and preforming what they know and have learnt in front of friend and family and most leaving the mats with new confidence and feeling in their karate journey.

Congratulations to all who follow for there victories on the matts:

•        Jack H, Sliver in 12^th -10^th Kyu mixed Kata

•        James H, Bronze in 12^th - 10^th Kyu Mixed Kata

•        William V, Bronze in Under 12s Kata, Bronze in Family Kata, Bronze in 9-11 Male Kumite

•        Daniel T, Bronze in Under 12 Kata, Gold in 9-11s Male Kumite

•        William M, Bronze in Under 17s Mixed Kata, Gold 12-14 Male Kumite, Gold in 15-17 Male Kumite, Joint Second in Under 17s Grand Champion Cup “The Sensei Rodrigo Bastidas Memorial Cup”

•        Lucy S, Bronze in Under 17s Mixed Kata, Bronze in 12-14 Female Kumite

•        Jason H, Bronze in Over 16s Beg-3^rd Kyu Mixed Kata, Silver in 18+ Beg-3^rd Kyu Male Kumite

•        Paul B, Bronze in Over 16s 2^nd Kyu- shodan Mixed Kata, Silver in 18+ 2^nd Kyu- Shodan Male Kumite

•        Ben L, Bronze in Over16s 2^nd Kyu- Shodan Mixed Kata, Gold in 18+ 2^nd Kyu- Shodan Male Kumite, Senior Kumite – (Judged Best Preformance) “The  Sensei Randy Williams Memorial Cup”

•        Edwin S, Gold in Family Kata, Sliver in 9-11 Male Kumite

•        Aiwen s, Gold in Family Kata, Bronze in 12-14 Male Kumite

•        Annie V, Bronze in Family Kata

•        Poppy M, Bronze in 9-11 Female Kumite

•        Matthew P, Bronze 18+ Beg-3^rd Kyu Male Kumite

•        Helen Barker, Bronze in 2^nd Kyu- Shodan Female Kumite

A full list of all who placed is available at:  https://selbyshotokankarateclub.blogspot.com/2019/05/sskc-competition-2019.html?fbclid=IwAR0dgwE9vjYAsYtZrMb6eB4aK8SARPv90xiEyL3-R2Un6KmxWWruZ2w_agc

Finally a massive thank you to Paul Sensei For organising and running another fantastic competition and to all the officials who helped run the day and take care off the competitors, as well as all who entered to make the competition possible once again. Until next year congratulations.

Oss

Ben

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

April B&B Course

The second Black and Brown belt course was held in Nottingham just before Easter, we had a small gang take the trip down with Paul B, Lucy, Ben and Ellie. Arriving just before 10 thanks to a nice clear run through, we were greeted by all and had a good chance to catch up everyone before training started.

At around 10.30 we began the session after a greeting from Alan Campbell Sensei (7^th Dan) we began with so standard warm ups, then Alan sensei started us with some reaction warm ups in pairs to test our reaction times against each other. The days focus was then centred around various kicking techniques and combinations, from ashira mawashi geri, to mawashi geri and the mai geri-kekomi combination. All of which we practised by kicking a target around an obstacle (third partner).

This lead on to a brief break before returning to some kata, we started with breaking down several sections of Kata Chinte looking at some of the more unique moves in the kata and how they work in practise. Finally we finished off by running through the kata several times to count speeding it up each time we went and the finally the black belts ran all the way through the kata to their own timing.

The day moved on to black belt gradings which we unfortunately missed this time, however I hope they went well for all who took place in them. As always a big thank you to Alan Sensei for the instruction and a very interesting course, and well done to those who attended this one.

Oss Ben

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

Superb Spring Course

Kagawa Shihan Demonstrating Gedan Barai

Yesterday saw the annual spring technical seminar with Masao Kagawa Shihan (9^th Dan). A solid 9 members attended this course Mike, Ian and Jim sensei,  Paul,  Olivia,  Romie, Ben, Helen, and Adam this was his first course and a great starter for him it was.

After quick greetings with everyone we promptly kicked off the course with introductions to Kagawa Shihan, presentation of Dan diplomas to Ashley Scott-Heald for 5^th Dan pass and Nick Heald Sensei for 7^th San pass last year and finally an address from Sensei Mike following our course in February. The training started with a detailed look at kata: Junro Shodan – Sandan and Heian Shodan – Sandan followed by some bunkai for some of the more interesting and diverse moves of the Junro katas.  All this was covered in the first half of the day which seemed to fly by before you knew it.

Mike Sensei showing us how its done

Following lunch it was right back on to it with a run through of some of the first combinations of the Shodan Khion and we walked away with Shihan’s top advice of more hips, more natural, and longer stances.  Sanbon tsuki needed more drive and to practise this we changed it up to be a step Kizami tsuki gyaku tsuki for distance and then we added a Mae Geri in to the mix as well. On to Soto uke, gedan bari Kizami Geri gyaku tsuki and yoko Geri kiagi & kekomi same leg with full hickiash. After a brief water break it was on to higher kata starting with Jion, then jitte and finishing up with Gankaku for those going for there gradings later in the day.

After the course ended it was on to Sandan gradings up and a good turn out it was with some great successes.  Firstly congratulations to Paul sensei from Selby Shotokan karate club on passing his 4^th dan.  But most of all a massive congratulations tour very own Ian Teadale Sensei for passing his 3^rd Dan, despite being concerned about preforming in front of so many Ian came and preformed amazingly showing off his kata as his own and owned it, he controlled his kumite with complete ease and proved that even having not competed since returning to karate 5 years ago you don’t forget how to do it.

Man of the hour Ian T Sensei after passing his 3rd Dan

Over all a fantastic course from Kagawa Shihan as always, a big thank you to Alan Campbell Sensei and JKS England for arranging the course as usual and congratulations to Ian and Paul sensei again on their gradings.  Finally I would like to urge everyone to take part in these open courses especially when we get Japanese instructors over as they are more than phenomenal to watch and be instructed by.

Oss

Ben 

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

Kangeiko 2019

A quick post run break

January 21^st saw our annual trip over to Cleethorpes for the penultimate day of Kaizen no-Michi’s Kangeiko on the beach.  A nice little group of us went across this year with Jim sensei, Paul B, Ben, Lucy and Ellie, this bunch of crazy karate-ka were up at the usual 5am for the cold drive out.

When we arrived at the beach, we greeted our friends from both Selby Shotokan Karate Club and KNM before we began our mornings training.  Down to the beach front for some quick warm ups to stretch out before the traditional beach front run to the pier and back watching for the slippery ground as we went due to a crisp -2 Degree C wind which battered us.  Finishing the run, it was down on to the beach for the rest of our training, which began with some more warm ups now ready for some sandy karate, followed by some basic drills on the spot trying to have balance on sand and beat the person on the opposite side of the circle.

Group photo in front of the pier

The next section looked at KNM’s Kaizen No-Kata which consists of the first few moves from each Heian and Junro Katas to for one kata, running through to count several times to get he hang of the kata we then had a go through full speed and power and mostly forgot how each kata starts, but it was good fun to give it a go.  Next, we had a go at some kumite drills starting with oi-tsuki, then ren-tsuki and finally sanbon- tsuki and practising the required blocks for each combination.  To round off our kumite we practised several counters to mai geri as beach tradition you must get covered in sand and catching kicks just right is the best way to ensure maximum sand time.  Our final exercise of the day was a karate Mexican wave, starting in the sand we had to jump up punching gyaku tsuki and get back down quick for the return of the wave.

A well earned breakfast

After training had finished it was time to retire to the local greasy spoon for a well-earned fry up, everyone was more than ready for this getting a healthy plate full, and a large plateful for Ben, who managed to clear up everyone else’s left overs as well.  We also had the pleasure to celebrate the birthday of terry from KNM that morning, which is true dedication to karate turning out at that time in the morning to do karate on your birthday.

A big thank you to Andrew Sensei for inviting us across for the morning it was a pleasure as usual and we can’t wait until next year to do it all again, where we plan to try and train the whole of Kangeiko in York through out the week and join KNM for the last day as usual.

OSS

Ben

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

Fab February Grading

Red belts running through kata with Steve Sensei

The last York course was another very good day. It began as usual at 9.30 with the adult beginners and red belts going through basics with Alan Campbell Sensei (7^th Dan) before moving on to their gradings, and the child beginners looking at basics and some kicking technics with Steve Carless Sensei (6^th Dan).  Following the first class the adult beginners and red belts moved onto some kata practice breaking Heian Shodan down with Steve Sensei, whilst Alan Sensei took the yellow to purple belts for a look at stances and techniques. 

Yellows and Greens Kicking it off with some kicking practise
with Alan Sensei

Finally as 11.30 loomed it was time for the main class to begin with Steve sensei taking the yellow belts to 1^st Kyu’s the first session looked at kicking technics to begin with looking at yoko geri kekomi and mawashi geri in partners, then after a brief 2 minute break he then took us through some advanced one step, looking at moving out of the way and several different counters for the same situation, then also some self defence technics as well.  At the same time Alan Sensei led the Dan grades through a  Nidan & Sandan grading syllabus, primarily focusing on kumite using several different methods, from moving on the spot to find your target to moving to target past objects to score.

Main class Yoko Geri Kekomi practise with Steve Sensei

After a heavy first hour of training it was lunch and welcome it was, the quick break was used by most for some last-minute practise before their gradings, straight after lunch the yellow and green belts were up for grading and the rest of the class carried on with the a session which focused again on kumite for the next part of the session.  Finally, the two classes finished with a detailed look at kata, the brown belts looking at Jion in detail, and Dan grades looking at Junro Yondan.

Grading results

First up, we had three child beginners grading, one of which is the youngest member of the club at 4 years old George gained his 12 kyu, along with Zane who also put in a good performance and gained his 12 kyu.  Last up in this group we had Jack who moved up to Red belt gaining his 10^th Kyu.

White belt gradings

Second to hit the panel, adult beginners and Red Belts were up, overall some very strong performances with some karate-ka displaying some of their best karate to date.  Adam and Florence were up in front of the grading panel (who had a special guest examiner in the form of our very own Brenda Sensei!) together smashed it both walking away with 9^th kyu grading, going for their 8^th kyu we had Angel, Ella, Lucas, Alfie, Liya and Evan all of which came up, gave it their all, and walked away happy as can be.  Finally, up Jason, Matthew and Stanislaw, these guys looked great and proved they have what it took and came away with shiny new yellow belts.

Next up Daniel, Joshua and Jeon.  Daniel having had to learn a whole new syllabus for this grading had a great performance that he can be proud of and this was matched with a solid 6^th Kyu pass.  Josh and Jeon walked away with a nice 5^th Kyu pass and some sharp new belts to match.

Brown Belts grading

The final Kyu gradings coming up, first to the plate were Thomas and Paul (D), Paul is a credit to his skill and proof that with determination and passion you can do anything only deciding to grade three weeks before the day due to medical reasons which had stopped him from training before Christmas he came and smashed his grading and along with Thomas took their 3^rd kyu grade.  Finally, in front of the panel we had Oliver, Ben, Edwin, Ellie and Helen going for 2^nd kyu and Aiwin up for his 1^st kyu the last step before thinking about his Shodan, everyone put in great levels of focus and determination and great credit to Helen who smashed her kumite despite it not being her 
favourite area of training, everyone walked away with another grading under their belts.

After all the kyu gradings were out of the way and the rest of the training had finished it was time for the main event of the day, one of the busiest Dan gradings we’ve held at our course in a few years. Of the dozen or so karate-ka going for their Shodan we had two members up for their grading, Paul (B) and Olivia were looking to take the next step on their karate journey, Paul going through his grading showed true focus and power through all of his khion, kata and kumite demonstrating his skill to the best of his ability and it paid of with him walking away with a pass.  Olivia after having trained so hard over the last year and after putting everything she had in to her whole grading unfortunately didn’t quite make the cut this time, after this however we were so proud and impressed to see her walk back through the dojo door after the disappointment as it shows true strength of character and real dedication to karate and the determination to gain her Shodan no matter what.

Over all we had a fantastic course with fantastic turn out from all across the country, thanks to all who attended for your ongoing support, a big congratulations to all who passed their gradings, a big thank you to Alan Campbell Sensei and Steve Carless Sensei for an excellent course and last but by no means least thank you to Paul Brant Sensei who arranged the course and ensured it ran smoothly as always and to everyone else who helped during the day.

Oss

Ben

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

B & B Jan 2019

This Sunday saw the start of the year’s courses with the first Black and Brown belt course run by Alan Campbell Sensei (7^th Dan). For the first course of the year HSKC had a fantastic turn out with eight karate-ka in all. Leading the way and heading one car we had Jim sensei accompanied by Ben, Paul B and Olivia and in the second car, kindly driven by a parent, we had Ellie, Romie, Lucy and Will.

The Haxby gang

With good Haxby tradition we arrived in good time, so we had chance to catch up with friends from clubs across the country.  After a slightly delayed start we all lined up and had the pleasure of seeing Robin sensei from JKS Bradford being awarded his 4^th dan certificate.

The session was based around resistance training with the aid of resistance tubing.  Partnered in three we began driving forward gyaku-tsuki with waist resistance then the same with arm resistance both times we did fifty punches (with both arms) so yes that was 200 punches to warm us up! After that we did some more punches but this time we had twenty counts for both arms, but this ramped up quickly because for each count we equalled the amount of punches so for one it was one punch for ten it was ten punches, so another 110 punches done! To round off our punching we then did the exercise with gyaku-tsuki step oi-Tsuki fifty times both hands finishing the warm up drills with a grand 510 punches made just like that!

Next Alan sensei decided our legs needed warming up, you guessed it, we did all the above exercises with mai-geri and if your legs hadn’t fallen off after 500 normal kicks your lucky, but we were still training with bands so our legs really felt the effort. After a very brief break we moved onto kata with the tubes, one person counting and 2 people doing the same portion of the kata in opposite directions so the tension on the bands increased with every step. To finish off the session Alan sensei decided that we could go without the bands and run through Heian Yondan.

We finished at lunch, earlier than usual, as squad training would take up the second half but that was fine with us as tube training for 2 ½ hours was more than enough for one day; expect it to be seen in the dojo soon. A big thank you to Alan sensei for hosting the course and taking us all through some very interesting and demanding drills.

Oss

Ben   

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

Xmas Course 2018

It had seemed to come around very quickly this year, but it was with a definite sense of anticipation that Ian sensei, Olivia, Romie, Lucy, Ellie and I met up down in Nottingham for the annual JKS Christmas Course. We all took advantage of the time before the course started to do some gentle stretching and warm ups, and to catch up with our extended karate family and friends that we have got to know by coming to these courses over the years.

Alan Sensei called the class to order and before training began invite Steve Sensei from Selby to say a few words about the recent trip to the JKS International Seminar in Japan. After that and the warm ups, we were handed over to Steve Carless Sensei (6^th Dan) for the first part of the course. The main part of this session was all about the legs – some additional warms ups to get the blood flowing and various exercises to improve our kicking ability and range followed before we moved onto practice not just kicking, but also defences against kicks which all built up to a really nice partner drill which emphasised the importance on moving sideways with the block and being close enough for a counter attack.

After a quick run through of Heian Nidan, Steve Sensei finished his teaching with and exploration of Meikyo Nidan, a kata not many of us had looked at before, but perfect for the Christmas course where you expect to be presented with something a little different!

Club photo a solid turn out

After a quick break for lunch Matt Price Sensei (JKS 6^th Dan) took over the instruction and the initial focus was about controlling the distance between yourself and your opponent in kumite, what attacks to throw when, and the importance of footwork. When then moved onto reaction times and reducing your ‘tells’ when you are attacking. From here the focus shifted with some self defence techniques and the ‘chaos’ drill – which we will have to try at the club sometime.

All in all, a great end to the year!

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