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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Special Training and Promotions 12-11-2010





This special training was indeed special.  Not so much beause of the content of the training, or the appearance of special guests from far away, but rather because we celebrate 5 years together as a club, and because one of our members did his promotion demo for Shodan.

Congratulations to everyone and especially Joey for his Shodan demo.  Very nicely done! Remember, Shodan is just your first step in Karate. Enjoy beginning again!

It was also a bit of a sad occasion as we remembered our training partner and my assistant instructor, Carol, who passed away earlier this year.  She has been sorely missed this year, and has left a hole that is hard to fill.

Thanks everyone for 5 great years! Let's continue our journey together for as long as we all can continue to train!


Saturday, December 11, 2010

Special Training and Promotions

Tallahassee Karate Club
Special Training and Promotions
December 11, 2010

Please wear T-shirts for training and full Gi and Obi for promotion demos

1:00 – 3:30 Training

Ø      Warm up with kata
Ø      Tools and targets
Ø      Kata: intensive
Ø      Kumite: flow drills
Ø      Kobudo: primer

3:30 – 4:00 Promotions

Ø      Joey, Shodan, Black Belt
Ø      Hippie, I-kyu, Brown belt with two stripes
Ø      David, Yon-kyu, Green belt with two stripes
Ø      Sydney, Yon-kyu, Green belt with two stripes
Ø      Pat, Hachi-kyu, White belt with one stripe
Ø      Genevieve, Hachi-kyu, White belt with one stripe

4:00-4:15 Additional Demos

Ø      Steve, Wanshu
Ø      Eli, Nunchaku
Ø      Bill, Yara Kusanku

5:30  Dinner at Japanica

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving! Eat lots of turkey then go do some kata!
We have much to be thankful for at Tallahassee Karate Club this year...a great place to train for the last 5 years and some dedicated students!  See everyone next week!

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

More to Learn!

There's always more to learn in Karate.

It doesn't matter how long you've been training, what rank you are, how many kata you know, or how many students you have. As a student of Karate, you should always be a student first.

Karate Kata are designed for life-long learning.

When you first begin training in Kata, you have to learn the patterns. Stances are not very comfortable and are difficult. Learning to coordinate punching, blocking and kicking is a challenge. Next, you start to incorporate power into your techniques. Depending on your inclination toward physical learning, it may take you several years to "learn" all the kata and achieve a Shodan or Nidan rank.

Are you done learning? No.

You continue training and your kata become more powerful, fast, and graceful. You learn numerous practical self-defense applications from the kata techniques. You become more physically fit, learn to relax, learn to focus. Maybe you are even becoming a better person.

Are you done learning? No.

You start teaching a few students the kata you learned. Years pass. You have a few very dedicated students who are now starting to experience what you have experienced through karate training. As your students learn, so do you. You learn that every student has their own unique body type, their own style of learning, their own strengths and weaknesses. You teach the kata to their specific needs.

Are you done learning? No.

Many years pass by. You have redefined your understanding of Karate many times over the years. You see the kata you have practiced thousands of times in many different ways. Some of the first kata you learned, the "beginner" kata, have become some of your most important karate teachers.

Are you done learning? Never!

Keep training!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

10/10/10/10/10/10/10

So, just for the record...On October 10, 2010, at 10:10 AM, I did Naihanchi Shodan 10 times for 10 minutes.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Kata we Practice: Naihanchi


Naihanchi, Naihanchin, Naifanchin, Tekki...

Whatever you call this kata there is no denying its awesomeness in the world of karate. If you could only learn one kata, this is the one to learn. This kata is so full of opportunities to learn and fine tune your koshi that other kata pale in comparison.

There are numerous stories of how the okinawan karateka of old practiced this kata for several years before moving on to others. In our Kishaba Juku (study group), we practice this as our first kata.

It's harder to learn to make power in Naihanchi because you don't have the opportunity to turn your hips like other kata, and your hips always end up facing toward the front. Because of the lack of hip rotation, it's more important to learn to generate power by other means. Learning to tuck, compress, and connect are critical.

Naihanchi kata is just full of grappling technique opportunities. It's fun to just explore the movements with a partner (or 3) and see where grappling ideas appear.

I have practiced Naihanchi in the sand, in a pool, on a log, in the dark, in a 3x3' area, backwards, with weapons, fast, slow, with tension, etc.
Naihanchi is just amazing!

Learn it if you haven't already!


Sunday, February 28, 2010

Special Training Feb 27, 2010


















Paris Janos Sensei from Panama City, FL was our special guest instructor for special training on Saturday, Feb 27, 2010.

Training with Janos Sensei is always fun and a great learning experience for everyone. His sense of humor keeps it light, while his mastery of karate and koshi keeps it real!

We worked on a number of topics including Naihanchi, Pinan, Kishaba No Sai, and Shuji Nu Kun. As is typical with special training, we didn't work through many kata, but rather focused intensely on the kata that we did work on. Today's focus was all about gamanku and squeezing our lats down on the side we are moving on in the kata. In both the sai and bo work, we focused on keeping the weapons close to our body and making sure to always point the "business end" in the right direction.

After our 3 hour workout, we had Kyu promotion demos and were treated to some excellent performances of kata and kumite technique from our students.

Hibachi dinner and Orion beer at Japanica restaurant made the day complete!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Tallahassee Karate Club - Jan 2010



A picture after a particularly large training session, posing with Bo.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Happy 2010!
















Happy 2010!
From Tallahassee Karate Club