Christmas 2009 will be celebrated by the club on the evening of Wednesday 9th December… after our usual training session at Holme Pierrepont of course!

A three course meal at a nearby restaurant has been organised by Becky Cassapi and all club members are cordially invited.

See Becky for details of the menu and to book your place.

Oss!

The club will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2010!

In order to recognise this achievement I intend to put together a souvenir publication which will include articles and photos.

All members past and present are invited to submit articles, long or short, about their time training at the club.

I very much look forward to receiving your submissions!

Oss!

The men’s KUGB England team retained the World kumite crown at the WSKA championship held in Cancun, Mexico, defeating the Czech Republic in the final.

In the senior individual kumite England achieved silver in the ladies and bronze in the men’s.  Bronze was achieved in the individual ladies kata, whilst the men’s kata team finished just outside the medal places in fourth.

But it was a truly ‘golden weekend’ for the male England cadets! A clean sweep of 3 golds were achieved in the individual kata; individaul kumite; and team kumite.

In the junior (U21)category England were amongst the medals again: bronze in both the male individual kumite and male team kumite, and silver in the men’s team kata.

Congratulations to the England team and their coaches Sensei Sherry and Sensei Brennan.

Next stop ‘the Europeans’;  Austria; late November!

South Notts Shotokan Karate Club

Club Grading Examination

On Friday 18^th September Sensei Frank Brennan 7^th dan, the Vice Chairman of the Karate Union of Great Britain, visited the club to conduct an evening of training combined with a grading examination for coloured belts. The pre-grading training session was attended by almost 40 students which included a sizeable cohort of black belts ranging from 1^st dan to 4^th dan. The session was 1 hour of intensive action which concentrated on the grading syllabus for lower grades, and more intricate combinations of moves for the black belts.

Congratulations to the following members who were promoted to the next coloured belt: Red belt: Jon Straw, Henry Straw, Chris Breeze; Edward Lowne. Yellow belt:  Andy Wilkinson; Richard Buller. Green belt: Willy Astley. Purple belt: Izzy Ponsonby; Purple & white belt: George Coates. Brown & white belt: Paul Osborne; Jonathan Osborne; Bob Dainty.

Training and Grading

with

Sensei Frank Brennan 7th dan

Date: Friday September 18th

Training: 6.30pm – 7.30pm

Grading: 7.30pm onwards

£5 Training only

£20 Training and grading

The final session in the “early bird” series for 2009 took place this morning. The black belts in attendance studied the kata Chinte which contains some very unorthodox techniques. The brown belts worked on Hangetsu, whilst the red belts continued to develop their understanding of Heian Nidan.

Each of the four sessions this year has been well attended. Those training have had the opportunity to learn or further develop the following katas:

Bassai Sho; Jiin; Unsu; Sochin; Wankan; Chinte; Hangetsu; Bassai Dai; Heian Shodan; Heian Nidan; Heian Sandan

Training this morning were: Myles Ponsonby; Kerry Lee; Jon Bond; Steve Cassapi; Becky Cassapi; Frank Dennis; Richard Buller; Andy Wilkinson.

A core group of eight trained: six black belts and two brown belts. The dan grades worked on Sochin whilst the brown belts refined Bassai Dai. Thereafter everyone studied the shortest ‘advanced’ kata in the syllabus: Wankan.

Training were: Alan Lea; Myles Ponsonby; Kerry Lea; Audrius Mikalauskas; Jon Bond; Steve Cassapi; Pual Osborne; Jonathan Osborne.

Two club members succesfully passed their dan gradings on the annual karate summer course last week.

Steve Cassapi is the latest club member to have his name added to the black belt ‘roll of honour’, and Gobe Hobona was promoted to 2nd dan black belt.

Both Steve and Gobe put in excellent performances in front of Sensei Andy Sherry and Sensei Frank Brennan. The highlights included a superb rendition of the kata Nijushiho by Gobe, and a very fast ‘dashing in’ punch delivered by Steve in the first nanosecond of his kumite encounter!

All at the club would like to congratulate them on their  achievement.

A pleasant surprise greeted nine of the club’s stalwarts this morning: a return to the sprung wooden floor of our usual dojo! This was just as well because the 5 black belts who attended spent the hour long session studying the kata Unsu. Aficionados will know that the kata Unsu comes complete with a 360 degree spinning airborne leap into a drop to the floor!

Whilst the dan grades were immersed in Unsu, the four kyu grades worked on Heian Nidan and Heian Sandan refining the detail.

Thanks to the following for attending: Alan Lea; Myles Ponsonby; Kerry Lee; Audrius Mikalauskas; Steve Cassapi; Becky Cassapi; Frank Dennis; Andy Wilkinson; Richard Buller.

The penultimate “early bird” session takes place next Monday.

The first special “early bird” session took place this morning and the seven members pictured all set their alarm clocks in sufficient time!

The grades ranged from 9th kyu to 2nd dan so the katas we practised were tailored accordingly:

Orange belts: Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan.

Brown belts: Bassai Dai, Heian Nidan.

Black belts: Bassai Sho, Jiin.

Don’t miss these opportunities to broaden your kata repertoire  and/or refine your existing knowledge.

Second session next Monday at 7.00am!