Performance Night! (Nov 6th)

This was only our 2nd ‘Grading and Performance Night’ and it’s already become a firm favourite with Tim San and Richard San, and it would seem you guys too! Big thanks for all of you who managed to make it along to this special night. We just can’t believe what an amazing standard you are all showing us when you walk on to the area!
The night is a simple idea; instead of the whole class just watching the students who are grading…everybody can get up on the area and perform something of their choice! And what a buzz there was in the room this time, kicked off by the headline act of Sempai Lucy grading for her Aikido-Te black belt first part. She was asked to perform many times throughout the evening, demonstrating both art and aggression wonderfully with great skill! Special thanks too must go to her Aikido partners who placed their bodies on the line for Sempai to demonstrate all the techniques and applications, well done guys!
We had the full range of gradings, form Yellow belt right through to Graeame San, who will be trying for his 1st Dan in BAMA Karate soon! Special mention goes to Nick San, the longest serving student in the room after Tim San and Richard San, who achieved his 1st part black belt in sword on the night, well done Sen!
But these performances did in no way overshadow the awesome displays from the other students who weren’t grading, but they were certainly displaying the same spirit and focus! We had demonstrations ranging from Karate Katas to combat and knife displays and from Reflective Aikido Katas to sword displays, a feast for the martial arts eye!
The biggest highlight of the night for the instructors was the atmosphere and friendship created from you all, especially as some of you don’t get the chance to meet up very often, so it was really great to see everyone chatting and catching up in the pub afterwards!
Here’s to the next one in 2014!
By the way, if you want to see lots more pictures from Novembers Grading & Performance Session then we will be putting them up on our member’s page soon!

August 17th: Karate Seminar

John San here has kindly submitted a write up about the Cheltenham Karate Seminar that was run on Saturday!

So, a karate seminar based on hand-techniques; it sounds like a scary prospect doesn’t it?! In fact it was a really fun learning experience and all partner based.
Tim-san and Richard-san changed our approach from trying to learn hand-techniques by rote and instead took a look at what makes them work. We worked each technique back from the contact point; what Tim-san called ‘where we interface with the opponent’!
This change of focus on to the target area immediately improved everyone’s technique! After working through the techniques for each grade, the pace would then be heated up by Richard-san; and we really drove them home.

For me, martial arts have never been purely about self-defence; I’ve always been interested in the ways that the body moves. I’m always amazed at what we can do with it, the shapes it can take and the flow of movement that really feels so artistic, and makes you feel so good. We were shown on Saturday the importance of correct delivery of the hand-techniques; but not in a static way. Getting the right part of the hand to the right point on the target makes the body take the correct shape and we must move to make it so. The seminar ended up with several exchanges of partners as we took it in turns to attack and defend. Those two and a half hours raced by and I’m sure everyone gained a new perspective from the experience; I know I certainly did!

The focus and concentration required adds a whole new spiritual element to what we were doing. It’s difficult to explain I suppose, but all of this together gives an intense joy experienced not only by me, but judging by the smiles I saw around me both during and at the end of the seminar, by all of the other students!
If you weren’t there, you missed a doozie and should be asking ‘When is the next one sen?’!

John San

Wisewarrior Dojo Performance Night

A great night to watch, a great night to be part of!

That was the whole idea of this event, instead of students just watching those going for their 1st part BAMA gradings and 2 nd part Wisewarrior gradings, we wanted everyone present to be doing something, result….a brilliant night!

So on the mat that night we had; Aikido-Te, Karate, Jo staff, Aikido, Knife-defense, Budo-Te, Iado and Ken-Jitsu, not a bad line up for the students to get a real feel for the martial arts and fellow students and instructors!

So a run down of the grading results first; congratulations to Dohighs’ Will and Chris for obtaining their brown belt part 1, this was an all night affair showing all aspects of their knowledge of Aikido-Te, very tired but happy!

Dohigh Matthew’s purple belt part 1 grading showed how much he has improved in the last few months, the power of focus! Dohigh David too passed his first part grading for purple belt in Budo-Te, after many combat tests during the first half of the lesson he then performed his Katas to the class.

Dohigh Jon advanced weapons part 1 in Jo staff began with a great kata display and then followed with a combat display with partner; fantastic focus! Mark San as a 2 nd Dan of course made his Green belt green part 2 sword grading look awesome, with an especially written kata. Lastly, and by no means least Kohigh Heidi in her first Karate grading walked on to the area in front of the whole class and without a trace of nerves did her first Wisewarrior grading for yellow belt! So well done to you all!

The many displays started next with our sword students first. Dohigh Tam performing a true warrior like ‘Kimi Kiri’, made even more special by her recent recovery from a nasty ankle injury. Hayley San followed next and amazed everyone with a mesmeric Iado performance, a floor sequence written with Richard San and based upon the poetry of Kado (way of the flower).

Sempai Lucy showed why she is going for her Blackbelt in Aikido this December, by performing a powerful display of partner Aikido work, based upon a black belt sequence; a kata that Richard San had demonstrated to the class before hand in its most fluid and artistic form.

Graeame San then picked up the tempo somewhat with a storming knife defense demonstration, firstly showing the audience the knife defense waza, and then remarkably a pure spontaneous display with two attackers! We had Dohigh Nick demonstrating a Bushido Kata, and with this lovely kata he really showed the hard work he has put into his recent improvements.

The last two displays came from Tor San; who ripped through the brown belt Bushido Kata, showing all the focus and controlled power needed for advanced Karate, and lastly we all had a treat watching Tim San unveil and perform a completely new Wisewarrior Kata. Its combination of power, technicality and artistry was a joy to watch, we now have to decide whether it will be set for Orange belt or Purple!!

So it only remains to once again thank everyone for all the hard work they have put into their gradings, by writing new patterns and performing for the enjoyment of others and of course; the growth of themselves!

Here’s to the next one in October!

Wisewarrior Challenges

This week saw the introduction of our first Wisewarrior Challenge… The 7 Day Zenkutsu Dachi Challenge!!! On regular periods throughout each month we will be putting forward short routines to copy; aimed at helping students with their own personal practice. These will help improve martial art technique, but will also help towards fitness and body conditioning; which are also key factors in the subjects that we teach.

Modern day life finds people busier than ever, and often finding the time for practice can be really difficult. These challenges are a fun, quick way of keeping up with the demands of a complex syllabus and can easily be fitted in throughout the day.

As the weeks progress we will be encouraging students to work on stances, develop fitness levels, explore different techniques and increase the repetition of patterns. Also as i hope more of the dojo members take part in these challenges – then each of us is helped knowing that we are all working together! 🙂

But above all we would like these challenges to inspire students to ask questions about their syllabus, and how they can improve fitness and technique. Practice, after all: is as much about thinking as It is about sweating!

If you have any questions or maybe challenge you would like to offer up then ask me or the team!

Many thanks Sensei Tim Dickerson