Goju Karate Bristol
Follow us!
  • Home
  • Training
    • Times
    • Gradings
    • Courses
    • Summer School
    • Winter School
  • About
    • DKK Bristol
    • Sensei
    • Yudansha
    • Goju Ryu
  • Gallery
  • Contact
  • Links
  • Blog
  • DKK: Purely Fitness
  • Members

Summer School 2015 - Day 3

6/15/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
So DKK summer school 2015 has come to an end. If you were part of it you'll be back next year, what a fantastic experience it has been. The day started with the 3rd dans taking students through the intricacies of stances used in Goju Ryu karate and how their functions are best used. This was follower by Sensei Gavin Mulholland hurting students with the kubotan! A vicious weapon that can be used easily if you have a pen shaped utensil with you. Soooo painful! The last session of the day was eskrima and how techniques can be used with the hands and equally with the feet. 

On the final afternoon, the DKK grading took place under the beating sun. It was fantastic to see so many pass to their next belt to those that badged to green belt. It's going to be a large grading next year with 7 people attempting black belt. Well done to Mike Jenkins who achieved shodan black belt. The evening/ night/morning was rounded of with the 'Instructor's BBQ'. Well done to everyone that was there training for the weekend and grading. Winter School 2015 here we come. Are you going to be part of it??

Shihan Dan Lewis

0 Comments

Winter School 2014

11/6/2014

0 Comments

 
Friday was sunny, a welcome change from the previous few days, and we were lucky enough to have this good weather once again for the entire weekend. The afternoon and evening saw the usual stream of arrivals from across the country and beyond (including Nick travelling over from Norway). Bags were unloaded, bunks grabbed and because of this year’s high attendance, floor mattresses and camp beds set up for the latecomers.

Winter school has always been billed as the more relaxed of our DKK weekends, and this year was no exception - except for the exceptions...
Picture
At eight o’clock two sessions of somewhat different character started: for the main part of the group a pad work session run by Sempai Goran, and for Darren his long-awaited and oft-delayed 30-man kumite. As expected, Darren did not disappoint - the pad session managed to stay mostly-focussed on their targets during the first 20 fights but beyond that Senseis Dan and Gavin conceded to our desire to spectate and support the Nidan candidate. 10 more fights and the grade of Nidan and the coveted black gi were in his hands - congratulations to Darren for his well-deserved triumph over several setbacks in the past couple of years (as well as 30 assailants).

With the scale of the task front-and-centre in their minds after witnessing the gruelling fight to Nidan, and according to newly-instituted tradition (which I suspect is an oxymoron), it was then time for the new Nidan candidates to officially announce their intention to face the line-up in 2015. Seven of us stood up, committed to the fight, and downed the obligatory whiskey shot. I look forward to taking the field next year alongside Phlips, Nick, Jake, Richard, Bondi and Mike!

It is possible that the combination of triumph and expectation were responsible for the celebratory mood that evening, and so it was that the following morning there were many groggy faces gathering in the hall for our “gentle stroll” assignments. Several teams were dispatched on a new theme - a combination of a treasure hunt and capture-the-flag. Whilst that was going on, the Nidan candidates were separated from the group, divested of phones, watches and money, blindfolded and driven to an undisclosed location. Of their whereabouts from that point until their muddy and confused arrival back at Gilwell Park little is known, as the first rule of Nidan Hike Club is… well you know the drill.
After lunch we kicked off the afternoon sessions with a take from Sensei Lewis on the application of Sanchin to our earlier kata (primarily Gekisai and Saifa) and their applications. Interrupted only by the late arrival of a couple of the hiking groups (minus several points for being tardy there), we worked on a Gekisai bunkai combination viewed through the lens of Sanchin to deliver power and aggression. As with many of the technical Summer/Winter School classes, this was one with a big central concept which will come out time and time again for consideration, honing and application over time.

For the final teaching session of the day, Sensei Mulholland gave us an introduction to a sai kata by the name of Nicho Sai. I’ve always found the sai to be a difficult weapon to get to grips with, having an unfamiliar weight distribution and moderately complex handling requirements (at least compared to our usual stick-based weaponry), however having access to a dedicated kata has helped my feel for the weapon enormously. This is another reminder that our holistic approach to training including kihon, bunkai and kata gives us multiple paths to understanding.
Picture
Sempai James closed the formal section of the day with his Sandan talk on the gi, covering its history and significance to both him and the organisation. During the talk and subsequent question-and-answer session James covered such diverse angles as the evolution of the gi from a simple jacket (including the addition of surprising trousers!), the effect of a uniform and uniformity on the psychology of training and the use of the gi as psychological preparation or mental armour.

The evening saw a return to the bar to Announce the results of the morning’s activities and deliver prizes of sake for the winners (“Team Diversity”) and the Wooden Spoon of Humiliation and Toilet-Cleaning Duties for the slow-moving losers (the subtly-renamed “Team Crotch”). We then took time to reflect on the day, to discuss Nidan kumite strategies, and to raise a glass to John Sowersby of the Portishead club, who we lost earlier this year to Pneumonia brought on by his fight with Leukemia. After that came the  traditional migration to the fore for banter, songs and more sake.
Picture
Sunday started with a look at the bo courtesy of Sensei Lewis. Despite the popularity of the 6-foot staff amongst a huge range of martial arts, not just those embracing Okinawan kubodo but those worldwide from China to Northern Europe, it is rarely seen in DKK. We covered a brief rundown of the weapon and its close siblings (the yari and naginata) before discussing and working on basic handling and strikes.

After the success of the etiquette and discipline class last year, Sensei Mulholland followed up with more on this subject, both the hows and the whys. In addition to management of the dojo line-up as people join or leave the class, he also explained how to deal with late arrival, turns and the formalities around partner drills and sparring as well as answering a range of questions on the day-to-day of training in the dojo environment.

After the usual whirlwind of clearing, tidying and cleaning our weekend’s accommodation we moved back out to the field for the final session of Winter School: stick fighting. Sensei Lewis continued the “fundamentals” theme present throughout the preceding days and had us working on engagement with multiple opponents and various disarms.

With that it was time for the traditional close of thanks, handshakes and farewells until the organisation next comes together. I’d like to finish with my thanks for the organisation, assistance and imparted wisdom of our Senseis as they once again laid on an excellent and enjoyable retreat, and with a more personal note of gratitude for the advice I received - and hopefully will continue to receive - as I make my way towards the 30-man kumite in June.

Train hard!


Mat Savigear
DKK Shodan & 2015 Nidan Candidate


0 Comments

2015 Nidan Candidates

11/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
At 10:10 on Friday 17th October at DKK Winter Camp 2014, a total of seven people stood up and declared their intention to train for, endure, and face the 30 Man Kumite at DKK Summer School 2015.

At 16:30 on Sunday 14th June 2015 they will face that test.

"To those gone before, to those here today, and to those yet to come"



0 Comments

Bristol Grading 22nd March 2014

7/5/2014

0 Comments

 
Well done to all those that graded yesterday, I'm sure a happy but sore group. For some it was an initiation into DKK, for others it was a long awaited deed finalised. 10 years since JD last graded, well done. Louise Thorne showed the spirit that is important to DKK; what ever is put in front of you, get through it, how ever long it takes, be determined to get there in the end. 2 new green belts, Chris and Terry. To all the others that went out and did their thing, congratulations. To the other instructors and those that have once again been there to shout, motivate and ultimately test the resolve of those grading. 
Picture
0 Comments

Shihan Lewis - Brown and black belt course

1/12/2014

0 Comments

 
It is always special when you are taught under Shihan and a privilege when you get to go to one of his high grade courses, you feel like you soaked a huge wealth of martial knowledge that will take you months or years to fully digest and to integrate with your own martial art journey.

The courses focus was seiunchin and focus is the key word. We practiced the kata several times aiming to get everyone in sync with one another. We worked on where our focus should be, thinking about application whilst doing kata, looking before we strike, playing a little with the katas tempo exaggerating key moments to focus the mind.

We made it more snapper at one instance and at another far more Sanchin and gentle and Ju like but equally as dangerous.

Shihan has an amazing way of bringing the kata to life, not just a string of techniques, principles or a series of movements, but a living breathing organism that just makes the kata so much better, you could feel electricity in the room when everyone’s seiunchin evolved, it made you think oh my god this is how kata should feel like all the time.

We then looked at a section of seiunchin that a lot of people have a weakness in the kata, where you drive the hip at an angle to deliver a powerful uppercut. We focused a lot of time on this sequence with Shihan explaining about short range shock power. It was at this moment that a light ball clicked in my head, he was describing the short range power that I learnt in China through White Crane, the only difference was that my leg starts of in the air.

The way I like to think of it is like a gunshot as if you pulled a trigger (I never have but I have a very powerful imagination.) it’s not about speed it’s about the right muscles firing the right body structure at the right time, it’s a state of mind, BANG and you explode into it. Too much thinking and you can’t achieve it.

After we worked on this then we practiced this section of the kata in randory, then we use the gun principle to hit pads, reacting before you think, focusing less on chambering but always having your hands in guard and just react.

After this we went through the main kata and for the last section of the course he wanted us to practice principles of tensho. To do this he had to teach the lower grades tensho. I will deviate slightly off topic this was like the best Christmas present, I’ve always wanted to learn tensho ever since I first saw it when I started Goju ryu, when I first really appreciated the karate kid films, when I went to china and saw Tensho like movements within the second and third forms of white crane, when you watch Wing Chun form. I’m surprised I didn’t bounce off the walls! It’s like learning Sanchin all over again, I understand the principles and can only do the basic form but my mind-body connection doesn’t understand the deeper seated principles of  tensho, that will takes many years.

Well back to the topic, after this Shihan showed us how the principles of tensho were useful in sudden confrontation and he ended up looking like a kung fu master from the movies, with hardly any effort of stepping to the side and using tensho’s relaxed movements to get his attacker into a vulnerable position. We tried it with multiplies which was very fun, it was very aikido like and surprising how effective the moves could be. Sometimes I would get stuck because this is a new form of defending and it will take years to master, but when it worked it felt freaking awesome.


By Dan Solomon
Shodan - Ho
0 Comments

Tim and Caroline's Sandan Course, London

11/23/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
You can always tell how good a course is when months later you are still practicing its principles on your punch bag, and this course was especially awesome. The underlying feature was the three mechanisms that Tim and Caz (Bristol’s newest Sandans) use when striking an opponent.  What they refer to as the Sanchin punch. It was really interesting when they showed how they generate so much power just from body mechanics and structure, with a combination of the three principles that derive from Sanchin.

The first one is the simple spear, where you punch through the pad, but rather than just focusing on the punch, your focus is on pulling the other arm back with force which seems to drive your shoulders and hips more into the punch therefore generating power.

The second mechanism they use was the circular hip punch, rather than punching through the pad, you use your whole core to pivot providing more weight to the punch enabling you to deliver power without using tensing your muscles.

The third mechanism was the corkscrew punch , drawing yourself from the ground and using the structure from the hip to the punch. It appears deceptively less powerful than the other two seem but you can generate power at a far shorter distance than the others.

When we combined all the principles together there was a considerable difference in our power output with minimal effort. This in itself is very useful for a fighter, not having to rely on their physical power to give power to the punch it means that your punches can be faster and use less energy. It shows that when you use the principles of Sanchin that you don’t need to muscle your way in. The Sanchin punch relies on technique giving a small person the ability to generate a lot of power though their body structure.

Videoing each punch was very useful as it shows us how each principle works, and what we need to work on to make them far more effective. Mix in watching how the Nidan’s adopted it to how they fight on the pads, surprise Kumite with the London lot, ale and the ingenious use of a collapsible donkey toy it made for a very special course.


by Dan Solomon
DKK Bristol Shodan - Ho

1 Comment

Winter School 2013

10/21/2013

1 Comment

 
DKK winter school, 
we'll all agree is pretty cool,
The whiskey, the beer, the laughs and cheer,
Is what we remember in each passing year.

Summer school though, for those who grade,
Is filled with dread of being kicked in the head.
But for each test passed, the lessons 'r learned fast,
And we each find the weekend, too soon is passed.

But how better to be tested, than pushed beyond limits, then rested?
How better to find friends, than to find those with common goals, or ends?
How better to grow, to become more than the seeds originally sowed?
I'll tell you how... to push yourself to become one of DKK's own!

Osu!
Picture
Danny Williams, DKK Bristol Shodan-Ho
1 Comment

Summer School 2013

6/23/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
SS is a roller coaster of emotions that by the time we leave we are all pretty drained, obviously some more so than others. It's not just those that graded but that was a fantastic show of spirit, strength, fortitude and determination...4 more Nidans: Andy, Ragi, Si and Ben, a plethora of Shodan-Hos, browns and everyone from new red belts up. Though as we know its not just the gradings that makes SS so special, it's those that attend and take part, giving all they've got, from Caroline icing everyone with a limp and more, to Si C and Matt driving Cassandra to hospital and Rob driving her to London, to smiley doing the daunting night shift rota and Dazzer running errands for me, the Yudansha for helping in the grading to Si M quenching our thirst with home made cider! Thank you for taking part from the 1st timers to the old hands. If I've missed anyone out or not thanked anyone then thank you for making this weekend special. To Sensei Gav for drinking whiskey with me and for the hours of utter nonsense that we gibber together and to our Godan Goran. To Senseis Dave Morris and Alan Vokes for their session on Saifa. To Senseis Roger and Tony of Shinseido Shorin Ryu for a fun and informative guest instructor session on the Bo. To Roger for his kind words and true understanding of who we are in DKK.

Remember this training doesn't stop here. We saw smiley and Siobhan start their Sandan Grading, during the summer Caroline and Tim Clark will continue their grading with their Sandan course in London, make sure you are part of that.
Congratulations to Dave U finalising his Sandan grade.

A selection of photographs from Summer School 2013 can be found in the Summer School gallery.

Dates for your diary:
Winter School: 18/19/20th October 2013
Summer School: 14/15th June 2014

Sensei Dan Lewis

0 Comments

    Author

    Articles are written by students and instructors.

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    June 2015
    November 2014
    July 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    March 2011
    November 2010

    Categories

    All
    Basics
    Blog
    Bpp
    Braunton
    Bunkai
    Caroline
    Course
    Dkk
    Epping Forest
    Fighting
    Fresh
    Goju
    Goran Powell
    Grading
    Hakutsuru Te
    Karate
    Kata
    Life
    London
    Nidan
    Sandan
    Self Defence
    Summer School
    Tim
    Training
    Winter School

    RSS Feed

© Daigaku Karate Kai Bristol 2015
Members Area
Home   Classes   Instructor