All done for another year.

On Saturday the southern area dojos held there annual Christmas / End of Year party for all the students and family members.

We had a magnificent day of food, cricket, footy, soccer, bocce and socialising under bright blue skies. Sempai Sam went all out with help from her mum and Emily to put on a huge spread for all to enjoy. Did we have enough food and drink? Hell yes!

All the boys and girls took turns at displaying their unique sporting skills as the kids enjoyed the playground and running up and down the hillside. Phil's specialty was marking the football with his face, while I witnessed some of the worst bowling actions in the history of cricket. No wonder we do karate :)

After lunch presentations were made for effort and excellence over the past year of training. Brighton Dojo awards went to William for Junior Effort and Zac for Junior Excellence. For the seniors, Cameron took out the Excellence award and Mel the Adult Effort award. Harley received the Spirit Award. Well done to these guys, the improvement over the last year has been amazing.

Marion Dojo awards went to Michael for Junior Effort and Nicholas for Junior Excellence. Michael's dad Stephen took out the Spirit award. Congratulations to the lads, a very,very promising first year at Marion.

All that was left to do was eat, drink and play. Thanks to everyone who came out on such a beautiful day and made it special. Huge thanks to Sam and the crew for putting a such a great afternoon. It is also important at this time of year to acknowledge the families of our members. They kindly give time and effort in getting our students to classes and training camps, helping at events and letting them come and play with us for a few hours a week. Thankyou. Oss

November Maddness!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow!! What a busy couple of months we have had.

Gradings and State Titles followed up with a Gasshuku in Mildura.

Marion and Brighton members had a big night out with everyone doing a fantastic job with their grading exams. Congratulations to all on grading to the next level and taking on the responsibility that comes with it. Now the hard work begins, living up to that grade and maintaining that level each and every night at training. No time to rest on your laurels, keep looking forward as well as trying to be faster, sharper and stronger than that person standing to your right :)

The State Titles turned out to be a fantastic event. The bravery, spirit and passion was clearly on display for all to see. All competitors tried their hearts out. Whether it was their first ever competition or another in a long list, every person on the mat did themselves proud and should be very happy win, lose or draw. A huge thanks must go out to the team who travelled down from Whyalla. They not only turned up in big numbers, but also cleaned up on the floor and walked away with the overall Medal Tally Champions Trophy. Whyalla instructor Ashley Tonkin, showed us all how it's done, taking out the Open Men's Kata and Kumite as well as the Most Outstanding Senior Trophy. Well done Whyalla!

The following weekend a group of us from Brighton, Marion and Salisbury Dojos, heading off in convoy to Mildura for the annual Victorian Gasshuku. A slight technical glitch (Cameron forgetting his Dogi) delayed our departure and had us arrive just in time to step out of the cars and straight onto the grass to hold some stances. Just what we needed after a long drive!

Nishimura Sensei took the black belt group through the importance of Jiku Ashi. A difficult concept to translate into English, but basically the strength or ability to lock in the hip of the pivot/supp orting leg during transitions between stances and techniques. Most of us already do it without thinking about it, but now we can concentrate on that area and use it to develop more power and speed. After stances and kihon we were off to dinner and a relax. Dinner had just been served when we were hit by a violent storm which took out some power lines down the road and left us in the dark for the evening. A great opportunity for an early night. Note to self: Don't forget the earplugs.

An early start had us kicking the dew off the grass and getting stuck into some intense kumite. Counter attacking with different techniques and thus different distances proved a little tricky when done flat out, but very interesting and very beneficial. The afternoon session was an intense study in the kata Jion with bunkai for many of the moves. Power had been restored during the day so a relaxing dinner and lounging was well in order. Some had and early night.........some did not. Slept very well, exhausted, no earplugs required :)

Sunday morning bought us the kata Chinte. Personally a new kata few me and very interesting as it has quite a few moves not generally used in Shotokan kata. Awesome power moves from fudo duchi to zenkutsu duchi, followed by circular flowing movements. An excellent kata certainly deserving of further study. Watching the kyu grades go through a torturing 250 sit-ups was also very entertaining. Later that morning the group was taken through a judging a refereeing seminar. A couple of us missed the session as we shot off for the drive back to Adelaide and families waiting to see us after a couple of very hectic weeks.

We wish all a very Merry Christmas and thank you for the amazing year we have had. Thank you for the incredible support and passion you have all shown during what has been a difficult period. 2010 is going to be a fantastic year for JKA in Australia and we look forward to training hard together and pushing each other to greater heights.Have a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Year. Oss.

Bring a friend night. A huge success.

We announced a couple of weeks back that we would be having a "Bring a friend" training night at the dojo. Not sure what to expect and not getting much feedback from the students left us a little unsure as what to expect on the night. Our doubts were proven unfounded as we had a great turnout with everyone doing there best to bring a friend. In some cases not just one, but two or three friends.

The new arrivals threw themselves into training with great spirit and enthusiasm. Being young and excited was a great advantage as no one felt embarresed or shy as they were all in the same boat trying their hardest to impress their friends. We took them through basic kihon and also threw in a karate-based game or two to keep the energy and noise levels up. I think all the regulars would agree that the evening was a welcome change from day to day training and we even managed to gain a couple of new students from the night. Congratulations to all involved. We look forward to holding another "Bring a Friend Night" in the next few months, judging by this event it should be a blast.

Grading over. Time to refresh.

Here we go again. Gradings are done and dusted. Congratulations to all who passed and are now a step closer to Black belt. Special shout out to Kyle, Michael and Nicholas for grading to 9th kyu. Excellent work boys!! Well done also to Haydn and Meg from our Whyalla dojo on grading to Shodan....now the work begins!!

A great weekend with plenty of information for our members to take back to their dojos and start putting into practice. Sensei took the Black and Brown belts through the finer points of Tekki Shodan and Bassai Dai on Friday night and had us sprinting to get back to our spots to commence each kata. Body position and alignment was also covered in detail, along with a few practical demonstrations that were real eye openers. Climbing up on someone when they are in the correct stance certainly reinforces the importance of body / hip / leg position. Risborg Sensei took a few knocks much to the amusement of the students.

Saturday saw all grades work through the first four Heian Kata at great depth. Bunkai was demonstrated in various different points of each kata. The varying types of moves that can be interpreted in kata is very interesting, requiring many hours of dedicated study and showed the depth of knowledge required to reach the higher grades. Sunday morning was a fantastic study of defence against the mighty Mai Geri. We had a dozen different techniques to get our head around then try to accomplish them at pace. Great fun. Everyone enjoyed the sweeping take-downs in particular.

Sunday afternoon was grading time and we had our first students from Marion Dojo going for their yellow belts (9th Kyu). All the boys did an exceptional job. I was more nervous for them than at my own grading. Their hard work paid off and all passed with flying colours. Congratulations to all our members who were thrown into the pressure cooker of grading. You all did yourself and JKA South Australia proud. Oss

Welcome to JKA Karate - Marion Dojo

Hi Guys and Girls,

Welcome to the opening of the Marion JKA Dogo blog. We welcome posts from all our JKA members on events, news and basically anything karate related.

Members of Adelaide Metro Dojo - Southern Cross Cup Champions 2009

We will be posting blogs on our training, events and competitions. So get busy tell us about your experiences at gasshuku, competitions and training. Let the rest of the world know what they are missing out on.

We all have a common goal and a special bond is shared around the world by fellow karate-ka. Tell us what you love (and hate) about our wonderful art. Anything from your favourite kata to your most hated technique.

For more info on JKA South Australia go to http://www.jkasa-honbu.com.au/home.htm


Oss, Dave