Congratulations to our 2024 Karate Kids Karateka of the Year, Henry Ho.
Henry has been very dedicated to his training this year rarely missing a session. More importantly in every session he attends he is focused on his training and looking to get better. One of Henry’s greatest attributes is his ability to take on any advice he receives and look to use it. You can see whenever Henry trains that he is improving as a result.
Henry possesses the qualities that will make him a great black belt and karateka one day. He is determined, his is disciplined, he is focused, he is willing to work hard and best of all he has fun doing it.
We are very excited to see where the next few years takes Henry as he continues to grow in his karate.
Congratulations to our 2024 Senior Karateka of the Year, Siani Symons.
Siani was our 2023 Senior Karateka of the Year and has followed up that great year by being even stronger in 2024.
Siani has grown considerably throughout the year as a result of the time and effort she puts into her karate. You will always see her doing extra work before and after class, and during classes she is very focused on taking onboard the lessons given.
As a valuable member of our leadership team Siani has proven to be an inspiration to many of the younger karateka who look up to her as a great example.
We see a Siani becoming a great black belt, instructor and valuable member of the Gold Coast dojo for many years to come!
A small group of keen karateka attended the 2021 Kangeiko (Special Winter Training) held along the Twin Falls Circuit at Springbrook in behind the Gold Coast.
The morning started with a beautiful clear day that had everyone thinking that it may not be that cold, that was until we stepped out of the cars to feel the full force of a cold westerly wind 🙂 Oh well just another challenge to add to the training. A large part of Kangeiko is learning how to control the emotions and not let negative elements such as the cold interfere with the training.
Training started with a run through of kata at a beautiful outlook where you could watch the sunrise over the hinterland and Gold Coast. Fully exposed to the wind it was a great opportunity to work on mushin.
Next stop was a favorite place were the track crosses a small creek. This is a beautiful location that is perfect for some meditation. This was followed by some physical challenges and partner work. The variance of a rough ground and narrow pathway made an interesting change from training in the dojo.
The track then makes it way down the side of the cliff before continuing along the bottom. There are some great sites and it is always a treat to be able to walk behind one of the many waterfalls on this track before making our way to the next stop which is at the bottom of twin falls. Here we did some kihon training and work with the bo. Speed exchange training with the bo moving backwards fast along the path was an interesting challenge as you had to have confidence in your stepping to make sure you went straight and not veered off the path.
Our final stop was at Rainbow Falls were everyone got to experience training under the waterfall. The water was nice and cold and provided another opportunity to work on mushin, spirit and developing internal heat through breathing exercises. The sensation after being under the waterfall is a unique one that had everyone buzzing as we made our way back up to the cars and back home.
The final grading of what has been an interesting year saw a very interesting grading with a range of results.
In our White belt and Yellow belt grading we saw some solid performances with the majority of students successfully moving up the ranks.
In these first groups of the grading we also had a few students with previous rankings in other styles. At the Gold Coast dojo students who arrive from another style of martial arts are asked to wear a white belt as they have no rankings in Chito-Ryu Karate. Whilst wearing their white belt they are assessed on their skill levels, their ability to adapt to and adopt the Chito-Ryu technique, and also on their character and humility. From their these students are grading to the level deemed appropriate for them to learn the Chito-Ryu skills building blocks required for continual development.
Developing the correct building blocks for Chito-Ryu karate is essential, if everything is in place and working well then the student will make steady continual progress. If a building block is not in place then somewhere down the track things will begin to fall apart and progress will stall. In this grading a number of students were told “not yet”. Whilst this can be a hard experience for the student (it is also hard for the instructor), the time taken to get these building blocks solidly in place will eventually lead to achieving the black belt goal faster than if they had been passed for this grading. If you were unsuccessful in this grading continue to work hard and focus on getting those building blocks in place and you will be ready for the next opportunity to step up to grade.
Congratulations to the following on successfully passing your grading:
It was great for Gold Coast karateka to get an opportunity to train with Soke Sensei, the head of Chito-Ryu Karate-do on the Sunshine Coast this weekend. Soke Sensei was visiting the Sunshine Coast as the first part of his 2017 Australian Tour. Accompanying Soke Sensei was Higuchi Kyoshi, and Minowa Renshi.
Sam Lenton and Kazumi Tominaga were fortunate enough to attend both Saturday and Sunday with Sensei Adam joining them on the Sunday. Training on the Sunday consisted of lots of basics with Soke Sensei, a little bit of kumite drills with Higuchi Sensei and then Soke Sensei took the lower ranks through lots of kicking whilst Higuchi Sensei took the senior group through Ryukyu Kobudo with Bo, Sai and Nunchaku. A great day of training shared with the Sunshine Coast crew.
It is the Gold Coasts turn on Wednesday and Thursday as we host the second leg of the Australian Tour. The class schedule is the same as normal with the exception of the Thursday Family class which has been replaced with a special Kobudo class for 1st kyu and above.
Wednesday 29 November
4:00-4:40 Little Champions
4:50-5:45 Juniors
6:00-8:00 Seniors & Intermediate Juniors
Thursday 30 November
4:00-4:50 Little Champions & Juniors
5:00-5:50 Kobudo (1st Kyu and above)
6:00-8:00 Seniors & Intermediate Juniors
Don’t forget to check in to the classes using your Zenplanner app!
Attendees of the Soke Sensei Seminar at the Sunshine Coast Chito-Ryu Dojo with Soke Sensei, Higuchi Kyoshi, Minowa Renshi, Martin Phillips Shihan, Sandra Phillips Shihan, Adam Higgins Sensei
