Southern Pre-Grading Course: Sunday, 18th January 2009
Littledown Centre, Bournemouth

All junior/senior black and brown belts are invited to attend this advanced training event to be held at the Littledown Centre, Bournemouth on Sunday, 18th January 2009.

The EGKA recognises it has access to an invaluable resource of karate knowledge and skill as measured by the high number of seventh, sixth and fifth Dan instructors it can count amongst its active members.

Sensei Ernie is determined to make sure that every opportunity is taken to ensure this knowledge is passed back down the line to unify and raise still further the existing high standards of karate all Brown and Black belts practice across the country.

Sensei Ernie is asking all Brown and Black belts across the southern region to make a special effort to attend this training event, especially if they intend to grade later in the year.

For further information about the event as it becomes available, keep watch on the Events page.

12 Quays - Northern Grading Session, December 2008

Over a hundred of us enjoyed a pleasant, but nonetheless intensive weekend of training at the 12 Quays Dojo, Woodchurch in Wirral. More significantly, forty nine very happy candidates started travelling home after their successful grading attempt at close of play on Sunday, 7th December 2008.

In his closing address, Sensei Ernie indicated he was extremely pleased with the standard of karate demonstrated on the day, " ... the best the grading panel has seen in the last few years".

Here follows a list of the successful brown belt and junior black belt results:

2nd Kyu	1st Kyu	Jnr Shodan	Jnr Nidan
Leigh Carpenter	David Bruce	Louis Casey	Josh Clare
Hanna Carpenter	Jonathan Goodwill	Ryan Crane
Michael McKenna	Richard Owen	Sean Crane
Charlie Norman	David Spencer	Stephen Crane
Glyn Norman	Thomas James	Jack Donoghue
	David Shackleton	Michael Healy
	Michael Gould	Connor Robinson
		Samantha Ross

The senior black belt grading results were:

Shodan	Nidan	Sandan	Yondan
Kevin Bown	Antonia Bradford	John Birch	Anthony Dempsey
Gerard Broad	Colin Clare	Sandra Brookfield	Joe Hearty
Victoria Harris	Darren Crane	Paul Molyneux	Mark Leyland
Daniel Healy	Kenny Crisp		Steve Walley
George Norman	Jason Gould
Stephen Quirk	Michael Hill
Natalie Roberts	Turan Karamanoglu
Kate Robinson	Phil McClements
Claire Twidale	Anne-Marie O'Malley
Sarah Williams	Joanne Smith
	Kate Tyler

Congratulations to one and all.

IOGKF BudoSai July 2008

We are indebted to Sensei Steve Walley (Jnr) for allowing us access to the following collection of pictures from the recent IOGKF Budosai in Okinawa back in July.

July 2008 IOGKF BudoSai, Okinawa

We appreciate that the current economic climate means everyone has to watch their pennies, and your personal obligations to both family and work makes its even harder to justify attending the many events organised under the IOGKF and EGKA umbrellas. But this collection of pictures from Okinawa should convince you that you are really missing out on a lot of fun, as well as serious training, by not attending as many of these events as you can during the year.

Northern Pre-Grading Session at the 12-Quays Dojo on Sunday, 19th October 2008

This meeting is one session that is recommended for every junior and senior brown and black belt contemplating grading later this year in December. The main purpose of the course is for students to gain a better understanding of what standard they will be expected to achieve on the day .... from the people who will be assessing them. The times are:

• Junior (15 and under) black and brown belts - 12:00 to 14:00
• Senior (over 15) black and brown belts - 14:30 until 17:00

Training Venue:

12 Quays Woodchurch
Woodchurch High School Sports Complex
Carr Bridge Road
Woodchurch
Wirral
CH49 7NG

A southern course is being planned and we shall update you as soon as we can.

Sensei Paul Nolan (6th Dan) takes a class at Ormskirk Dojo.

At the recent Wirral course I asked Sensei Paul if he would be able to come to my dojo some time and take a class, I was delighted when he said he would be happy to come over, in fact we arranged it that day.

Our new dojo whilst larger than our previous one is still not massive at 39ft x 17ft and since we had never had it full of adults we were not sure how many people we could accommodate at one time.

We had made a provisional list and thought we may get 25/30 in, as it turned out 20 in total including Sensei Paul and some of his Asagi students, also Sensei Philip Cook came along.

There were a few from Southport dojo and the rest from my dojo and the numbers were just about right.

We started off with a good warm up with plenty of push ups, sit ups and various other elements of normal Junbi undo, followed by extracts from Sanchin kata in the style of Sensei Bakkies Laubsher.

We had a session of Ju Kumite and it was interesting to see the youngest and smallest member of the class, Sam Holcroft (a Southport Dojo student of 10 years) taking on the bigger Sensei Paul. Not being a gadget fiend I forgot to take any pictures, which was a shame as that would have been a good one to get.

Later on Sensei Paul split the class and took the Black Belts through the more advanced kata whilst the Kyu grades concentrated on the lower Kata and Bunkai with Sensei Philip.

The class lasted 2 hours and was over in a flash. An important football match was on last night apparently (Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven) ... and a lot of people wanted to listen to the result on the radio. So once the class was finished at 9:00pm and the normal closing procedures followed, we all got changed sharpish.

The class was a great success and was most enjoyable, I would like to thank all the students from Sensei Paul´s Dojo who took the time to come along; most especially Senseis Paul and Philip. I am not sure how long Sensei Paul has trained in Goju Ryu Karate-Do but his enthusiasm for teaching Goju Ryu is a real inspiration.

I hope to arrange more classes like this in the future, I have made myself a hit list of the Senseis I would like to encourage to visit us at Ormskirk.

Sensei Sandra, Ormskirk Dojo.

30 September 2008: Wirral Sunday course report by Sensei John Birch

A four hour course hosted by Sensei Paul Nolan and three of the Northwest´s most advanced instructors Senseis Steve Gouldson, Steve Hallam and Peter Galer.

The course consisted of 4 x 1 hour sessions where the attending students were split into groups: 3rd Dan and above; 2nd and 1st Dan together; brown belts and other Kyu grades to 5th Kyu - then the remaining students.

There were approximately 40 students, who were instructed on a wide variety of techniques. Our group started with Sensei Steve Hallam who instructed us on kata application carried out in a more realistic manner where the attacker and defender would work in close proximity.

Seiyunchin and Shisochin kata were practised in a sequence with a partner. The object of the training was to bring realism to the training as well as speeding up the individual´s reaction times.

Each session was separated by a very short break for water, then on to the next session. Our next instructor was Sensei Peter Galer who gave us a very hard session of Hojo Undo, where we were grouped together in threes, and then pairs, working with Kongoken. This session was extremely tiring but fun none-the-less. Normal classes do not lend themselves to Hojo Undo training at this level of intensity.

The third session taken by Sensei Steve Gouldson was focused on Sepai kata Bunkai and variations to the basic applications that we are expected to know for our gradings. This session draws on the knowledge gained by Sensei Gouldson over many years of training.

Our final session was with Sensei Paul who took us through Sanseiru and Sepai Katas, where Sensei concentrated on the important details that serve to keep the Katas of Goju Ryu Karate-Do as they were taught by the founder of Goju Ryu Master Chojun Miyagi.

It is not hard to imagine what would happen to Kata if this level of detail is not diligently followed by karate students. It is the aim of our senior instructors to ensure we make every effort to keep the details of our Kata as pure to the original as possible, which is why Sensei Paul pushes us to achieve the best we can.

In summary, the four hour course was very enjoyable and the time seemed to go by so fast. Everyone agreed the session was a very valuable addition to our normal training at our home Dojos, and represented excellent value. Hopefully we can repeat this format more regularly in the future.

Article by: Sensei John Birch (2nd Dan Goju Ryu Karate-Do)
E.G.K.A. Southport

15 September 2008: Polish Gasshuku with Sensei Higaonna, Bydgoszcz 24th to 26th October 2008

This is one of the last opportunities many of you will have to train with Sensei Higaonna this side of Okinawa as he cuts down on his international travel commitments. With polish accommodation and flights from Stanstead being so cheap, this is a weekend gasshuku experience not to be missed. Click here for details.

Click the image above for a larger version of this information pack including schedule and recommended hotels.

Click here for the official registration form.

Return flights with Ryan Air are currently available from Stanstead at about £70 return.

4 August 2008: EGKA Demo at Fire Fighters Show

This short video is well worth a look at if you ever wonder how much effort you need to put into your training. As ambassadors for the EGKA and karate in general, the team's display was an obvious and visually very impressive success.

To play the video, click here.

3 August 2008: Wirral training course - Sunday, 14th September 2008, 12:00pm-4:00pm

Sensei Paul Nolan invites all seniors and juniors to join him and all the other Wirral regional instructors for a training course to be held at Woodchurch High School, Carr Bridge Road, Wirral, CH49 7NG (where the junior competition was held) on Sunday, 14th September 2008.

Cost for under 18’s is £15 and over 18’s is £20.

All students are welcome to attend.

For more information you can contact Sensei Paul Nolan on 07759 580 518.

12 August 2008: 13th International Summer-Gasshuku, 12th to 14th September 2008

An invitation to all EGKA members to attend the 13th International Gasshuku to be held in Hamburg. Click here for details.

Click the image for a larger version of the poster

Click here for the registration form.

Return flights are currently available from Heathrow direct to Hamburg at £130 return. Accommodation starts from as little as 45 Euros a night. We hope members will make the effort to travel to the Hamburg Gasshuku to join Sensei Ernie Molyneux and Sensei Roy Flatt.

16 July 2008: Black Belt Grading Weekend and the Southern Junior Kumite Championships

June and July have seen the successful conclusion of the southern EGKA grading session and the ever popular and well attended junior kumite champsionships, both of which were held at the Littledown Centre in Bournemouth.

Congratulations to all those that passed their gradings, and also to all of the competitors that took part in the championships.

We shall publish the names of those students who successfully graded in the near future, but in the mean time you may enjoy the pictures of these events that now can be viewed in the main Photo gallery.

Congratulations also to Jack Shaw, James Draper and David Evans who earned their Junior Shodan black belts at a Northern junior grading session this weekend just gone.

24 June 2008: Order your Shureido Gi in advance of your visit to Okinawa

Dear Chief Instructor and Kambukai members,

Shureido has now on line order system in English. If you or your members are coming to Okinawa this summer, it may be a good idea to order Gi now, so that you can just pick up your order when you are in Okinawa. In last Budosai in 2004, many people could not buy Shureido Gi as their storage became empty (too many people). Following is their website.

Click here to access Shureido's online ordering website.

Tetsuji Nakamura
IOGKF Administrative Director

The 1000 Push up Challenge Childwall Dojo (Okinawa Fund Raising Events)

On the evening of 29th May 2008 approximately 40 eager (that´s a lie) participants assembled at the Royal Marine Reserve Barracks in Liverpool to attempt the 1000 push up challenge.

There were a few of us, who had done this challenge before, (though why we turned up when we knew what to expect is a mystery to me).

The purpose of this event was to raise funds for Childwall Dojo students who are travelling to take part in this year´s Okinawa Budosai.

This was just one of many events that we have organised, were collective effort was required, but other individual events have been undertaken by our students to raise as much as possible.

The session (hosted by Sensei Steve Timson´s mate Colour Sergeant Billy Hancock R.M. PT1, who is a serving member of the RM staff at Liverpool), began with a quick warm up followed by a run interspersed with 250 push ups in blocks of 10.

The run was supposed to be about a mile and a half (I think I need to lend Sensei Steve my long measuring tape).

Once the run led by Sensei Roy was completed we had a few minutes to catch our breath and then we got down to the main event, A thirty station circuit featuring some novel exercises.

It was 30 seconds per station, followed by 10 push ups each time, 3 times round, with a five minute rest in between each round.

The session was followed by quick showers then into the bar for a welcome beer or two and a fantastic curry and chips meal courtesy of Sensei Steve and the staff of the Royal Marines.

This article on the night´s events can only give a small insight into what took place, and there are many of the participants who deserve special mention. Of course the people who had done this before deserve a medal, but Sensei George Weston at 69 years young is an inspiration to us all. He demonstrates qualities that many can only wish, for even though he has Diabetes. Oh, by the way Happy (belated) Birthday wishes George.

Then there are the ladies, Sandra, Lisa, Beverly, Cynthia and her friends. They all deserve special mention, for as Sensei Roy later said "this is not an easy thing to do". It certainly required a massive amount of determination to complete.

I found that though I was very tired the next day, I was very happy to have taken part, and a great deal of fun was had by all who attended especially on the pudding run.

Special mention is also due to Sensei Karl Wolfenden´s partner Suzanne and Colin from Childwall dojo for taking the photo´s and video footage on the day.

Article by John Birch (Southport & Childwall Dojo´s).

20 May 2008 : Weekend Training Course and Black Belt Grading - Sat 14 & Sun 15 June 2008

An invitation to all members to attend the EGKA summer training and grading weekend at the Littledown Centre, Bournemouth. Click here for details and a personal invitation from Sensei Steve Shaw (EGKA Secretary).

Click the image for a larger version of the poster

The two senior black belt grading weekend training courses are amongst the most important events of the EGKA calendar and it is important local students make every effort to attend.

Running alongside the main event, we will also hold a Junior Kata and Kumite Seminar on Saturday, 14 June afternoon. The instructors will be Sensei Nick Burr and Sensie Steve Gouldson (5th Dans) and the course is designed to prepare students for the forthcoming Junior Southern Region Championship, for which details will soon be published on this site.

Click the image for a larger version of the poster