Kyokushin Karate gradings were held recently in KIMAA‘s two dojos in the Far North Coast of New South Wales. The gradings were for the Little Lions (kids classes) and adult junior kyu grades.
Attendees included adults and kids from local dojos Annangrove and Turramurra. Students also came from the Far North Coast dojos, Lismore and Ballina, led by Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo). Young Jarryd Close represented Brisbane’s Aspley Dojo.
Shihan Howard Lipman extended his apologies but was unable to attend due to work commitments.
An afternoon class was held on the Saturday, attended by the North Coast and Brisbane students, along with senior grades from Sydney. The session focused on Kobudo, specifically the Kali sticks and Bo. This was followed by bunkai from the Kyokushin Karate kata Pinan sono Ichi.
Guests from the other dojos and Sydney seniors then enjoyed a dinner at Shihan Cunningham’s home, prepared by Shihan and his wife Kirsti.
The main part of the seminar took place on the Sunday, beginning at 9 am. The first session ran students through basics, which included a lot of partner and contact work. This was followed by sanbon kumite and bunkai from Pinan sono Ichi & Ni.
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For the next session, students were broken up into groups based on belt grade and experience with Kobudo.
Sensei Ian Holdaway (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 1st Dan Kobudo) took some junior kyu grades through the Pinan sono Ni kata and bunkai. Sensei Paul Finnerty (4th Dan Kyokushin, 3rd Dan Kobudo) took other kyu grades with little prior Kobudo experience through the Bo, specifically the Kihon kata. Sensei Mark Shelmerdine (4th Dan Kyokushin, 4th Dan Kobudo) took a more experienced group of kyu grades through the Bo, including the Kihon kata and the partner contact work.
Kobudo at the Sydney Seminar.
Senior grades remained inside with Sensei Peter Olive (4th Dan Kyokushin, 1st Dan Kobudo). Sensei Peter took students through various Karate kata, including Pinan sono Yon & Go, Yantsu, and Gekusai Dai & Sho.
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A BBQ lunch was then served by Sensei Ian.
Students were then broken up into groups again based on which weapon they wanted to work on. Sensei Mark took students through the Eeku kata; Sensei Paul taught the first Sai kata, Chibana no Sai; and Sempai Alex Lloyd (2nd Dan Kyokushin, 1st Dan Kobudo) ran the Kali stick group through a partner drill and multiple combat drills.
Sempai Alex teaches kali sticks
Sensei Peter & Sensei Don with Eeku
Chibana no Sai kata
Sensei Paul teaches Sai
All students came back together for the final session, which was fitness and fight training. Students did full-contact work in rotating pairs. It was a hot weekend with high-intensity cardio, allowing the karateka to demonstrate their fitness and determination.
Kumite at the Sydney Seminar.
Students enjoyed the thorough stretch and warm-down at the end of the class!
Thanks go to all guests from the North Coast and Queensland dojos for making the trip to Sydney, as always; thanks to Shihan Lipman and Shihan Cunningham for organising the weekend; and to Shihan Cunningham once again for running an excellent seminar.
The next KIMAA Seminar will be held at Lismore Dojo in April.
The first KIMAA black belt weekend class of 2016 was held at Turramurra Dojo on Saturday February 27th.
This class continued on from the Kyokushin black belt sessions last year in August and October. They are now scheduled shortly before the twice-yearly KIMAA seminars, designed to both consolidate knowledge among the seniors to ensure their students’ preparation is correct, as well as being advanced training for any seniors attempting a grading.
Three katas were practised: Saiha, Seienchin and Okinawan Seipai. Students then worked in pairs to go through the bunkai.
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There were some sore bodies at the end of class from all the throws and takedowns – not to mention the wrist locks – but it was a successful class with a lot of focused content.
Senior Kobudo students fronted up to Annangrove Dojo the next morning for training, again with Sensei Mark and Sensei Jon in attendance. The Kobudo black belts revised Sakugawa No Kon (Bo), Arnis stick drill, Chatanyara No Sai (Sai) and Kudaka No Jo (Jo).
Sempai Alex Lloyd, Sensei Jon Ellis, Sensei Ian Holdaway, Sensei Mark McFadden, Shihan Rick Cunningham, Sensei Paul Finnerty, Sensei Mark Shelmerdine & Sempai James Campbell.
In January 2016, three KIMAA Yudansha received their new black belts. These promotions were awarded following the grading in November 2015. These new grades include:
On the weekend of December 5-6, the National All Styles Australian Championships were held on the Gold Coast. Competitors came from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The competition ran over two days on six mats.
To qualify for the nationals they all had to go through a qualifying round, then the Queensland State Championships and then be invited to participate in the nationals.
Cooper, Isaac and Ayla were in the under 7, Peewee division. Cooper fought a black belt in his first round and won.
Conrad and Brad were in the 8 to 9 years division. Brad did well, losing in an extension. Conrad placed Third.
Wes was in one of the largest divisions, the 16-year-old male 5th Kyu and above. This meant he was fighting and doing kata against black belts.
Trish performs Seienchin kata.
Amanda and Trish teamed up to do a demo kata with applications and came Second.
They teamed up again in the Creative Weapons section and came Third.
Amanda and Trish were also in the Women’s Advanced Kyu grade sparring, and unfortunately drew each other first up. It was a close match which Trish won.
Trish then went on to fight twice more and came Second in an extension. It was later discovered she had broken her thumb in the first match. Trish fought three rounds with the broken thumb – the power of the Kyokushin spirit and adrenalin!
The highlight was Trish winning the Women’s Open Kata division, performing Seienchin (which is in the KIMAA syllabus for 3rd Dan black belt). As the first competitor she had the option to do the kata again. She was told she was placed Second but if she did the kata again she would risk getting a lower score. She risked it all, with Sensei Jon Ellis telling her she could do a better kata. She did and placed First.
Trish and Amanda also were asked to compete in the Victorian team for the state against state competition, and were placed Third.
KIMAA’s Little Lion champions!
In the end KIMAA had:
3 Thirds,
2 Seconds and
a First place in the Australian National All Styles.
Congratulations to all who competed. It took a lot of hard training and effort in previous competitions to qualify for the nationals. Not only did these students make the journey to reach this point, they all were excellent ambassadors for KIMAA and did their karateka proud. Special congratulations to those who won a placement. Thanks go to instructors Sensei Mark McFadden, Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo) and Sempai Wally Gray (2nd Dan Kyokushin) for their continued teaching, support and mentorship in Kyokushin and Kobudo.
On the weekend of November 28-29, my wife Masumi and I travelled to Brisbane for me to conduct a seminar at Sempai Rob James’s (2nd Dan Kyokushin) dojo in Aspley. There were 15 kids and 12 adults in attendance over the course of the weekend.
Sempai Rob and Shihan Lipman lead the class.
Aspley Dojo Little Lions with Shihan Lipman.
On Saturday afternoon the first class was for the kids who were initially a little apprehensive, however they were soon made to feel at ease and settled down to enjoy their class. I was most impressed with their level of knowledge and attitude towards training. The class consisted of Kihon, Ido Geiko and Kata.
Personalised belts
At the conclusion of the class, Masumi wrote all the kids’ names on their belts in Japanese, which they thought was great.
This class was followed by a session with the adults where once again I checked and emphasised the importance of basics. Most of the class was spent on Kihon and Ido Geiko. Both were at a good standard, which is always a measure of capable students and a quality and dedicated instructor.
On Sunday morning there was another class for the adults and this was orientated towards Ido Geiko, Kata, some fighting techniques and a little self-defence. All the adults performed well and have potential to move forward in their grades.
A few deserve special mention: Jermaine and Amanda, the senior kyu grades, are excellent role models for the more juniors. Chris and Yolanda from the junior kyu grades also performed exceptionally well.
Aspley Dojo adults with Shihan Lipman.
All the adults also had their names put on their belts in Japanese by Masumi.
The seminar was a great success and enjoyed by all. Congratulations are due to Sempai Rob, who I have known since he was 17 years old. It has been interesting and pleasing to watch his progress over the years. His dojo now is well organised and well disciplined which is a mark of the man himself.
Kyokushin International Martial Arts Australia 