Students from Lismore Dojo competed Round 4 of the National All Styles on Sunday August 4th.
Harry, Corey and Akayla all competed, coached by Sensei Mark McFadden, Sempai Wally Gray and Sempai Patricia Tan. Little Lion karateka Akayla took third place in point sparring.
Congratulations to all for their efforts and Akayla for her placement.
Written by Sensei James Sidwell
The KIMAA Kyokushin Karate senior grading was in held in Sydney’s Turramurra Dojo on Saturday 29th June. It was a gruelling five hour session run by Hanshi Howard Lipman.
Congratulations to Ben Brady from Ballina Dojo, who successfully completed his Shodan grade!
Tony Kuo from Turramurra Dojo, and Eric Wright and Jurgen Bradatsch from Annangrove Dojo completed their 1st kyu grades.
Nalin and Nevin Alwis from Annangrove, Larissa Watson, Blayne Gale and Lauren King from Ballina, and Sean Stevens from Young Dojo also graded.
A special mention to kids Peter Zhu and Yue Leon Chia from Turramurra who participated in the senior grading, and performed with discipline and focus during the entire 5 hours.
Congratulations to all participants! Osu.
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The following day, Kobudo practitioners from Sydney and Young trained together at Annangrove Dojo in a class taken by Shihan Rick Cunningham. Sensei David Craigie from Young remarked, “Thanks everyone for your patience and instruction once again, we always enjoy our morning Kobudo with all.”
The KIMAA Far North Coast NSW dojos at Ballina and Lismore hosted a winter seminar. The guest instructor for the weekend was Shihan Rick Cunningham from Sydney.
On Saturday June 15th, the seminar was at Ballina. The focus of the day was Kyokushin Karate, in particular self-defence applications and kata bunkai.
The seminar continued on the Sunday at Lismore Dojo, and included a special Little Lions class.
A Kobudo session for beginners and experienced students alike was also held on the Sunday.
Thanks go to all seniors for assisting, Sensei Mark McFadden and Sensei Jon Ellis for hosting, and to Shihan Rick Cunningham for making the trip.
In 2018, Sensei Rob James began running Kyokushin Karate classes for children on the autism spectrum. Sensei Rob is a KIMAA accredited dojo operator based in Brisbane, Queensland, who first began training with Hanshi Howard Lipman almost three decades ago.
Sensei Rob commenced these classes as he believes in the power of martial arts to make a difference. He has had a few kids on the spectrum pass through his dojo over the years, and they were all stand outs. “Every single one of them.” Sensei Rob was inspired to promote and dedicate classes for these children. He ended up with 8 kids in the 8-week trial period at the Pine Rivers PCYC.
Some of the children in the classes would not even speak, yet every student was committing to a loud kiai after only one class. They were all enthusiastic and took to Sensei Rob without much effort. From there, everything flowed into a very relaxing atmosphere. They handled the etiquette and discipline with aplomb, as a clear structure often does for children on the spectrum.
The classes comprise everything from basic technique and fitness to studying the movements of the first forms (kata), and even some self-defence applications.
Sensei Rob will resume these classes in the very near future. All enquiries should be directed to Sensei at the contact details on the Brisbane Dojo page.
On Sunday May 5th 2019, a Kobudo grading was held at Annangrove Dojo.
Hanshi Howard Lipman awarded two new grades:
Congratulations to Sensei Ben (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 1st Dan Kobudo) and Sempai Stephen Runge (1st Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Kyu Kobudo).
Special mention also goes to Sensei James Sidwell for breaking his Eku during the grading, in a display of raw power and great technique.
Osu!
On the weekend of March 23-24, 2019, the first KIMAA seminar of the year was held at Sydney’s Annangrove Dojo, run by Hanshi Howard Lipman and Shihan Rick Cunningham. Karateka from across New South Wales and Queensland KIMAA dojos attended the weekend.
On the Saturday morning, Hanshi Howard led a basics and bunkai session. The focus was on correcting students’ technique, as Hanshi stressed the importance of maintaining Sosai’s legacy for perfection. This included blocking combinations, and moving backwards and forwards in stance.
As the day continued, students were broken up by grade. Juniors focused on kata, both new forms and revision of existing patterns. The seniors were given a lesson in competition judging, specifically in tournament refereeing.
Sunday saw a revision of Saturday’s lessons. Sempai Patricia Tan began the session with a Tai Chi muscle warm-up before the class got into basics again. This was followed by more kata and bunkai.
Thank you to all who participated in the seminar. Photography and videography by Sempai Jonathan Lee.
This February weekend held the first Senior Kyu grades and Black Belt training for 2019, held at Turramurra Dojo.
Students studied senior kata and bunkai after basics. The class finished with conditioning and conditioning exercises.
Well done to all participants.
