On Saturday November 2, Shihan Howard Lipman held gradings for the Knox Grammar senior and prep school Karate classes. Stuart Bridges (3rd Kyu), Sam Hoberman (4th Kyu) and Jono Cheng (4th Kyu) led the senior school group while Zach Zibaee (6th Kyu), Jay-T Stubbs (6th Kyu) and James Tan (6th Kyu) led the prep school group.
Sempai Rebecca Humphries, Sempai Alex Lloyd, Stephen Runge, Nicholas Cheng and Simon Emmerson attended the grading. Sempai Alex and Steph took the students through basics and other components of the grading. All five fought the students in kumite.
Shihan Lipman was pleased with the performance of the Knox students on the day. Saturday November 9 will be normal training. An end of school year Karate BBQ for both the senior and prep school students is to be held at Knox on November 16. Certificates and belts will be presented to students at this event.
A Kyokushin and Kobudo seminar was held in Sydney on the weekend of 25-27 October. The seminar was organised and run by Shihan Howard Lipman and Shihan Rick Cunningham. Senior students from the Sydney dojos and some lower grades attended, as well as Sensei Mark McFadden, Sempai Jon Ellis and Jeremy Gray from the North Coast, and Sempai Rob James from Brisbane. The purpose of the seminar was to bring the seniors from all the KIMAA dojos together to train, to give the lower grades an opportunity to train with the seniors, and to ensure that good standards of technique are being upheld across all dojos.
A senior grades class was held on Friday night at Shihan Lipman’s Turramurra Dojo. The class began with a revision of kihon (basics). Everyone’s technique was thoroughly reviewed, cleaning up any ‘bad habits’. General knowledge and terminology was also gone over. Sensei Peter Olive ran students through the Kyokushin Seipai kata. This has now been reinstated in the KIMAA syllabus alongside the Okinawan Seipai kata that has been taught in recent years. The class finished by revising the Naihanchi kata (video demonstration available here). Training was followed by a dinner at Noodle City in Gordon.
Shihan Howard Lipman leading the first Saturday session.
The seminar moved to Shihan Cunningham’s Annangrove Dojo for the rest of the weekend. Students from the Kids classes came for the day. The day began with a group session devoted to basic training: strikes, blocks, kicks and moving through stances were all practised.
Shihan Howard Lipman & Shihan Rick Cunningham with Knox alumni Sempai Alex Lloyd & Theo Schreuder and the current Knox senior school Karate students.
After the first class, the students were broken up into groups. The Knox students were taken through further Karate techniques as well as basic Bo drill with Sensei Mark Shelmerdine and Sensei Paul Finnerty.
Knox students learning Kobudo
The kids trained with the seniors for Naihanchi kata and bunkai (application).
Kata bunkai
Sam Hoberman
The group was brought back together for lunch.
While the food was being prepared, one of Knox’s senior grades Samuel Hoberman (4th Kyu) was given the opportunity to spar with Sensei Mark Shelmerdine, followed by Shihan Cunningham. Sam represented Knox admirably, getting into a grappling stand-off on the ground with Sensei Mark. By the end of his two bouts he found a new appreciation for the intense nature of Kyokushin kumite.
The Knox students were then taken by bus back to the school while everybody else enjoyed a group BBQ lunch, kindly prepared by Shihan Cunningham’s wife, Kirsti, and Sempai Ian Holdaway. The seniors continued after lunch with bunkai work from other Kyokushin katas. The group then practised throws.
This was followed by kumite (sparring).
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Seipai kata was also reviewed following Friday night. A short ceremony was conducted at the end of Saturday where Shihan Lipman awarded dojo operator certificates. Shihan Lipman was made an Australian Branch Chief by Sosai Mas Oyama in 1989 and later South Pacific Representative in 1993. Shihan Lipman has chosen to similarly formalise the authority of his senior instructors, recognising them as official KIMAA dojo operators in the same way that he was an IKO Branch Chief of Sosai’s. These certificates were awarded to Shihan Rick Cunningham for Annangrove Dojo, Sensei Mark McFadden for Lismore Dojo, Sempai Jon Ellis for Ballina Dojo, and Sempai Rob James for Aspley Dojo.
Shihan Howard Lipman presents Shihan Rick Cunningham his dojo operator license
After the seminar, the senior grades enjoyed a lovely dinner at Shihan Cunningham’s house.
Sunday was largely devoted to Kobudo training. After the warm up students were again divided into groups. Sensei Paul took the beginners through Bo drill, as did Sensei Mark Shelmerdine with the kids.
Kids class learning Kobudo with Sensei Mark Shelmerdine
Shihan Cunningham ran the seniors through the basic exercises and Bo katas Kihon, Ufugusuku and Sushi no Kon Sho, as well as partner work. Shihan Lipman had unavoidable work commitments and unfortunately could not attend the Sunday session.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
After the Bo students moved onto the Sai, working on the katas Chibana, Hamahiga and Chatanyara. The kids also got to work with Sai, but were only given rubber ones!
Sai training
Sai training
Shihan Cunningham awarding Sempai Rob the grade of 8th Kyu in International Hokama Kobudo.Student Josh Darby enjoying the Sai.
Some further weapons were practised before the groups were brought back together to go over Seipai and Naihanchi katas once again. Training ended with Sempai Rob James being awarded his 8th Kyu in Kobudo. A group lunch followed at a café in Round Corner.
The seminar was deemed a great success by the instructors and its students. Similar seminars will now be conducted every year, with brown belts and black belts always expected to attend. Bringing together the seniors from all five KIMAA dojos is a rewarding experience for all, as well as ensuring that standards are being maintained across the board.
The next seminar will be held in March 2014 in preparation for the senior grading (5th Kyu through to black belt) in June. Attendance will be required for anyone wishing to attempt the grading.
The KIMAA students express their warm thanks to Shihan Lipman and Shihan Cunningham for organising a wonderful weekend.
The Saturday afternoon focused on Karate, in particular kata applications (bunkai), and the Sunday was spent on Kobudo, namely the Bo, Sai and Eeku.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Little Lions students from the North Coast classes and Aspley Dojo also participated over the weekend. The instructors extend their thanks to the parents for bringing the kids along for the weekend, especially those who came down from Queensland. It was an excellent opportunity for these young karateka to meet and train with Shihan Cunningham. The Little Lions were awarded with certificates of participation at the end of the weekend.
Shihan Cunningham vs a Lismore Little Lion
Sempai Di Turner & Courtney Turner
Karate group shot
The highlight of the weekend, besides the great training, was seeing the North Coast and Queensland Dojos come together again in the spirit of Kyokushin. Sempai Rob was very grateful to Sensei Mark for hosting and looks forward to returning the favour in the future.
Sensei James Sidwell (4th Dan), Sempai Sammy Vieira (1st Dan) and Sensei Mark Shelmerdine (4th Dan) with their new belts & certificates.
On Saturday the 27th of July, black belts and senior kyu grades attempted a Karate grading.
Basic techniques and stances, combinations, partner work, terminology, kata, fitness and fighting skills were tested rigorously.
KIMAA students from Turramurra and Annangrove Dojos participated, as well as Jeremy Gray from the North Coast, with Sensei Mark McFadden and Sempai Wally Gray also coming down.
Sempai Sammy Vieira was graded to 1st Dan (Shodan). KIMAA’s newest Shodan fought his forty fights bravely, despite a couple of bloody knock-downs that required patching up between bouts.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Sempai Sammy Vieira after his forty fights for Shodan.
All students put in a commendable effort, including Stephen Runge, James Ruprai, Azann Vhora and Jason Lambe who achieved senior brown belt (1st Kyu). Jeremy Gray and Angus and Victor Sweeney also did very well, keeping up with the adults in a long grading.
It was also announced at the completion of the grading that Sensei Mark McFadden had been promoted to 2nd Dan (Nidan) in Kobudo. Sensei Mark leads instruction in Kobudo in KIMAA’s North Coast Dojos and will be attending a group trip to Okinawa in November.
The KIMAA instructors congratulate all those who graded and thank the other seniors who attended the grading to support – and fight – those participating. Shihan Howard Lipman (8th Dan) was pleased with the standard of the day and offers his congratulations to all those who graded.
Sensei Idir Bahamid has introduced KIMAA students to the kata Naihanchi. The video of Naihanchi is available below for students to watch as a supplement to training in class.
Naihanchi is a widely practised kata in Okinawa, other parts of Japan and many styles of Karate. Kyokushin founder Sosai Mas Oyama trained in both Shotokan and Gōjū-ryū and knew this kata. Shihan Lipman has an old video of Sosai performing Naihanchi. Although Naihanchi was not formally incorporated into the mainstream Kyokushin syllabus, Shihan Lipman has introduced the kata for Shodan level KIMAA students. This allows KIMAA students to learn a traditional kata with much history behind it.
Sensei Idir demonstrates Naihanchi:
Click here to see a photo gallery of Sensei Idir training in his youth, as he demonstrates the power of Karate.
Shihan Des Paroz, 6th Dan in Shorinjiryu Karate, was invited to teach an introductory seminar for the Jō, a four foot staff. Assisting Shihan Paroz was Sensei Chrissy Hanley.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
The morning class introduced students to the basic handling of the weapon and how it varies from using the six foot Bo staff. A lot of attention was given to how the Jō is a mid-range weapon, allowing greater versatility than a staff like the Bo, which is largely limited to long-range.
The class progressed onto bunkai and Kudaka No Jō, a kata. It was a successful morning and the KIMAA Kobudo students will be able to build on these basic techniques and exercises in their fortnightly classes, exploring further applications and combinations of weapons (e.g. Bo vs Jō).
KIMAA extends its warm thanks to Shihan Paroz and Sensei Chrissy for their time.
Kyokushin International Martial Arts Australia 