Thursday didn’t get off to the best start for me, I woke up to my alarm going off but no noise coming from it – it was 10 minutes till class started. I jumped out of bed and threw my gi on, grabbed my half filled water bottle and ran to my car. I live about a 10 minute drive from the dojo, I managed to get to class being 10 minutes late. After some warm ups we got into some more speed training – I can sense a bit of a theme for the rest of the intensive; pushing our limits. To prepare for the possibility of Japan training, especially if it is in Summer, the conditions now are a good similarity to being there. One thing I have learned from Karate over the last few years is you can always find more. When you think you have reached your limit, it is just a thought, pushing through the mental barrier of pain and doubt is what will get you to your next level or goal.

The evening session was again more speed training, sweat has become a common companion for me these last few days. I think I was more sweat than man. My body is holding up fairly well, I just have a small knee issue that I have been compensating with a knee compression sleeve. As it comes to the end of the week, I am very happy with what I have achieved so far, but I won’t lie when I tell you I am looking forward to a weekend rest.

Day 3, this is probably the hardest day of the Karate 2 week intensive.
Your muscles all around your body are throbbing and cramping up, your energy is running low and your mind is wondering all over the place and makes it hard to focus on an activity.

However as I walked into class today feeling all of these things, I was thinking about what I was doing.II was motivated to participate in the 2 week intensive, not only for the Japan Scholarship but for my self growth, and for my training to help me get to my next goal. So as I walked up the stairs and sat in seiza I was thinking “A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success.” Joyce Brothers, so I started thinking about what I want to get out of the two week intensive:

1) Expand outside my box – This 2 two week intensive is perfect for self growth, as it is a high intensive workout that takes a lot of motivation and determination to keep up and attend every class till the end. This is definitely very different to my normal weekly karate schedule, and I do believe that this will help me grow body and soul with the amount of high intense Karate that I will be doing,

2) Basics – Because I have been starting the afternoon classes at 3:45 with the little champions I have been able to work on the basics of karate a lot more. This, focusing on my heels sticking to the ground for my stances, working on my body structure (keeping my head up and my shoulders back) and also working on the end position of my kicks and punches.

3) Preparation for the Scholarship – If I am the one to receive the Japan scholarship, this training we are doing now is perfect, especially the morning classes.  With the fast speed activities in the heat and sweat running down my face I imagine the circumstances that will be far more intense and hotter with lots more high intense body movement while training in Japan with Soka Sensei and I know this current training is valuable.

With these goals in my mind, it will be all the motivation I will need to keep me pushing through the pain and the heat and I will be able to achieve my goals.

I am very much looking forward to the training  and the lessons yet  to be learnt during the next week and a half of this intensive.

Entries are now open for the 2016 QLD Chito-Ryu Karate-Do State Titles.  This year, the event will be held on the Sunshine Coast and is open to all Chito-Ryu students.

When:  Sunday, 11th September 2016
Where:  Kuluin State School (Sunshine Coast)
Entry Form:  Available from your dojo instructor, or download the entry form (PDF)
Entries Close:  Friday, 2nd September 2016

This year, we are very pleased to have with us as a special guest, Mitchell German Sensei (6th Dan, Renshi) from Halifax, Canada.  German Sensei will be guest instructor at Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast dojos either side of the tournament.  In addition, we will also be running a seminar for all Chito-Ryu members to attend on the Saturday prior to the tournament.

Sunshine Coast Seminar with Mitchell German Sensei.

When: Saturday, 10th September 2016
Where:  Sunshine Coast Karate, Maroochydore dojo
Cost:  $20 per person

German Sensei is one of the most senior ranked practitioners of the International Chito-Ryu Karate-Do Federation outside of Japan and has had a very successful tournament career for many years, both as a competitor and a coach for many years, both in Chito-Ryu and in the WKF.

Here’s a short biography of German Sensei’s achievements in the dojo.

• Practicing Chito Ryu karate for over 35 years
• Chief Instructor Halifax Ryuseikan since 2005
• 6th degree black belt and the rank of Renshi
• Former WKF Canadian National Kumite Champion (-80 kg) and Canadian National Team member (1998-2001)
• 6 time Chito-ryu Soke cup world champion: 3 time Kumite (1995, 2010, 2013), 1 time team kumite (2013), 1 time Henshuho competition (1995), 1 time kata (2013)
• Current Soke Cup Champion
• Kakedemeshi (Chito-ryu) kumite champion (2008)
• Nova Scotia Karate Team (WKF) head coach 2001 – present
• Canada National Team Coach (WKF) 2002-2008
• 3 time Karate Canada Coach of the Year

As you can see, he’s lead quite an impressive karate career so far, so I’m sure that there will be lots to learn, so be sure to block away those dates, 10-16 September.

Departing from our normal tradition, this year we decided to have a more formal affair for the end of year presentations.  Coinciding with the 15th Anniversary Celebrations at the Maroochy Waterfront Camp & Conference Centre.

Congratulations to all students training at Sunshine Coast Karate throughout 2015. There are so many students stepping up and achieving so much with their training in and out of the dojo. Thank you to all of you for continually inspiring us to keep on growing with every day. Below we’d like to acknowledge this years’ special awards recipients.

Little Champions (4-7 years)
Beginner – Student of the Year: Grace Saron
Beginner – Most Improved: Jasakaran Bhotoya
Intermediate/Advanced – Student of the Year: Surkhab Gill
Intermediate/Advanced – Most Improved: Olivia Di Pietra

Karate Kids (8-13 years)
Beginner – Student of the Year: Tristan Rusich
Beginner – Most Improved: Cooper Darling
Intermediate – Student of the Year: Savannah Perdikis
Intermediate – Most Improved: Charles Robinson

Teen/Adult Karate
Beginner – Student of the Year: Ron Burgess
Beginner – Most Improved: Tony Gush
Intermediate – Student of the Year: Gary Evans
Intermediate – Most Improved: Andrew Crocker

Advanced Karate
Student of the Year: Debbie Woodhouse

Family Karate
Family of the Year: Ennis-Bell Family
(pictured below)

SCK Leaders
Leader of the Year: Dylan McKeown

Pacific Paradise Dojo
Student of the Year: Dylan Woods
Most Improved: Fallon Montgomery

Volunteers (Committee Choice)
Volunteer of the Year: Debbie Strazzari

Budoka of the Year
Sam Hunt

Family of the year – Ennis-Bell Family – Josh, Faye, Eddie, Lola (Above)

Competitor of the Year – 2015 QLD Circuit Season Champion – Bailey Keefe
And those are just the trophies from Bailey 2015 competition season!

The first round of the 2015 QLD Chito-Ryu Karate-Do tournament circuit is coming up soon.  If you’ve got your eye set on a place on the team to compete at the 2016 Soke Cup to be held in Kumamoto, Japan, then you definitely don’t want to miss out.

Entry form is now available for download:  Entry Form (PDF).

This tournament is open to Chito-Ryu Karate students of all ages and levels.  Even if you are an absolute beginner, there is a division for you.

• Little Champions (7 yrs & under)
• Karate Kids
• Teens
• Adults
• Masters (40yrs+)

Compete in individual kata and kumite events, and join team for team kata and start preparing.

If you’re not sure what it’s all about or want to get in some tournament specific training, join the weekly tournament squad training on Friday evenings.  Everyone is welcome.

Entry form is now available for download:  Entry Form (PDF).

Registrations close:  Friday, 6th March 2015.

The ICKFA (Sunshine Coast Branch) Inc will be hosting the 2015 QLD Chito-Ryu Karate Annual Training Camp. This year the camp will be at the Currimundi Active Recreation Centre, located on the southern end of the Sunshine Coast, just a few minutes walk from Dicky Beach.

The camp facilities feature cabin style accommodation with up to 12 people per room. All main meals, plus morning tea, afternoon tea and supper are included. And there will be plenty of karate training and some free time for socialising and other organised activities.

The main focus of this camp is intensive karate training. So if you are serious about propelling your karate to the next level with a weekend of immersion with many of Queensland Chito-Ryu senior members, this camp is for you! The training program will be tailored to the age and level of the attendees, so all members are welcome to attend. Outside of training times, only limited supervision will be provided, so non-training family members are encouraged to attend if possible.

Bonus Brown & Black Belt Training on Friday from 9am at Maroochydore dojo. To help set the tone for the camp, we have decided to have a full day of training just for seniors. If this applies to you, we highly encourage you to make it to this bonus training. This will only available to camp attendees.

To secure your place, return your form and full payment to your dojo instructor no later than, Friday 3^rd April. Late bookings may be accepted subject to space, up until, Friday 24^th April. A $30 late fee per person will apply.

Download – Registration form 2015 QLD Camp.

Christmas is fast approaching and it’s time to celebrate what a great year we have had with all of our Karate friends and family. Once again your association will be holding our Family Fun Day in Cotton Tree Park.

In conjunction with the day, the association will also be holding it’s AGM, and all members and family are invited to attend. There will be water training, games to play, annual award presentations, lunch and a visit from Santa.

If you will be attending, please add your name to the list on the dojo noticeboard, as the club will be supplying a sausage sizzle for lunch, please RSVP by Mon 8th Dec.

If you can’t be at the AGM, but would like to nominate for a position on the committee, be sure to fill in a nomination form and return to the dojo before the AGM.

We started the day with another great training session with Soke Sensei this morning. It was only a short seiza this morning (about 15 minutes) but it is definitely getting easier. This was to be our last morning training though as we have to leave very early Friday morning. I’m definitely feeling like things are starting to come together for me, Some of the things I have been working on this week got a slight nod from Soke Sensei this morning so I’m happy to know I’m moving in the right direction. I’m still ridiculously, embarrasingly slow when it comes to speed training.. especially kicking and kihon dosa yon! That’s something that will only improve with time and doing alot more of it I think. We did the usual routine, Basic punching, stepping in Sansin dachi, seisan dachi, shiko dachi, Kosa dachi, neko ashi dachi, rinten, rinten hanten, then repeat the above with punches, then all of the beginner kata at speed (Kihon dosa, kihon kata’s, seiken no migi hidari, zenshin Kotain, shi ho wari, shime no kata) then a quick break and then into kata practice, going from shi ho hai up. Because I don’t know as many kata as Sandra Sensei and Todd Sensei, I have a bit of spare time at the end to go over the bits I need to work on or any feedback I have been given. There has been alot of focus on Tenshin for me this trip which is a fairly new kata for me. I’m definitely feeling alot more confident with it than I was when I arrived! After kata training we do a little bit of Bo.. for me mostly just shaolin today, I am still not very good with this, especially turning but I have figured out how to do rinten since being here.. however slowly it may be! You have to start somewhere right? The last part of training is speed kicking the long length of the dojo.. OMG, do I feel unco-ordinated doing this next to Sensei’s Sandra and Todd!
After training I came upstairs and wrote up some notes and tried out a few more things, mostly where I have been given feedback for one kata, how that applies to parts or all of other kata. I was just wondering what I might do with myself for the day when Sandra informed me that we were to do some gardening today. We had previously asked if we could do anything to help out around the place before we left so this morning we were tasked with weeding the back yard.

Sandra and I hard at work

We got straight to work and had been working hard for awhile when Soke Sensei came out and told us we were going for Sushi for lunch at one O’ Clock. We both nodded and said thank you, and carried on as we were until Soke said… ‘now’! We had no idea we had been at it for so long! We raced upstairs for a quick change and wash and went out to a local sushi restaurant with Soke Sensei. The sushi was delicious and so fresh, but the plates just kept coming! I was so full and Soke kept putting plates in front of me. They have a game at the Restaurant, as you finish a plate of Sushi, you slide your plate into a little door at the end of the table which automatically counts how many plates you have had, for every five plates you are entered into a random lotto type game and you can win a little plastic toy. I was so full I could barely move and Soke Sensei said.. we just need a couple more plates for another game!

Yummy Sushi

With Soke Sensei after lunch

After lunch i had a quick rest to digest a little bit while Sandra called home for a chat but I could feel my body starting to seize up so I decided it was best to just get straight back into it. We were finished in an hour and had showers and a rest and caught up on our blogging before the afternoon classes started.

All done

The Kids Class with Naoyki Sensei was lots of fun as usual. We started off with some rolling, I spent a bit of time watching and stetching before I joined in as I was a bit stiff after the gardening! After rolling and break falling practice on the mats we packed them away and did some Kihons, basic stepping punching and blocking and some Kihon Kata.

Sensei Sandra playing Sumo with the kids

The Adult class with Soke Sensei was structured much the same as the morning class, there were 5 black belts and two brown belts in the class tonight, I felt a little bit better about the speed training and Bo when I realised no one else could keep up with Sandra Sensei and Todd Sensei either! I felt a bit fatigued tonight so my training wasn’t ideal but I still focused on the things I’ve learned while I’ve been here and I’m slowly chipping away at some of them. It was great to see Keichiro Oda in class tonight, Keichiro came and stayed with Sensei Sandra and Sensei Martin for a few months back when I was a white belt. Since then we have seen each other a few times at Soke Cups and Training trips. Todd Sensei and Goshi Sensei also joined us for class tonight. It was great to train with them all one last time.

After training tonight- From Left to Right, Todd Sensei, Sandra Sensei, Soke Sensei, myself, Keichiro Sensei, Goshi Sensei

Tomorrow is a fairly free day for our last day. I hope to head in to the Kamitori/ Shimatori one last time and then come back and pack. After Minowa Sensei’s class tomorrow night we are heading to an onsen with her so I think it will be a late night, and then we have to be ready to be picked up just after 6 on Friday morning to head to the airport.. I guess there is always the flight for sleeping! I would like to be pretty much packed up and ready before class starts on Thursday night