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Red Oak Karate Club had the opportunity to attend another seminar with Sensei Dave Hazzard. The seminar was split over 2 days with mixed grades attending on Saturday and senior grades attending on Sunday. The seminar focused upon the bunkai to kata Kanko Shu and kicking.

At the end of the seminar Sensei Billman awarded Sensei Hare and Sensei Cross their 3rd Dan's. Red Oak Karate Club offer their congratulations to Sensei Hare and Sensei Cross for this well deserved achievement.

Red Oak Karate Club were privileged that Sensei Billman attended the Club to give a seminar. The seminar dealt with many aspects of karate but concentrated mainly on arm techniques both in basics and with an opponent. Sensei Billman built upon a set of techniques in basics which were then used with a partner and resulted in a series of several attacks and counter attacks while changing stance. At the end of the seminar Sensei Billman invited a questions and answers section which was extremely valuable to all who attended.

Red Oak Karate Club were invited to take part in the Seaford Karate Championships 2009. The competition was organized by Sensei Martin Dean and was a well run and friendly competition. Again Red Oak Karate Club fielded two competitors, Tim (6th Kyu) and Chris (1st Dan). Unfortunately both competitors were called upon to fight at the same time. This proved more difficult for the coaches and club members than it did for the fighters, as they ran between areas to give their support.

Tim again started well winning his first fight against a more experienced competitors. His second fight was a close fight which Tim was able to pull back level with a spectacular round house kick to the head. In the end Tim was narrowly beaten however he came away with a well deserved 3rd place.

Chris was called to fight and started well against his opponent landing a roundhouse kick to the head. At times Chris held back too much and was reminded by his instructors to push forward which was where he was having his success, however in the end he won the fight 9-5. Chris' second fight was against Edmond Neala. Chris and Ed having met at several times in recent competitions although not being called to fight each other before now. Ed landed a roundhouse kick to Chris' body to go 2-0 up, however the score was soon leveled as Chris responded in kind. Ed then attacked with a roundhouse kick to the head to go 5-2 up with time fast running out. Just before the buzzer sounded Chris landed with a roundhouse kick to Ed's head to level the fight. This forced the fight into extra time and it went to first to score. Ed attacked straight from the line to win the fight. Nevertheless due to Chris being awarded a by in an earlier round, due to his opponent pulling out, Chris was awarded 3rd place.

Overall a fantastic day and the most well run competition that we have had the privilege of entering. Chris and Tim would also like to extend their thanks to all the club and coaches who regularly give up their spare time to support them at these competitions, it is incredibly generous of them and is very much appreciated.

Red Oak Karate Club were lucky enough to be invited to a training seminar with Sensei Hazzard. The seminar was arranged by Sensei Billman to whom Red Oak Karate Club is extremely grateful. The seminar dealt with many aspects of karate but of particular interest was developing explosive power from short distance which Sensei Hazzard was able to demonstrate most effectively!

In this competition Red Oak Karate Club fielded two competitors, Tim (6th Kyu) and Chris (1st Dan), in Kumite (sparring). This would be Tim's first experience of fighting in a competition and after a long wait Tim was called to the mat. Tim began quickly landing several techniques on his opponent. Unfortunately these techniques were not scored and as the allotted time ended Tim was beaten 1-0. Nevertheless Tim was able to take away several positives from this event and certainly showed that he would not falter under pressure.

Chris was called to fight at 9:00pm!! After a quick start and with the fight level at 2-2 his opponent was disqualified for excessive contact, a punch to the head which drew blood. This left Chris unable to continue but due to the small number of competitors who had remained to fight resulted in Chris being awarded a bronze medal.

Such was my eagerness not to be late that Kate and I performed the route I would take yesterday and today I arrived an hour early at the meeting place [9:00am, which as anyone who has seen me in the morning will testify, requires a lot of effort].

I was greeted by two gentlemen who have both been studying karate for over 45 years and are 7th Dan Black Belts [puts my 10 years and 1st Dan status into perspective] and a very nice woman called Yoko-San who looked after me [who has been studying karate for 35 years and is a 5th Dan].

The training session began and we had to hold very low stances while punching on the spot. Due to my being taller than everyone else I had to go into a lower stance than anyone else to compensate and this was exhausting. Although I know the Japanese words for everything we were doing the prononciation is so different that I couldnt understand it so it was a case of copying. We spent a long time doing basics and then moved onto Kata [a sequence of predefined movements that literally translates as dance]. We performed katas Heian Shodan [no 2] through to Heian Godan [no 5] with no breaks or stopping between them. We then did them in reverse which is far harder than it sounds and even the 7th Dans made some mistakes. We then did a kata I have never done before Tekki Sandan but this was broken down into various sections and I had kind of got it by the end.

The official session ended and we then went to another room for private practise. I was really glad of the opportunity to work out on the bag and attracted some attention doing flashy jumping spinning kicks [I couldnt resist!!]. I was very fortunate as one of the main instructors came over and started helping me work with the bag and giving me combinations. An amazing experience!

One of Red Oak Karate Clubs karateka will shortly be departing for a round the world trip during which time he is hoping to train at the Japanese Karate Association headquarters in Tokyo. We look forward to hearing details from him upon his return in July.

Red Oak Karate Club has moved halls, our Wednesday class is now in St Pancras School Hall, De Montfort Road (full details of which can be seen under our Training page). We are very pleased to be practising in St Pancras School Hall and are settling in well to our new home.

Over a year since Lee Reed, David Goodwin and Chris Maulkin achieved their 1st Dan. Below is a photo courtesy of Sussex Express which accompanied an article about taking their grading. Extracts from the article will follow shortly.