My Busy Week :)

Woweee! this week of mine has been incredibly full with fun activities!
Fun Activities? yes indeed very fun and exhausting...but enough with the adjectives!
Ok so lets break it down...

Shian Nikki Pillay has been down from Durban for the week. Who is he? you may ask...well he is a 7th dan Inoue-Ha Shito-ryu Karateka. He has visited Japan numerous times and trained with Hayashi himself (the founder of my style) aswell as other countries including Botswana, India and many more where he has really "expanded his horizon" (If i may use that incredibly over-used saying)

Anyways, throughout this week I have been training with him everyday while going back to basics. I must say, it has been extremely eye-opening! It is so enjoyable to be learning from someone with so much knowledge.

As well as training with this Shian (Higher than a sensei), myself and a few other people have been grading. This is when he observes our level and hopefully advances us to the next level. I will hear the results in a few weeks! So cross your fingers for me!

Here are some of the other students who were grading with me.

Tomorrow we will be attending a friendly tournament in Shian Nikki's honour!

Will let you know how that goes!

Until then have a great day!

Competition karate Break down..What is it exactly?

Ok, so... for those of you who don't quite understand the significance of "the all-styles" karate circuit, i have decided to do a break down of what this includes and HOW one can compete. (For example, it ISNT a competition to see who can break the most wooden boards with their karate energized pinky fingers.)

Lets start by pointing out that karate isnt just ONE form of martial art. There are thousands of very different styles! literally! From JKA (Japan Karate Association) and Shukokai to Inoue-ha (my style!). All of which are created or moulded from a variety of backgrounds and therefore some are almost uncomparable. They all have their own world champions and obviously all believed that their styles, were the way to go!

So now they have created an "all styles" semi-contact curcuit where all the styles can compete together. Each competitor falls under one of the 4 general style groups; Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Wado-ryu and Shito-ryu. (thats mine!). And every referee should be able to ref these general groups of styles!

Now that we have established that..the question arises." But what DO you guys to?"

There are 2 things...

1st, its the 'fighting' called kumite. (pronounce it like..koom-it-ay) This is where we where super light gi's (those white karate suits we all wear) and try to score points on eachother. 1 point for a punch to the head (no contact!) or to the chest. 2 points for a kick to the side. and 3 points (this is a big deal) for a kick to the head or a take down! The person with the most points at the end of the time limit, wins! Its that simple!

Here is a super cool selection of kumite fighting best moments(3 pointers!) that just gets me so excited!

Secondly, there is KATA! Now this is a sequence of karate movements that are practised to show to the referees at a tournament. One has to know at least 7 different sequences! Each competitor will perform they kata and the the refs, using a red or blue flags, decide who they thought did the best one! I really love this one!

Here is an example of the current world kata champion (the legend, Antonio Diaz!) doing a kata called Annan.

And thats it!  Hope this quicky overview of what competition karate is sheds some light on the matter.

If i havent clarified anything enough just pop a question in my comments box!

Lets Begin!

Right! As you may have read on the 'about me' section, I am a karateka practitioner who competes in the semi-contact all styles circuit. So to update y'all about this years results of mine; In March Icompeted in the WP champs and received double gold and then proceeded to attend the KSA (karate South Africa) trials where I was selected to represent KSA for the year.

So basically this means that I get to go to australia( karate Commonwealth games) AND New zealand in July to represent South Africa. This indeed makes me very excited as i do LOVE to travel (who doesnt?).
Also i may or may not be going to Malaysia for the WKF(World Karate Federation) junior World champs.

Here are photos of me fighting in Kumite at the KSA trials.
I think i may post some videos of me aswell, once i work out hoe to do that! enjoy!