JKS National Gasshuku and Gradings 2009

JKS South Africa held its 2009 National Gasshuku and Dan Gradings at T.O. Strand resort on the South Coast on 25 and 26 September.  The theme for recent gasshukus has been "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"... in recognition of the healthy state of JKS and more directly the fact that we had established a good formula for the national gasshuku - one that combined fun and technical instruction.  Judging by the record attendance this year, the formula seems to be working. 

The theme for this year was "Back to basics", prompted by developments in Japan and the focus on the advanced basics that makes JKS a premier Shotokan karate organisation.  Both in South Africa and Japan, JKS karateka are recognised for their excellence and continue to excel at national and international level.  The Head of JKS, Shihan Kagawa, is also the national coach of the Japanese Karate Federation all styles competition teams.  So perhaps the theme should have been "Back to advanced basics!"

We have spent a lot of effort incorporating the latest Japanese syllabus into JKS South Africa, particularly the five Junro katas.  The Junro katas draw the attention to aspects of our basics that we sometimes take for granted, but which are extremely important to develop effective fighting karate.  As from 2010, all JKS karateka will be tested on the Junro katas for Dan gradings.  For 2009, the candidates were allowed to nominate one of the Junro katas.

Key events were, as usual, the National Dan Gradings, the morning beach training session and the final spirit training session.  The standard of instruction at all sessions was high.



A primary objective of the gasshukus is to expose all karateka to ongoing developments and illustrate the concepts behind the evolving JKS karate.  Clearly, the karateka cannot be expected to absorb everything presented over such a short period, but it does give them a sense of the direction that instructors are driving.  The gasshuku is an opportunity to calibrate and align standards across our group - the instructors are expected to absorb everything presented and to pass this on to their students.

Technical Sessions
Training sessions were held from Friday afternoon through until the end of Saturday, presented by members of the Shihankai and supported by senior instructors (session details are listed below). The first sessions concentrated on advanced basics (the mechanics of movement) and learning the Junro katas.  The later sessions concentrated on judging and basic kumite.   Despite the hard work put in by the karateka, as evidenced by the abundant sweat, there were many, many smiles throughout the weekend as the karateka and instructors really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Personal highlights were the combined power session presented by Shihan Norman and Shihan Pierre, using combinations of inner tubes and punch bags for resistance training.  The legs certainly felt the impact of the added resistance of rubber inner tubes as we worked through the various drills.  When Shihan Pierre threw punch bags into the mix, things really got interesting as karateka tried to exert maximum power at the end of their rubber ropes.

The final working session presented by Shihan Andre and Sensei Lourencia was outstanding as they worked through "basic" kihon, from gohon through to jiyu ippon kumite, using leg techniques for the counters instead of traditional punches.  The intention was to develop penetration, power and accuracy.  Emphasis was placed on making the defender work by attacking with intent, so that both the attacker and the defender develop their fighting skills.

From traditional gohon, the class moved to basic and then semi-free kihon sparring, with greater focus on tai sabaki.  This ties in well with the non-linear nature of the Junro katas.  Besides being hard work and taking most of the karateka out of their comfort zones, especially with the jodan kicks, this type of training introduces great flexibility and spontaneity into kumite if practised regularly and with effort.

Dan Gradings

 

Forty nine candidates attempted their Dan gradings this year, significantly higher than in previous years.  What was pleasing is that the highest level attempted was 3^rd Dan, which indicates that the shodan and nidan ranks are beginning to increase in numbers.

Unfortunately for some of the candidates, not all of them were successful.  As Shihan Norman is fond of reminding people, this simply represents an opportunity to come back stronger and better than before.  Since the National Gradings set the standard it is important that candidates pass on merit and it is natural that not all candidates will succeed at the first attempt.  An indication of the very high standard set is that only three out of eight Sandan candidates were successful and there were only four commended gradings in total.

For most grading candidates the grading test represents the final chapter in months and months of dedicated training. 

Next year

As JKS grows from strength to strength, we have high expectations for the 2010 gasshuku.  Sensei Quentin has already thrown down the challenge with what he promises will be a big contingent of karateka from Bloemfontein next year, many of whom will be attempting their shodan gradings!  I am sure that the Shihankai and the Godan instructors will build on their success of 2009 to make 2010 an even better year.

Thanks are due to the Shihankai and the instructors for their input and leadership over the weekend.  Specific thanks to Sensei Lourencia, assisted by Senseis Ayesha and Beverly, for organising and administration.

Finally, thanks are due to the parents of the many karateka, who support the organisation throughout the year and specifically those that were present during this gasshuku.

Alan King

CONTENT OF TRAINING SESSIONS

Friday

Session 1: Shihan Norman; Sensei Alan King

In the first 30 minutes, Sensei Alan illustrated a sequence of drills designed to develop improved hip drive, the importance of keeping the hips level and at the same height during movement and the relevance of the cat stance as a training aid.

Shihan Norman then incorporated this section into the "Back to 'advanced' basics" theme.  The use of the hips to control movement through proper execution of kihon formed the basis of this session.  Shihan focused on: hip level and constant height, coupled with strong hip rotation, high knee lift and snap back.

Session 2: Shihan Japie; Sensei Lourencia

Junro 1 - the main objective is to illustrate the use of different stances to change the effective fighting distance (hikioshi - push and pull).  This aligns with the first session where we concentrated on the hips in transition from forward stance to cat stance and vice versa.

Junro 2 -the main objective here is the use of double hand techniques and the introduction of front foot mae-geri from cat stance.

Session 3: Shihan Pierre; Shihan Andre

Junro 3 - the main objective is to illustrate the use of different striking techniques.  The kata demands effective use of hip rotation to generate power.

Junro 5 - the main objective here is the use of  basic stepping/shifting movements.

Saturday

 

Session 1: Senseis Kobus, Fillip and Jan

Our normal and 'special' spirit and camaraderie building session continues to be refined and improved.  This year an element of fun was introduced with Sensei Jan running a volley ball and a netball game.  Each point lost resulted in push-ups... naturally!  In parallel, Sensei Fillip ran his tough conditioning class with lots of resistance work in thick beach sand.  Sensei Kobus ran a slightly lighter session with competitive activities like wrestling and "Beach Ironman" - a version of musical chairs.

General comments were that the karateka enjoyed this session very much.

Session 2: Shihan Norman

Junro 4 - Shihan taught the kata with emphasis on correct grouping of moves.  He also introduced some elements of bunkai towards the end of the session.

Sensei Nic gave a short presentation on his 'Fitstop' programme and the importance of remaining healthy.

Session 3: Shihan Norman; Shihan Pierre

This session focused on power training using rubber bands and punch bags.

Shihan Norman focused on drills using rubber inner tubes to develop strength and correct form in the application of both basic and more advanced techniques.

Shihan Pierre built on this, using punch bags either in isolation or with rubber tubes to illustrate techniques for developing strength and explosive power.

In all the drills, the need for correct technique was clearly demonstrated.  Two highlights were the 3-band / 3- punch bag drill and the one-on-one rubber band kumite drill.

Session 4: Shihan Japie

Following on from the success of the Shimpan katas in 2007/2008, Shihan Japie has further developed his session on judging.  This year the junior karateka were given trial runs under the eyes of more experienced judges/referees to introduce them to judging.

Three floors were set up for staged fights to allow judging to be carried out under the eyes of the more experienced referees and judges.

Session 5: Shihan Andre; Sensei Lourencia

Shihan Andre and Sensei Lourencia started with gohon kumite with the focus on penetration and accuracy (both in attack and defence).  From there, the session moved to ippon kumite and then jiyu ippon kumite.  Finally, advanced jiyu ippon using kicks as the counter attacks was introduced.

Session 6: The famous closing session 'spirit training' on the beach. Once again the session was conducted by the 5^th Dans and thoroughly enjoyed by all.