JKS National Gasshuku and Grading - T.O. Strand - October 2007
The annual JKS National gradings and Gasshuku were again held at T.O. Strand, near Port Edward, from 19 to 21 October 2007. This has proven to be a popular and accessible venue over the last couple of years and there was a general feeling of expectation leading up to this year's events.
Getting gasshukus right involves finding the right balance between hard endurance style conditioning and technical instruction. Anyone can design a two day physical training marathon that will test the physical and mental endurance of karateka. However, what is more difficult is to also impart the core knowledge of our style through sessions focused on skills development, while making the total gasshuku experience one that most will enjoy. It looks as if JKS has certainly managed to achieve this balance, with some excellent technical sessions interspersed with great 'spirit' sessions.
The technical sessions were hosted by our Shihankai: Shihan Norman Robinson, Shihan Pierre Jordaan, Sensei Japie Storm and Sensei Andre Kok. The early morning 'spirit' session was the responsibility of Senseis Filip Houndalas and Kobus Prinsloo, while the final spirit session was handled by six of the 5th Dans.
This was, indeed, a gasshuku of many highlights:
- We welcomed the arrival of three new groups at the Gasshuku for the first time: Senseis Jan Badenhorst (5th Dan), Quentin Rourke (graded to 5th Dan at the Gasshuku) and Hannes Gouws (2nd Dan) along with a number of their students. Based on what we saw and the interaction between them and the rest of the karateka, they can only be described as a tremendous gain for JKS.
- We saw whales off the beach during the traditional Saturday morning 'spirit' session, something that proved to be a great omen for the Rugby World Cup final between the Springboks and the British later that day!
- There were a few very high standard gradings in the senior dan ranks, notably those of Sensei Quentin Rourke (graded to 5th Dan COMMENDED) and Sensei Stuart Swallow (graded to 4th Dan COMMENDED).
- The standard amongst the senior dan grades was generally high, with a number of candidates being promoted to Nidan, Sandan, Yondan and one to Godan.
- Shihan Pierre Jordaan was awarded for his lifetime commitment to JKS and in recognition of his grading to 7th Dan in Tokyo, Japan, in April this year.
- South Africa won the Rugby World Cup! Go Bokke!!!
There were four main themes to the Gasshuku, each presented by members of the Shihankai.
Correct movement - Shihan Norman Robinson
The annual JKS National gradings and Gasshuku were again held at T.O. Strand, near Port Edward, from 19 to 21 October 2007. This has proven to be a popular and accessible venue over the last couple of years and there was a general feeling of expectation leading up to this year's events.
Getting gasshukus right involves finding the right balance between hard endurance style conditioning and technical instruction. Anyone can design a two day physical training marathon that will test the physical and mental endurance of karateka. However, what is more difficult is to also impart the core knowledge of our style through sessions focused on skills development, while making the total gasshuku experience one that most will enjoy. It looks as if JKS has certainly managed to achieve this balance, with some excellent technical sessions interspersed with great 'spirit' sessions.The technical sessions were hosted by our Shihankai: Shihan Norman Robinson, Shihan Pierre Jordaan, Sensei Japie Storm and Sensei Andre Kok. The early morning 'spirit' session was the responsibility of Senseis Filip Houndalas and Kobus Prinsloo, while the final spirit session was handled by six of the 5th Dans.
This was, indeed, a gasshuku of many highlights:
- We welcomed the arrival of three new groups at the Gasshuku for the first time: Senseis Jan Badenhorst (5th Dan), Quentin Rourke (graded to 5th Dan at the Gasshuku) and Hannes Gouws (2nd Dan) along with a number of their students. Based on what we saw and the interaction between them and the rest of the karateka, they can only be described as a tremendous gain for JKS.
- We saw whales off the beach during the traditional Saturday morning 'spirit' session, something that proved to be a great omen for the Rugby World Cup final between the Springboks and the British later that day!
- There were a few very high standard gradings in the senior dan ranks, notably those of Sensei Quentin Rourke (graded to 5th Dan COMMENDED) and Sensei Stuart Swallow (graded to 4th Dan COMMENDED).
- The standard amongst the senior dan grades was generally high, with a number of candidates being promoted to Nidan, Sandan, Yondan and one to Godan.
- Shihan Pierre Jordaan was awarded for his lifetime commitment to JKS and in recognition of his grading to 7th Dan in Tokyo, Japan, in April this year.
- South Africa won the Rugby World Cup! Go Bokke!!!
There were four main themes to the Gasshuku, each presented by members of the Shihankai.
Correct movement - Shihan Norman Robinson
Shihan led two sessions, one on Kanku-Dai and the second on effective movement. The central point of both sessions was chiselling away inefficiencies of movement - those practices and things we often do that stop us from being as effective as we should.
A highlight was the demonstrations by Shihan Norman involving students in the class. He demonstrated the effectiveness of JKS techniques on a number of students, both during performance of kata, the bunkai for the kata and during the movement session.
A highlight was the demonstrations by Shihan Norman involving students in the class. He demonstrated the effectiveness of JKS techniques on a number of students, both during performance of kata, the bunkai for the kata and during the movement session.
In summary, he showed - with effective sweeps, kicks, blocks and strikes - how efficiency of movement produces an advantage in terms of speed and power. The four principles he concentrated on revolved around:
- Early preparation
- Isolation
- Posture
- Knee-over-toe
- Early preparation
- Isolation
- Posture
- Knee-over-toe
Hand in hand with posture and knee-over-toe went the concept of the 'crooked leg'. JKS has formally identified the advantage of how not having rigidly straight back legs allows for quick, balanced and effective movement! This is in contrast to other Shotokan styles where the straight back leg, especially in zenkutsu-dachi, is stressed. It is clearly evident in movement that a straight back leg inhibits free movement, resulting in all sorts of compensating strategies.
A number of the karateka commented on the detailed understanding of karate unpacked by Shihan Norman and how evident the benefits were when correctly applied. It was also evident from the class how important our legs are in effective karate and how much conditioning is required (lunges, squats, sumo shuffles and the like). Karateka who had not included a lot of leg training in the build-up to the gasshuku found themselves with extremely sore and stiff leg muscles at the end of the gasshuku. Almost every session at the gasshuku included leg work in one way or another.
Shimpan kata - Sensei Japie Storm
This was another excellent and well-received session. The objective was to develop a higher level of competence for JKS judges and referees through a novel approach that provided a simple yet exciting aid to improving our abilities. The Shimpan kata involves a series of refereeing decisions based on an imaginary bout, covering all the important calls and decisions a judge or referee might be called on to make at tournaments.
This will be augmented by additional sessions to improve the standard, confidence and availability of JKS officials, especially at all-style events.
Using Shimpan kata to drill refereeing skills was highly successful. An immediate improvement was seen at all levels because it allowed the karateka to get a lot of practice at performing the actions of a centre referee. Good refereeing comes through practice and this approach certainly went a long way towards achieving that.
Finally, each karateka had the chance to perform the Shimpan kata in front of a 'grading' panel. This 'referee grading' tested verbal pronunciation, body language, hand movements and position and confidence. Karateka were able to check how their skills had improved while at the same time the panel was able to identify the good upcoming referees.
Self defence and close quarter combat - Shihan Pierre Jordaan
Shimpan kata - Sensei Japie Storm
This was another excellent and well-received session. The objective was to develop a higher level of competence for JKS judges and referees through a novel approach that provided a simple yet exciting aid to improving our abilities. The Shimpan kata involves a series of refereeing decisions based on an imaginary bout, covering all the important calls and decisions a judge or referee might be called on to make at tournaments.This will be augmented by additional sessions to improve the standard, confidence and availability of JKS officials, especially at all-style events.
Using Shimpan kata to drill refereeing skills was highly successful. An immediate improvement was seen at all levels because it allowed the karateka to get a lot of practice at performing the actions of a centre referee. Good refereeing comes through practice and this approach certainly went a long way towards achieving that.
Finally, each karateka had the chance to perform the Shimpan kata in front of a 'grading' panel. This 'referee grading' tested verbal pronunciation, body language, hand movements and position and confidence. Karateka were able to check how their skills had improved while at the same time the panel was able to identify the good upcoming referees.
Self defence and close quarter combat - Shihan Pierre Jordaan
Shihan Pierre continued with another of his fantastic sessions on self defence, demonstrating the need for awareness, strategies to cope with the unknown and some extremely effective techniques. This particular session dealt with techniques and methods required if ever one had to handle a static knife attack, for example a street mugging.
Sensei Chris Badenhorst was fortunate (?) enough to have been used as the target of Shihan's self defence techniques. If any confirmation about whether these techniques can be effective or not was needed, the speed with which Sensei Chris was subdued by some pretty uncomfortable techniques was astounding. Shihan Pierre is a big, strong and very proficient karate man.
As part of the warm-up, Shihan Pierre introduced the class to some of his more interesting conditioning exercises - such as the Hindu push-up, the crocodile push-up, the Spiderman push-up and the 'vlakvark' push up (a whole zoo full of push ups).
Sensei Chris Badenhorst was fortunate (?) enough to have been used as the target of Shihan's self defence techniques. If any confirmation about whether these techniques can be effective or not was needed, the speed with which Sensei Chris was subdued by some pretty uncomfortable techniques was astounding. Shihan Pierre is a big, strong and very proficient karate man.
As part of the warm-up, Shihan Pierre introduced the class to some of his more interesting conditioning exercises - such as the Hindu push-up, the crocodile push-up, the Spiderman push-up and the 'vlakvark' push up (a whole zoo full of push ups).
Kumite training - Sensei Andre Kok
The degree of overlap and commonality between this session and those of Shihan Norman was exciting because it shows a deep understanding amongst the senior instructors about the technical fundamentals of the style. Since our karateka are doing very well at competitions, a lot of this under Sensei Andre's coaching, it is clear that the technical aspects are relevant and effective.
Some of the highlights included 'basic' three-step and five-step kumite. The objectives here were to learn how to apply effective technique, how to close the gap and how to avoid attacks. Five-step kumite was used to develop the concept of continuous attack. Added to this was the sabaki-kata - avoiding direct retreat through proper use of sidestepping and turning.
It is necessary to train and operate outside the free fighting arena that sometimes tend to reinforce poor form, bad habits and people falling into a comfort zone of using familiar techniques. Using basic kumite drills is very beneficial in developing reaction, quick take off, penetration, focus and long powerful techniques.
Many karateka commented on how well Sensei Andre's session merged with what Shihan Norman had presented earlier.
Spirit sessions
Both traditional spirit sessions were held on the beach. Once again, Senseis Filip Houndalas and Kobus Prinsloo managed to concoct a whole series of alternative exercises that were designed to test the physical and mental endurance of the karateka just after sunrise.
The morning session started off with Sensei Filip leading the way in squats and jumping lunges, very effectively using the concrete benches in the 'entertainment' area of the resort. From there the session moved down to the beach where the karatekas provided their own 'instruments of pain' by filling sandbags with beach sand. These sandbags became their constant companions until the end of the session, which predictably ended in the sea.
At the end of the morning session we were privileged to watch at least three whales breaching and jumping off the coast.
The final spirit session was led by Senseis Pieter Abrahams, Jan Badenhorst, Filip Houndalas, Kobus Prinsloo, Gert Oelofsen and Mervin Gounden. In spite of some very tired bodies and legs, these 5th Dans managed to keep the spirit and camaraderie at a 'feelable' level, with everybody joining in on the count towards the 'final countdown' and a last and final 'trip' into the waves!
The training ended on a very high and spirited note and the Dojo Kun and final bow in seiza brought the training portion of the gasshuku to a wonderful end.
End of gasshuku party and grading ceremony
The gasshuku ended with a braaivleis, preceded by the announcement of the grading results. From a total of 32 candidates, only four of the brown belts were unsuccessful and need to put in some more effort to ultimately claim their black belts. As mentioned earlier, the standard amongst the senior grading candidates was high, with a number of candidates achieving commended gradings, which is pretty rare at these gradings - a sure sign that our instructors understand what is expected from them and that the standard is moving in the right direction!
Shihan Pierre Jordaan was awarded a special accolade in recognition of the contribution he has made together with the other members of the Shihankai, as well as for the achievement of his 7th Dan in Japan earlier this year. What reflects extremely well on both Shihan Pierre and JKS is that he is the first Westerner to grade to such a high level in Japan without having trained there for extensive periods of time - his training since 1970 was entirely homegrown, initially in JKA and for the last decade in JKS under the auspices of Shihan Norman.The gasshuku, once again, showed the very apparent synergy within JKS. The Shihankai (and JKS) is really strong and they and the senior instructors complement (augment) each other. They are, fortunately, NOT exactly the same and don't do everything in the same way and we are extremely fortunate in what JKS delivers to their karateka. Together they present a wide range of skills and knowledge to the JKS karate student.
Those who missed 'Gasshuku 2007' missed out on a great and wonderful experience - we hope to see you all at next year's gasshuku!
Alan King and Stuart Swallow
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