Report on the Annual JKS SA National Gasshuku, 2006

Once again the JKS SA national Gasshuku was held at the TO Strand resort, near Port Edward, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. Although it means a rather long drive for many of the participants, the setting and facilities make it an ideal venue for the gasshuku - especially with the traditional early morning 'spirit session' on the beach.

Attendance was great this year, with juniors being allowed for the first time to also attend. It was heart warming to see such a large contingent of juniors (of different belts and ages) mixing in amongst the brown and black belts. The format remained much the same with the national Dan gradings being held on Friday morning and the gasshuku proper kicking off on Friday afternoon.

One thing that was very different from last year's gasshuku was the celebration of Shihan Norman's 70th birthday - more on his later.

Dan Gradings

The overall standard set for the grading was extremely high this year, much to the Shihankai's delight. It was clear that candidates finally got the message following the pass rates at previous gradings and that they put in a lot of effort and time to prepare appropriately. The final pass rate was an unprecedented 85%!

As usual there were a large number of Shodan candidates, a very good bunch of Nidan and Sandan candidates, and a few Yondan and Godan candidates. The level of fighting amongst especially the Nidan and Sandan candidates was very good - with excellent control and some very tired karateka at the end. Congratulations to all those that passed - it was well deserved!

The following Dan grades were awarded:

Junior Shodan: Jeanna Schmidt

Shodan: Elize Kirsten; Sebastian King; Marnus Venter; Natalie Toweel; Brendon van Schoor; Robert Backer; Wynand Prinsloo; Waldo Prinsloo; Dwayne Blackburn

Junior Nidan: Sheldon Kock; Rikus Venter

Nidan: Godfried Kotze (jnr); Jolene Kotze; husband and wife team of Shaun Everitt and Marinda Everitt; Ryan King; Camelle Gounden

Sandan: Chris Badenhorst; Zander Jordaan; Ian Booyens; Ilse Zager; Elmirie Meyer; Martin Lindeque; Bernice Harris

Yondan: Christo Muller

 

Godan: Godfried Kotze and Gert Oelofsen
Gasshuku

 

The program this year consisted of 45 minute training sessions, separated by 15 minute rest periods, and the sessions were taught by the four members of our Shihankai. Break-away sessions for the juniors were taught by some of our senior Yondans and Godans.

The sessions were grouped to develop themes - essentially focussing on the fundamentals of kihon, kata and kumite, reiterating the fundamentals of proper JKS (Shotokan) karate - large expansive movements, proper form and posture, power and speed. All the Senseis were strong on these aspects and it was great to see the same features coming through in each instructor's sessions.

Of course, as always, there were minor deviations from plan, such as Shihan Norman's first session on Friday afternoon where he introduced some of the innovative and dynamic karate techniques of the late Asai Shihan that he observed while in Japan to attend Asai Sensei's funeral. For the older guys amongst us, forget any excuses about not being flexible enough to get your kicks up to head height - you can do it! Needless to say, there will be a renewed focus on flexibility.
Beach training

 

The traditional Saturday morning spirit session was held on the beach as per usual. Senseis Kobus Prinsloo and Filip Houndalas had organised a special feature for this year - sandbags. There is nothing like a half-full bag of beach sand to bring a new perspective to training - but all the karateka stuck it out and there was a great feeling of spirit and enjoyment throughout the whole session. So - many thanks to Senseis Kobus and Filip.

Face down push-ups in the waves got everyone ready for the after training fun swim before breakfast.

Of course, getting everyone down to the beach in time was a major achievement following on from Shihan Norman's birthday party of the Friday night. Full credit to Senseis Ayesha van Rensburg and Lourencia Kok for arranging the surprise birthday party (and keeping it a surprise) and arranging for some very meaningful and touching gifts to Shihan Norman.

The theme for the party was 'Red Indian', so the big chiefs of the Shihankai and their wives were all sitting at the head table with full 'Big Chief' feathers on their heads. Sensei Lourencia clearly had an excess of energy so decided to give an impromptu Taebo class which had the youngsters bopping along with combinations of high-stepping kicks and punches.

 

Saturday

There were four kata sessions on Saturday at which Bassai-sho (Shihan Norman); Empi (Sensei Andre); Sochin (Sensei Japie) and Gojushiho Sho (Sensei Pierre) were studied. The sessions were a little short, but Sensei Pierre still managed to fit the whole kata in even though he initially said he'd probably only get halfway through. Sensei Andre had everyone confused about one of his shoes, until he eventually confessed to be talking about "Wanshu", which is the original name for Empi.

Sensei Pierre gave one of his trademark self-defence classes in the afternoon. He was particularly pleased since one of his students (Ilse Zager) had very successfully used one of the techniques he teaches during her Sandan grading and succeeded in shaking off the big Sensei Mervyn Gounden with her 'mad dog' self-defence on his neck.

The final spirit session was electric with good spirit and hard work and sustained effort from all the karateka. Despite the effort and perspiration there was enormous spirit, lots of kiai-ing and noise, and the session certainly seemed to fly past.

Grading results were presented on Saturday evening with the usual mixture of celebration and disappointment. Congratulations to all those candidates who passed. For the few who did not pass, set your goals for next year, come back next year and we look forward to seeing you passing next time.

Special thanks to Sensei Wimpie Visser for the parallel sessions for the junior karateka and teaching the kids a stylish adaptation of Heian Shodan to a stick kata. Thanks also to Sensei Japie for the judging sessions. And lastly, special thanks to the organisers of the gasshuku - it was, as always, thoroughly enjoyable.