May 2005

Visiting Sensei Put Club Through Its Paces Salisbury Shotokan Karate Club held it's second grading on Sunday 29th May 2005. The grading and preceding course was held in the club's dojo at the Bishops Wordsworth Sports Centre and lead by guest instructor Sensei Colin Putt. Sensei Putt (5th Dan), whose own dojo is in Plymouth, Devon, took the class of eighteen students first through some simple fundamentals then progressed through to more advanced combinations that made some students have to think quite hard about what they were doing in order to keep up. The session was taught with Sensei Putt's humour very much in attendance that even caused those watching to laugh out loud! Vocal explanation coupled with physical demonstrations highlighted the specific areas that the students needed to work on and contained some very important hints to remember when practising Shotokan Karate. After a quick break to replenish energy lost in the training session, the grading itself started. Starting with the white belt beginners, the students were called up in groups to display their knowledge and skills. Firstly the basic movements including blocks, punches and kicks are demonstrated; next is kata, a predetermined pattern of movements simulating a pre-set fight followed finally by kumite or sparring where specific fighting skills are judged for spirit, effectiveness and control. After the white belts had completed their grading requirements, it was the turn of the orange belts (9th Kyu) whose grading format remained the same but the moves and skill knowledge that had to be demonstrated were more complicated. Finally went the red belts (8th Kyu) who had the most challenging grading requirements of all. There were a total of eighteen students who attended the grading this time and congratulations to all eighteen who passed their grades. Below is a list of some of the successful students. 9th Kyu Passes Matthew Cusens James Johnson Darren Cusens Che Marsh 8th Kyu Passes Thomas Walker Sarah Belk Rachel Jackson Ewan Walker Emily Knowles 7th Kyu Passes Tom Learner Martin Quigley Jonathan David Pictured below are some of the club members from the grading

May 2006

The most recent club grading held on Friday 19th May 2006 was undertaken by club instructors Denise Halliwell and Christopher Ashton. Everybody who attempted their grading passed and overall we were very impressed by the attitude and ability of the karate-ka attempting to gain their next kyu grades. Recent grades gained: 9th Kyu (orange) – Stephen Hand, Rob Gerrish, Cameron Neslon-Twiby, Callum Batty and Ben Gray. 8th Kyu (red) – Katy Stewart , Tom Robinson. 7th Kyu (yellow) – Rosie Conway. 6th Kyu (green) – Simon Blackman, Emily Knowles, Anna MacDuirmid and Sarah Belk. 3rd Kyu (brown) – Karen Hacker. We would also like to take this opportunity to recommend the monthly F.B.S.K.U.(I) all grades courses as they offer you the chance to train with different karate-ka as well as offer new knowledge, skills and insights taught by different sensei within the association. It is also worth bearing in mind that in order to attempt Dan gradings students must have attended a certain number of these courses to be eligible to grade. Congratulations to all those passed on Friday and keep up the good work!

August 2006

The grading in August was held in conjuction with the Devonport Dojo in Plymouth. Eight students from the Salisbury Club traveled to the training and grading which was held over two days with separate training courses taught by Sensei Putt which were aimed at both lower and higher grades. Courses lasted 1.5 hours each (or there abouts!) on the friday night as well as saturday morning. Of course these were as per usual Sensei style, proving both physically and mentally demanding. Friday night mainly concentrated on kokutsu-dachi, geri techniques and kumite. Following the 3.5 hours of training Andy Nutbean and his family kindly provided a barbeque in their home catering for us all. They also supplied a large sized Jenga-type game which we were able to battle out which club was superior at this highly skilled game. In all the fun we lost count of who ultimately won and all had a great time. They were also kind enough to accomodate several students in their very own Dojo in their garden! Saturdays training focused on Kata, with higher grades practising Chinte, Tekki Sandan and Meikyo-Nidan. Five people from the Salisbury Dojo attempte and successfully passed their gradings. These were: Paul Cant (passed 9th kyu), Rob Gerrish and Stephen Hand (passed 8th kyu), Simon Blackman (passed 5th kyu) and Karen Hacker (passed 2nd kyu). So congratulations to those that passed their gradings and managed to enjoy the training we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday with your new belts!

Jenga August 06

Look out Karen she's gonna blow!

August 06 - 2

Brown belts training hard...

December 2006

Yet again it is that time of year.....



.....for another club kyu grading that is!



Congratulations to the following people for passing their next kyu grade!

9th Kyu - Ian Robinson, Richard Cox, Ian Henderson, Stuart Mauchline, Ewan Mauchline, Sam Stewart.

8th Kyu - Cameron Nelson-Twiby, Ben Grey, Callum Batty.

7th Kyu - Tom Robinson, Rob Gerrish.

5th Kyu - Sarah Belk, Rachel Jackson.

4th Kyu - Simon Blackman, Tye Raymond.



Many thanks to Geordie and Karen for taking the class whilst the grading was in progress.

May 2007

February 2008

Tuesday 26th February was the night of the first grading of 2008. The grading was run by Sensei Denise Halliwell and 5 members attempted the grading. All those grading passed and the standard was very high.

Passes include:

Will Blackham - 9th Kyu

Shannon Mason - 8th Kyu

Simon Mason - 7th Kyu

Richard Cox - 6th Kyu

Simon Blackman - 3rd Kyu

Congratulations again to all those who passed their grading, you all did extremely well. Keep up all the hard work!

November 2008

After another few months of dedicated training and three students attempted to pass their kyu gradings this time around. Alex Morgan, Jake Rattue and Richard Cox had all met the training requirements to be eligible to attmpt the next grades and for two students it was their first experience of a grading. After working through the syllabus of kihon, kata and kumite and some anxious waiting to see whether they had been successfull, they were informed that they had all passed their kyu grading. Alex Morgan, Jake Rattue - Pass 9th Kyu Richard Cox - Pass 4th Kyu So well done to all three students, keep up the hard work and in another few months you might be going through it all again!