As was my impression at the time, the videos confirm that the our members did a great job at the demonstration. Here are some of them: Some .mov files: 2019 GOTA Josh breaks board 2019 GOTA Josh self-defense
We performed for the second year in a row at the annual Pennridge Gallery of the Arts on Sunday afternoon, September 15. The weather was a little better than last year — it was warm and quite bright, but the humidity was low. Still, we did the whole thing directly under the late-summer afternoon sun. I was very pleased with…
Showing remarkable poise, Alex delivered two Heian kata and a board break in a little over a minute-and-a-half at his school’s variety show on the last day of school. Great mental concentration and kime! A ‘stellar’ performance — well done, Alex!
We ran our first Summer Camp at the Sellersville location last week, during the first full week of summer. This was Shuto Karate’s first camp since 2015, which was two dojo locations ago, back at “Candyland” (actually a candy distribution warehouse) in Hatfield. Surprising probably no one, I would rate our first Sellersville camp to have been a big success.…
The week after summer camp, we will debut our “Tiny Samurai” class on Monday and Thursday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:15*. This class will be of immediate benefit to the 3-6 year old children who participate. It will also prepare them to enter our children’s classes, which begin at 7 years old. (Or in some cases a mature child could…
March 23 was our semi-annual exam for kyu ranks (non-black belt testing), and the awarding of new ranks was Thursday. I was proud of all those who tested; everyone did close to their “personal best” and in a couple cases even seemed to exceed it. I and the other sensei noted some systematic technical shortcomings, which indicates flaws in our…
We started our training with the Jo last Saturday (November 17). We will continue each Saturday at or near the end of the children’s class. Eventually we will probably have entire classes dedicated to Jo practice. The younger children are using 7/8″ dowel rods cut to 45″ length. See the previous post “A short explanation of the Japanese Jo” for…
My friend Yuka invited Shuto Karate Club to give a class for a group of children that meets at her house periodically to learn about Japan and the Japanese language. The name of the group is 日本語で遊ぼう, or, roughly translated, “Let’s have fun using Japanese (language)”. We had about 14-15 children participate, with ages ranging from about 5 to 10,…
On Sunday we did our first demo, during the 50th annual Pennridge Gallery of the Arts. I was very proud watching everyone perform to the best of their ability, or close to it. It is the role of any teacher to bring out the best in each student. We developed and practiced this performance for close to two months, and…
Our young student Praachi trains at both the Sellersville and the Skippack dojos of Shuto Karate Club. Right now she’s in India with her family, visiting relatives and the ‘home country.’ While there, she has been training at a Shotokan school in the city of Rajkot when she’s able. Her dad tells me that the classes have 20-25 students and…
