There are many reasons why people are attracted to karate, whether walking through into the dojo for the first time, or after many years of training. Karate as an effective combat system, sport or simply an interesting way to keep fit. Karate is often advertised for children as it promotes good discipline, confidence and social skills. Although karate can be considered an individual pursuit like yoga, running or weight lifting, we often spend time working with a partner or in small groups to practice self defence techniques, pad work and other training exercises. After time, great friendships develop, and in an international organisation like the IOGKF, some of these friendships can be with people living many miles away from each other.

In 2014, Martin and Louise traveled to Koh Samui, Thailand for a week of intensive training under Sensei George Andrews. During this trip they met Radhika Pandya and her husband Deepak. When Martin and Louise recently visited Singapore, they met up again, training together in the dojo and later for a great Szechuan meal. With great training comes great friendships that last beyond the dojo.

It's been a great week at the club, with gradings both at the Cambridge dojo on Thursday 31st August and at the black belt grading weekend in London 2nd/3rd September. Many congratulations to the following successful candidates:

Sarah Dawson 9th kyu
Bruno Goncalves 8th kyu
Sylvie Gonera 8th kyu
Rachel Bender 7th kyu
Adrian Galwin 6th kyu
Hannah Sanders 5th kyu
Nick Gibbons 4th kyu
Xorge Castro 1st kyu
Gary Potter shodan (1st dan)
Fabio Giovannoni sandan (3rd dan)

The OTGKA held a weekend of training over 18-20th August in the wonderful setting of Woldingham School in Surrey. This event was well attended by members of the Cambridge dojo. A report of the event can be read on the OTGKA website.

At Cambridge Goju Ryu we stick to teaching what we know, Okinawan Goju Ryu karate as taught by Sensei George Andrews and other senior instructors of the IOGKF.  However, at the 2016 OTGKA Summer gasshuku we were introduced to the art of Okinawan Kobudo, specifically the Bo.  This was very enjoyable but without regular practice even the basics were quickly forgotten.  In response to interest from club members we invited Sensei Andre Leister, the guest instructor from the gasshuku, to teach a seminar in Cambridge.  Over the course of three hours we were introduced to the Bo, a refresher for some and a first time for others.  This took up the first half of the course, after which we moved on to Nunchaku / Nunchucks for an hour and finished with Tekko.

Thanks to everyone that came to support the seminar and special thanks for Sensei Andre (Ryukyu Kobudo Shimbukan) and his excellent young assistant Rachel for running such a great course.  Feedback from all grades has been very positive.

Congratulations to Catherine, David, Nick, Hannah, Jonathan and Bruno on successfully passing to their next grades!

February is the month in which the club celebrates it's anniversary, the ideal excuse to invite Sensei George Andrews, the OTGKA Chief Instructor, to Cambridge. As the club has recently expanded to include a children's class on Saturday mornings with Sensei Fabio, we added an extra hour of training to give the young members of the club the same opportunity as the adults.

Since 2014 we have marked the end of the year by practising kata 108 times.  The first year we worked on Gekisai Dai Ichi and last year we performed Saifa.  This year we broke the challenge down to three sets of 36, Gekisai Dai Ichi, Saifa and then depending on experience, either moving onto Seiyunchin or repeating Gekisai Dai Ichi.

In Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions, the number 108 is considered sacred. In the context of Goju Ryu, the name of the advanced kata Suparinpei refers to 108 steps. According to Wikipedia, "At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a total of 108 times (除夜の鐘 joyanokane) to symbolize the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief, and to get rid of the 108 worldly desires regarding sense and feeling in every Japanese citizen."

Classes start again for adults on Thursday 5th and for children on Saturday 7th January.

We held the last grading of the year this evening and with ten students stepping up to the challenge it was one of our busiest gradings. Everyone was successful with almost every belt from yellow (9th kyu) to purple/white (4th kyu) being awarded. Many congratulations to all.

A weekend of training in Brussels has become a permanent fixture of our karate year.  Following the success of last year's gasshuku we were privileged to train again under both Masuyama Sensei, 8th Dan and Kuramoto Sensei, 7th Dan.  Over the course of over 12 hours we had the time to refine our basic techniques and in doing so, develop our kata.  We trained briefly with both instructors in Okinawa at the Budosai, but the relatively short sessions are only a taster of what these instructors can offer.  A group of seven karate-ka from Cambridge attended this year, accompanied by Sensei Dave Amber.

Many thanks once again to Masuyama Sensei, Kuramoto Sensei and our hosts from Belgium, Sensei Marc, Els and Sensei Patrick Curinckx.

Black belt gradings under the IOGKF can only be held by the chief instructor of the country, or at a major gasshuku under the IOGKF grading panel.  Our chief instructor, Sensei George Andrews, 8th dan, holds a grading weekend twice every year, in March and September.  The grading itself is held on Sunday afternoon, but training all day Saturday and Sunday morning is compulsory.  This September, two of our students stepped up to be tested by Sensei.

​Many congratulations to Steve Morrell, successfully passing to Nidan (2nd dan black belt) and to Gary Potter for achieving 1st kyu (brown belt), in preparation for his next grade of Shodan (first level black belt).

We rounded off a busy Summer giving another performance at the Cherry Hinton festival.  Only a few people were free this year to assist, but the demo was well received, especially the san dan gi section!