On Thursday 19th March we held a grading for some of our more advanced students. Kim has training with us for many years and it gave us great pleasure to grade her to 3rd kyu brown belt. Archie only joined the club recently, but he has been training in Goju Ryu for a number of years, and he also successfully passed to 3rd kyu. Two of our young students that have been with us since we started teaching juniors, Oskar and Luke, took their last grading in Cambridge and passed to 1st kyu. The next grading will be to junior black belt under Sensei George Andrews in London. Last but not least, we were delighted to award Jon with his 1st kyu pass. He has been diligently training with us for many years and we look forward to seeing him take his black belt test next year.

We held a grading at the Children's class this morning. A great turnout and everyone really gave their best, congratulations to everyone that graded today.

We had the last children's class of the year on Saturday 13th December, which meant it was time for a new advent calendar! Over the hour class we worked through the 24 exercises behind each door. At the end of the class everyone was treated to a daruma doll which Sensei Martin and Louise brought back from their recent trip to Japan.

Last night we had our final senior class of the year. To see out the year, we practiced Gekisai Dai Ichi 108 times.

Thanks to our amazing students for your support, and we'll be back in January 2026.

Cambridge Goju Ryu opened the dojo doors for the first time in February 2010, and over the last two days, 16-17th August, we celebrated our 15 year anniversary. Three inspiring guest instructors, two days of training, one karate family. The venue for the weekend was the sports hall of the prestigious The Leys School in central Cambridge, thank you to the staff for looking after us. ​

On Saturday we split the black belts and kyu grades, to train for 1.5 hours each with Sensei George Andrews and Sensei Simon Oliver. Sensei George led the kyu grades through san dan gi training, suri ashi (sliding feet) and padwork. The black belts practiced Chojun Miyagi no Sanchin, with shime testing, and Rokkishu 六氣手 (Tensho). In the spirit of one karate family, Sensei Simon introduced the black belts to the kata and bunkai of Shimpa 心破, while the kyu grades learned kata Seiryū 青龍. After training, we retired to the garden to replenish our appetites, with pizza from Aromi. ​Training resumed on Sunday with Sensei George giving details of the Goju Ryu kata, and Sensei Dave Amber presented self defence applications of the kata in close quarters scenarios.

Many thanks to the instructors for their time and sharing their deep knowledge of karate-do, and a huge thank you to everyone that attended, supporting the event. The next opportunity for all grades to train with Sensei George and Sensei Dave will be 20-21st September in Harlow.

Many congratulations to Catherine on passing to Sandan (3rd dan black belt) today, under the OTGKA grading panel of Sensei George, 8th dan, Sensei Dave, 6th dan, and Sensei Dick, 6th dan. Congratulations also to Virginia on passing her 1st kyu test (final brown belt test before black belt). As Catherine and Virginia were the only grading candidates this weekend, they must have felt the pressure even more intensely, adding to the challenge that a grading presents. They did themselves, and the club, very proud.

After the grading  a couple of weeks ago for the children's class, it was time to test the seniors last night. Congratulations to Emma and Ingrid taking their first steps in Goju Ryu karate, passing to yellow belt, and to Linda for moving up the ranks to orange belt. Congratulations to David passing to green belt alongside Debasish and Raya who returned to the club this year following a break since before the pandemic. Many congratulations to Tarik for passing to blue belt, taking into account extra training in Brussels last weekend. Victor and Robert successfully progressed to 5th kyu, purple belt, and Joe and Shyane gained a white stripe on their purple belts, 4th kyu pass. Finally, many congratulations to Oskar and Luke for passing to 2nd kyu brown belt, getting ever closer to taking their junior shodan tests.

We held a grading for our younger members yesterday and everyone gave their best. Many congratulations to Emma, Lorenzo and Lucas on achieving their yellow belts and to Ayesha and Hannah for successful promotion to orange belt. Stepping up into the middle ranks, many congratulations to Ema for passing to blue belt. Finally, our purple belts Kim, Iden and Edward gained a white stripe, the next step will be to brown!

We held the last class of 2024 for the children on Saturday 14th this year. To embrace the festive spirit we had a karate advent calendar. Behind each door was a new challenge, so 1 minute of running, 2 minutes of punching in shiko dachi, 3x san dan gi one, etc. The final treat behind the final door was of course 24 burpees!

For many years on the last adults class of the year we have completed 108 repetitions of a kata, usually one of the shorter kata like Gekisai Dai Ichi or Saifa. This year we took a slight break from tradition and completed 108 san dan gi. To make it a little more interesting we practiced 18 repetitions of san dan gi 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 10. A little extra festive spice was added by stirring 108 burpees into the mix!

Many thanks to all of our club members for your support this year, wishing everyone a wonderful 2025.

Following the grading at the start of the month for the children, it was time to evaluate the adults this week. Congratulations to Linda passing to yellow belt and to David, John and Tarik all moving onto orange belt. Congratulations to Victor, Robert and Nisan progressing to the middle ranks, passing to blue belt, and to Joe for passing to purple belt. We were very pleased to award Fin with 4th kyu pass, second level purple belt, and last but not least, many congratulations to Virginia, 2nd kyu pass, second level brown belt.

We had a grading yesterday, Saturday 2nd November, for the younger members of the club. Fantastic focus from everyone. Congratulations to one of our newest students, Emma, receiving two red tags on her white belt. Well done to Ayesha, Lucas and Aren, earning their yellow belts. Congratulations to Ema passing to green belt and Sidar earning his blue belt. Finally, many congratulations to Iden and Edward for achieving their purple belt, 5th kyu, recognising their many years of dedicated practice.