24th February 2017 | Grading
On Friday 17th February I was awarded my 6th Dan in Karate from Steve Rowe Sensei/Sifu 9th Dan, head of Shi Kon Martial Arts. Quite a few people have asked me what is involved in a Black Belt grading involved and whether it was simply a time served promotion. The...
10th January 2017 | Self Defence, Uncategorized
As parents we have an ability and even a responsibility to help elevate our children’s confidence to help them become happier and even more successful. Confidence will lead them on the path to success. These 5 Tips for raising a confident child will help you to...
15th December 2016 | Grading
Traditionally December is our biggest grading of the year and the one that prompts the most nerves as it is also the time for our annual Black Belt gradings. During the course of December we ran three Judo gradings (one at the club and two in schools that we run after...
31st December 2015 | Blog Posts
Two days before Christmas I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon at a friend’s house. Laid out on the table was a jigsaw. The edges were complete but nothing else, hundreds of pieces scattered around waiting to be found and placed in an orderly fashion. As...
15th December 2014 | Blog Posts
The winter nights are here now. It’s cold outside. You’ve got a good book. A warm cup of coffee. You feel tired from work. There’s a good movie on TV. The dog gets lonely….. The next time you feel like a night off or can’t be bothered,...
29th October 2013 | Black Belt Research Project 2013
Question C: The question is: When someone is in the middle of a match and they are losing, what do they think and do to encourage themselves to win? What this question tells me: I believe that the question tells me to fight, be outstanding to impress other clubs. It...
13th October 2013 | Competition
Day 3 – Italy Competition Another long day, we all made it for breakfast at 7:00 and I’ve just back to my room at 22:26. But must say it’s been a great day for all of the squad. Another good day of high standard competition and of competent refereeing....2nd October 2013 | Black Belt Research Project 2013
Question A: The first question I will answer is: When we practise a martial art, sometimes things go really well and sometimes they don’t go well at all. How do you encourage someone when things aren’t going so well? First of all I will explain how it feels like when...
1st May 2013 | Black Belt Research Project 2013
The project I have to do for my Black Belt grading is “Learning a martial art is said to be character building” and I have three questions that I will have to answer. They are: 1 – How would martial arts help someone who is- 2 – Shy 3 – Aggressive 4...
8th February 2013 | Self Defence
Martial Arts isn’t all about fighting, far from it. Martial Arts is all about setting yourself up for challenges, meeting them and overcoming them. Physically and Emotionally this is the case whether it’s just turning up for your first class, being...27th January 2013 | Coaching, Self Defence
Well the Christmas season is well and truly over. The season of goodwill to all men is gone as well, but it doesn’t have to be. Think about how we act and what we say. How many times do we hear snippets from a conversation that goes something like this....
24th January 2013 | Grading, Updates
As Martial Artists, we should all seek to constantly challenge ourselves to test our knowledge and skills every time we train. As Gichin Funakoshi (who is credited with introducing Karate to Japan) said “Karate is like warm water. If you don’t heat it...
14th December 2012 | Coaching
We may all have different reasons for taking up Martial Arts but we should all have goals and aspirations for what we want to achieve from our training. It may be that you want to learn how to defend yourself, make new friends, achieve a black belt, be successful in...
7th December 2012 | Coaching
You’ve got real potential! How many time do we hear this said of ourselves and then then start to feel really proud of our accomplishments because someone has said this to us. For most of us this would be the norm. Why? Because it makes us feel good about...6th October 2011 | Martial Arts
I’d like to learn a Martial Art, but can’t at the moment because……….. “I’m too unfit”……….”I’m too old”………..”I don’t have...