Bristol Karate Academy

Two European Champions, two British Champions, a Welsh Champion, a JKS England Champion and an English International silver medallist. Our Spring Seminar gave saw seven of the Academy’s many champions taking centre stage to teach a crowd of around 70 karate lovers.

This year’s Spring Seminar doubled as a fundraiser for our nine Academy members who head to Brazil later this year to represent JKS England in the JKS Shoto World Cup.

The seminar was split into three themed sections, each taken by several of our champions. Session 1 focussed on building strength and skill for kata and kumite, led by Liam Mashford, Lucie Tarr and Sensei Dan Salter. Leg strength was certainly the key theme in this session, as seminar attendees worked on driving into stances and rapid movement in kumite.

The second session explored getting results: how to perform at your best in karate. During this session, Sensei Tim Griffiths and Nephele Metsiou explored key ideas around ‘ikita kata’ and bring kata performance – and karate in general – to life.

Our final session explored the topic of explosiveness in karate. The session started with explosive drills for kumite led by Oli Hulbert and finished with explosive jumping in kata by George Tarr, who finished the seminar with a performance of ‘Unsu’ – the kata that took him to gold at last year’s JKS European Championships in Copenhagen.

Following the Spring Seminar, the Academy’s spring grading took place, with 55 students set to take exams. Congratulations to all those who passed and now wear their next belt as a marker of their progress over the last four to eight months.

Thanks to all of our instructors for making the day a fun exploration of karate! Thanks to everyone who supported the event; we’re looking forward to announcing our next one to you very soon. And finally, thank you to all of our friends and supporters who did everything from preparing the venue to running a coffee and cake stall, which went down a storm!

Keep your eyes peeled for our next major event, coming in June, and our next kyu grading, the following month. Both are events not to be missed!

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