In April, Kelly Gingrich became the latest winner of the Creelman Award, as the student showing outstanding progress in karate. The high school student won the honour because she is hard-working, soft-spoken, good-natured and always ready to help teach juniors in class. Kelly came from another karate style and has worked diligently to learn Ryusei…
Sometimes you can kiai (shout) too much during a kata. This YouTube video is done at the 2006 Bluegrass Nationals (somewhere in Kentucky, presumably) by a contestant performing a kata called Go Pai Sho. While his execution is enthusiastic, his constant shouting, crazed energy and way-too-low stances are, well, too much. He needs to chillax…
Last summer, Barrie Ryusei Karate was honored to host a clinic conducted by Ken Sakamoto the head of Ryusei Karate-Do and former disciple of Tsuyoshi Chitose, the founder of Chito-Ryu karate (died 1984). On a Canadian teaching tour from his home in Kumamoto, Japan, Sakamoto-Sensei is prodigiously talented, especially in his performance of kata and…
Capt. Jamie Creelman was a popular instructor at Barrie Ryusei Karate, known for his sense of humour, patience and the brutal workouts he repurposed from his military experience. Sadly, Jamie died unexpectedly of a heart attack almost a year ago. To commemorate his memory, we bestow the Creelman Award upon the student that shows the…
There is a move done in the kata Chinto, and twice in the kata Kusanku, that involves jumping around and landing crouched on your stomach, with one leg pulled up (see move performed by Sakamoto-Sensei in picture above). In the early days of my practice, in the early 1970s, the application for this move is…
