Dear Parent/Student
Welcome to this year’s 1st newsletter. I am pleased to announce with covid restrictions lifted that Elite Karate Academy is returning to more like its former days. We have a lot coming up over the next few months that I need to tell you about.
SEMINARS
As Ireland’s 1st and only World Combat Association Combat Coach I’m delighted to announce a series of in-house Seminars over the coming months on a range of topics that will be of interest to non-martial artists and martial artists. These topics will be on a range of subjects such as dealing with multiple attackers, protecting other from violence, personal security and awareness, blunt weapons, and knife defence.
While most of these seminars will be aimed at the over 12’s, I will also be running some seminar/courses for children including, Anti-bully and Assertiveness Seminar and a Children’s Self Defence Seminar closer to the Summer.
We have 2 seminars coming up in March.
Personal Security & Awareness Seminar – Saturday 26th March 2022 10am-2pm €30 per person.
Aim of the course is to teach a set of awareness, assertiveness, verbal confrontation skills alongside safety strategies & physical skills that enable someone to successfully, avoid, escape, resist & survive a violent attack. Personal security is not about fighting, fighting is what happens when everything else has failed. I firmly believe everybody should learn this especially teenagers.
Dealing with Multiple Attackers – Saturday 5th March 2022 10am-2pm €30 per person.
Aim of this course: Fighting multiple attackers is hard, escaping can be taught and should be practiced. 40% of all attacks on the street involve more than one attacker and statistics show that these are where the most injuries come from. This seminar builds on the personal security seminar and leads into the protecting others seminar nicely.
Contact me if you wish to book either seminar…
St Patrick’d Day Parade
Also in March the Academy will be taking part in Clondalkin’s St Patrick’s Day Parade. I will give more details closer to the date. But any students, their families and friends may join us to walk in the parade. The more the merrier.
ELITE KARATE ACADEMY EXPO
Finally after a two-year hiatus our Annual Elite Karate Academy Expo is back. The aim of the Expo is to allowing students demonstrate their skills and abilities to their family and friends, whilst educating parents about the aims and ethos of Elite Karate Academy, in a relaxed fun environment. This year’s Expo will include;
- Grading
- Club Sparring Competition (semi-finals and finals only) This is voluntary but students must have protective gloves and boots to compete
- Demonstrations (Instructor & Students)
- Award Ceremony (Grading, Competition, and Special Awards)
- We will also be celebrating Elite Karate Academy’s newest teenage black belts
- Bake & Cake Sale
- Raffle
More about the Expo once I have confirmed a date and venue…
Character Education Program
We are nearer the end of our Character Education Program – word of the week. These our 14 words Courtesy, Growth, Courage, Sincerity, Honesty, Obedience, Humility, Perseverance, Honor, Loyalty, Self-Control, Knowledge, Respect, Integrity. Each class has a 3-5minute matt chat explaining some aspect of that week’s word. Elite Karate Academy teaches character not just technique.
Later in the year we will run our Anti Bullying Program and Fight Fat Program this program teaches the importance of diet and exercise.
ELITE KARATE ACADEMY APP ‘TO BLACK BELT & BEYOND’
This revolutionary video tutorial app is the perfect tool for students to train at home and is an ideal way to prepare for a grading. New members should check out the new member’s section. There is a game there for parents to play to help teach their children at home. Juniors should check out the Wado Ryu Syllabus and their relevant grade. Up to blue belt is already up. Teen/Adult students should check out the practical karate syllabus. There is a kick improvement section, personal protection section among others. New videos are added every week.
If you have not already downloaded the app, please contact me and I can forward you another email and pin number to access the app.
Junior Black Belt Club (JBBC)
The ‘Junior Black Belt Club’ is an advanced extra class for those students who have already shown incredible dedication and made notable progress in the art and spirit of Karate do. This extra class is designed to assist students achieve a black belt, by giving them more personal advanced instruction in a range of areas not covered in their normal classes, such as weapons, throws etc. and a deeper understanding of karate. Any child over 12 may join the JBBC and students under 12 must be over green belt.
I will give more details to all of the above closer to the events. As always thank you for your continued support of Elite Karate Academy.
Sensei Gareth
EELITE KARATE ACADEMY NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2020
Welcome to our New Year Newsletter for what will be a special year for our Academy which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
This email newsletter will hopefully keep you up to date with all you need to know about what’s going on in Elite Karate Academy over the coming months of 2020. Please feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends, I hope you find it informative. Feel free to comment on our Facebook page with comments and be sure to like our page while you’re there. Or follow us in Instagram here.
News – Updates – Events At A Glance
- Elite Karate Academy Expo on Sunday April 5th, 2-6pm, Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley. All students including beginners will be taking part on the day, with either/both gradings and demonstrations. See below for more details.
- Sparring Competition in March more details next month
- St Patricks Day Parade. Come walk with us. Find out more below.
- Raffle & Cake Bake Sale. Can you donate a prize? Bake something?
- Academy 10th Birthday Party in September
Elite Karate Academy Expo
Our 10th Elite Karate Academy Expo will take place on Sunday 5th of April between 2pm-6pm, in the Clayton Hotel. Liffey Valley. Doors open at 1.30pm. All students will be taking part, those not grading will be involved in demonstrations. All students must wear their karate uniform. The aim of the Expo, as always, is to allowing students demonstrate their skills and abilities to their family and friends, whilst educating parents about the aims and ethos of Elite Karate Academy, in a relaxed fun environment. This event is open to anyone, so extended family and friends are welcome, this year’s Expo will include;
- Grading (students will be informed closer to the date)
- Club Sparring Competition (semi-finals and finals only)
- Demonstrations (Instructor & Students)
- Award Ceremony (Grading, Competition, and Special Awards, including Student of the Year)
- Unveiling of Elite Karate Academy’s 1st Junior Black Belt?
- Bake & Cake Sale. Why not bake something to bring on the day?
- Raffle (asking parents to donate a price if they can, donations can be brought to the dojo)
Grading
For those few students who were unwell and missed their Christmas Grading or those that are eligible to Grade. The next grading will take place within class the week of 27th January 2020.
Finn Murphy, Amelia O’Reilly, Sean Power, Courtey Gorman, Niko Popardowski, Gloria & Adonai Vey, Marco Li, Eva Kelly, Aleksander Samatyja, Fares Okasha, Douglas & Zack Martin, Amberleigh Dowman, Oscar McNeive, Alberto Cimpoesu, Ronan Beech, Markas \Koskus. If your child’s name is not and the list and you think they are eligible, please contact Sensei.
Sparring Competition
The early rounds of this non-contact 3 points-wins tournament will take places within your child’s normal classes and is completely voluntary. With the semi-finals and finals taking place at this year’s Expo. All students must have their own sparring gloves & boots, which can be bought in the dojo, this is for your child’s safety. Only students who have graded Yellow belt or higher, may take part in this tournament. All details will be given out in February
St Patrick’s Day Parade
Once again this year the Academy will be walking in this year’s Clondalkin Parade. Students, families, and their friends are all invited to join us on the day. So put it in your
Character Education Program
Once again, we are running our Word of the Week program in class. Our specially designed word of the week program teaches 14 core values to your child in a 5 minute ‘mat chat’ within their normal class. Your child will grow as people not just stronger and fitter. No other club offers this type of program.
Our 14 words are: Courtesy, Growth, Honesty, Obedience, Courage, Sincerity, Humility, Perseverance, Honour, Loyalty, Self-Control, Knowledge, Respect, Integrity.
Each week these lessons will be posted on our Facebook page or the full course can be viewed here in our blog section of our website. I strongly urge parents to get involved with their child’s learning by reading these posts or discussing after each class what they learnt.
Website
Check out our blogs on our website. Click the link to read about them
Dojo Kun Programme – Most club’s dojo rules consist of no shouting, no chewing gum etc. Our Dojo Kun program teaches your child 25 rules of life. These rules teach your child how to follow and make their dreams come true, through hard work, passion, and dedication.
Elite Mental Training – This program teaches students the mental strategy of fighting, topics introduced can be used in all areas of life, reducing stress, and increasing mental wellbeing. Read some lessons covered in our blog section below.
Anti-Bullying Programme – We teach your child how to deal with bullying in a non-aggressive way without having to resort to violence. A great program for boosting confidence and self-belief.
Online Self-Defence Course – Information on realistic self-defence, mentally, tactically, psychologically.
Newer material will be shared weekly on our Facebook page, much will be of interest even to those who don’t train.
Coming later in the Year
Other events coming up this year after the Expo, will be our 10th anniversary Summer Birthday Party in September.
Testimonials Request
That so many of you praise our Academy is huge source of pride to me. Please write a review/testimonial here. They will then be added to our website. Student / parents or both may write a review and you may write a new one if you wrote one before.
Zen Tip
Thoughts Are Not Facts
You are walking down the road. When you see your friend on the other side. Unable to cross the road, you wave and call their name. Your friend continues to walk on. How do you react? Many people have different reactions when told this story. Some accept that their friend simple did not see them and thus continue their day. And if they remember they may mention to their friend that they saw them, the next time they speak. Other people feel slighted and ignored. Wondering what they did to their friend to deserve being ignored.
Convinced their friend is not talking to them. They race off upset, determined to phone their friend and find out what they did. Thoughts are not facts. That you think something does not make it true or real. Put emotions, feeling, rationale, and assigning motivations to people without the full facts, makes you react to situations that are not happening. Recognize that thoughts are not facts and learn to respond rather than react for a calmer heathier life
24/7 365… Our thoughts loom large in our heads, never stopping, insistently rolling like waves on the beach. The correct thoughts can make us feel happy, elated, glad to be a life, negative thoughts however can lead us down a darker road, to sadness, guilt, misery or depression. Correct karate training with the correct mental attitude and instruction will lead to “control” over our thought process, allowing us to control our emotions and thoughts leading to calmer, less stressed lives.
Think of your thoughts (mind waves) like ripples in a pond. You want to get ready of the ripples (lets say stress). By throwing a pebble into the pond we get more ripples, so we throw a larger stone and get more ripples, which collide and bounce off each other creating chaos. The way to get the ripples to stop, is to leave the pond alone. Let the ripples fade of their own accord. So too it is with the mind. Aimlessly sitting in front of the TV, does nothing to reduce stress or benefit the mind.
Karate or meditation, and they are two sides to the same coin focuses your mind, giving it something to concentrate on, to allow our thoughts to settle and stress to melt away. The purpose of training is to develop Zanshin (awareness) or mindfulness and later to develop Mushin (No Mind). See other articles in this series for explanations of these terms. Your practice the correct mind set in class. Calm, focused, alert, positive, proactive. At first your practice is limited to moments within a class, then filling an entire class, then becoming a sustaining habit your entire waking life and in the fullness of time sleep life. Leading to calm, controlled stress life, where you learn to respond, not to react to the world around you. As your studies progress you gain insight into your negative triggers and purposely condition more positive responses.
The secret to this mind set… is practice. Correct physical and mental practice. Goal setting is important but do not be concerned with your destination. Just practice. Initially on the dojo floor, and then later in your life outside the dojo. Practice for practice sake. One step at a time, one class at a time, one thought at a time. We all have a unconscious tape playing over and over in our minds. It is with our whole lives that many are unaware that they are listening to it. But this tape may be holding your back not making you happy and your dreams come true. How do you know what the tape is saying in your head. Listen to your feelings. Ask at any moment of the day how your feeling? The answer is what your head is saying to you. If your feeling sad your having sad thoughts. If you are happy you are listening to happy thoughts etc.
Proper training will lead to greater mental abilities, like those shown by master in martial arts movies throughout the years. once this great power has been achieved it becomes nothing, commonplace, like child birth. Ask any expecting mother in the glow of pregnancy and they will tell you it is a wonderful thing. But once the child is born it giving birth becomes more common place. So it is a special thing and a ordinary thing at the same time. So too are the mental stress relieve abilities of a high grade karateka, a special thing to taking years of practice, that becomes everyday ordinary once it is achieved.
