Over the school holidays, we invited all our junior dojo members to take part in our summer token competition. The aim was to collect as many tokens as possible over the six week period, which could be earned in a number of ways to show their dedication and enthusiasm to practising their karate.

It was great to see so many of our young members taking on the challenge and taking lots of holiday karate pictures - see below for a small selection.

Congratulations to Shaun (1st Place), Abbie (2nd Place) and Chloe (3rd Place) for earning a whopping 80 tokens between them! As well as special certificates, they won prizes that included family tickets for the cinema and bowling, plus a voucher to enjoy a nice meal at a local restaurant.

Thanks to all our members for taking part and practising so hard over the summer! 

We were very proud to bear witness to some excellent grading performances today. The work ethic was tremendous, determination was inspiring and technical standards were notably high. This was the result of consistency in the dojo, excellent support from club instructors and the strong camaraderie that makes our group so very special.

What makes the grading panel so happy is that regardless of individual outcome, everyone pushes their boundaries and continues to grow. No one can ever ask for more than one's very best and that is always the benchmark set by our wonderful E.S.K.K members. With so much potential coming up through the ranks and experienced black belt members passing on their knowledge to the next generation, we're confident that the future of our dojo is in very safe hands.

Congratulations to everyone who stepped up to the mark today and challenged themselves. We'll see you back in class again soon to continue our awesome journey together.

Also, big thanks to members of the grading panel, assistants and admin officials who helped to make the day run smoothly - your support was very much appreciated!

Grading results below...

Our chief instructor Chris and four of his uchi-deshi (private students) travelled to Wigan yesterday to the beautiful Koryu Kyudokan Dojo in Wigan to attend a seminar led by world-class teachers and friends, Paul and Michelle Enfield.

The seminar content emphasised what Paul and Michelle Sensei call 'connector' drills, which arevery similar in both look and purpose to our Naihanchi Kata limb control drills. They also focused on the requirement to develop muchimi (a heavy/sticky sensation) with body to help accentuate our ability to transfer energy at close-range. All in all, another thought-provoking seminar that once again revealed striking similarities in our approaches, proving we (karate-ka) are but one family!

Big thanks to Sensei Steve Lowe and members of his dojo for inviting us and making us feel so welcome. To John Johnston Sensei (Adaptive Karate) for organising the event and of course, our best wishes to Paul and Michelle Sensei on what we're sure will be a very successful UK seminar tour.