DIT Competition and Inter-varsities
The friendly competition has been rescheduled for this Monday the 23rd. Please bring your gum shields along so that you can participate. After the competition we will be heading to the student bar for a chat and some pizza to show the DIT Karate club what friendly people we can be with the gloves off.
The inter varsities are less than four weeks away (only 8 classes left!) so try and make it to as many training sessions as possible, the more competent you are the more confident and relaxed you will feel out there. We will be working a lot on kata and kumite over the next few sessions so it should be a lot of fun and with the extra work on kata you will pick up a lot of the intricacies involved in some of the techniques that you maybe haven’t quite masted yet.
As I previously mentioned the trip to the inter-varsities will be subsidized by the club so if you are tight on money don’t worry we will be keeping cost to a minimal. With the organization of the inter-varsities in mind I will be calling a committee meeting in the next two weeks, can you all double check that you did the jobs assigned to you at the last meeting please so that we can focus on the new year ahead.
Re-Freshers and New Semester Movie Night
Volunteers are needed for the re-freshers stand this Tuesday (the 24th). The stand will be open from 10am to 4pm so if you have an hr or two before, between or after class please let me know so I can put your name down as cover for others to go for lunch or to class. If you happen to find yourself with free time on the day and have not put your name down call down and keep the rest of us company.
There will be a movie night on Monday the 30th of January in the Blue room of the student center. (Suggestions for cartoons or mini movies with a martial arts theme welcomed!)All of you are encouraged to come along and bring some drinks and snacks. (alcoholic beverages are permitted in the blue room) The club will hopefully be in a position to supply a few minerals and some sweeties too. It will be a great night to catch up with everyone and welcome any new members to the club.
I would also like to say a special thank you to the four brave souls who climbed out of bed at an obnoxious hour on Thursday to put up posters for re-freshers day. I missed postering myself for the first time ever as I unfortunately had a major assignment due that day that had to be finished. So I really appreciate the work done in my absence.
Dojo Etiquette and Marc Stevens Course
With the Marc Stevens course coming up next weekend in DCU (remember all course attendance is subsidized by the club so you pay half price!! I recommend that you all go along if possible as you’ll learn loads. Details available on the event page:http://www.facebook.com/events/284085041647558/) and the inter-varsities ahead I just wanted to mention etiquette again incase anyone missed it:
As will have some visiting instructors over the next few months I advise you all to check out the code of conduct for karate practitioners so as not to offend any instructors particularly those who come from more formal backgrounds.
The most important thing you must do: If you enter class late you kneel at the entrance and wait to be acknowledged by the instructing sensei, then bow and say Ossu before joining in class. As it is considered rude and disrespectful to simply walk in late.
At the end of class you may be interested in what exactly is happening in the class ending ritual as I know it was utter gibberish when I began karate myself. The order is:
Ritsu rei – Standing bow to Sensei
Seiza – Sensei sits (formal sitting position), the class sits in seiza facing shomen. Head student (sempai) or other instructor calls out:
Mokuso! This means “Close your eyes and Clear your mind!” After about a minute, the sempai student calls out:
Kaimoku! This means: “Open your eyes!” or Mokuso Yame! This means “Finish meditation”
Zarei – Next the class performs three zarei or sitting bows.
The head student calls out:
Shomen ni rei! This means “Bow to the front of the dojo.” After the class finishes this bow, the Sensei will turn around and face the class and the head student will call out:
Sensei ni rei! – This means “Bow to the Teacher!” As the class bows to the teacher, the teacher will return the bow. As each student bows, they recite “Onegaishimasu” which means “Please (teach me!)”
Otagai ni rei! – This means “Bow to each other!” Both the teacher and the students will bow to each other at the same time. This is to acknowledge that we are all students of the art of Karate Do.
For the three bows,
The words you hear your fellow students muttering are the core principles of Shotokan Karate and our club: Sincerity, Effort and Self Control.
UCDKarate club is not as strict as many other clubs as you will gather from reading the very detailed Cambridge page but it is a good idea to know what the rules are incase you are attending courses, visiting other clubs and practicing under a visiting instructor.
Some different approaches to Dojo Etiquette or Kun for those interested:
http://www.tandenshotokan.com/1.1.html
http://cambridgekarateclub.org/Etiquette
Republished from old blog.