Sensie Don walked our class through a couple really interesting applications for Heian Shodan and for Heian Sandan.
I recognized the first combintation that is widely known through the Midwest Karate circles. The first time I experienced the application drill for Heian Shodan was at the 5 day Midwest Karate Summer Training Camp in Regina Saskatchewan, way back in the summer of 1992. Durring that training camp, Sensei Marr taught us great variations of applications for all the Heian kata, one kata per day for the week.... man were we bruised up!
This time I have the drill on video tape - not just scratches of notes we used to write after each class... sometimes the notes don't make much sense when you re-read them a decade later... :-)
The second partner combination from yesterday's training was an adaption of applying moves from Heian Sandan, introduced to Midwest Karate just last weekend in Winnipeg by visiting master Katsumata Sensie. We really had a great time with it - and I'm looking forward to reviewing the video of this fun and effective karate partner training drill.
Because the content of the classes was so fresh and different for myself and my students, the time just flew through both of the 2 hour sessions yesterday.
Several people remarked on areas they enjoyed, and would like to incorporate into our regular training drills.
-more doing basics forward AND backwards
-more performing the kata alone infront of the class
-include the extended stretching routine in warmup
-include partner stretching
---- and I know there is something else mentioned too...
I've asked my students to email me their comments because if I don't write them down and make a habit of reminding myself with a series of brief written lesson plans - then it's easy for me to get off track...
We get one more class, today from 11AM-1PM today.
Time to charge the video camera and get ready for training!
MyShotokan
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Completing The Upgrades
I estimate that I still have 11 or 12 hours work to complete the upgrades to MyShotokan. But finding 12 hours time between now and Tuesday at 2 PM is going to be a challenge!!
With the extra karate seminar hours this weekend, I won't have any work time for the website until Monday morning...
It's difficult to NOT work on something that is so exciting!
But, at least I'm interupted by karate! :-)
... I'll report on the seminars as the weekend unfolds.
MyShotokan
With the extra karate seminar hours this weekend, I won't have any work time for the website until Monday morning...
It's difficult to NOT work on something that is so exciting!
But, at least I'm interupted by karate! :-)
... I'll report on the seminars as the weekend unfolds.
MyShotokan
Karate Seminar
| This weekend my karate club is honored to host Sensei Don and Sempai Jill again! You can check out a short video clip from last summer's classes here: Karate Highlights - 20 seconds of fun partner work. Today we are training from 10AM till Noon, then from 2PM till 4PM, and tomorrow from 11AM till 1PM. I'll be video taping, of course! - and will be posting clips on MyShotokan. More notes soon, I better get a small breakfast in me and do some stretching! 1.5 hours till first class. |
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Progressing Right On Track
The upgrades to MyShotokan are moving along - right on schedule.
All of the Shotokan Kata Video pages have been completed and I've been able to make a lot of progress in a new area of the site I'm calling Sensei's Office.
Sensei's Office is a place completely filled with a lifetime collection of Essential Shotokan books, videos, DVDs. You'll find rare and out-of-print treasures and a huge shelf filled with over 100 videos of Shotokan's top karate Masters, karate classes taught in Japanese and personal recordings of dojo sparing and dojo training drills from several top karate clubs around the world. Sensei's Office is also a store-house of tournament trophies with a box thats full of tournament footage. In Sensei's Office, you can sit down and study some of the worlds to Kata and Kumite competitors in action!
But my favorite part about Sensei's Office are the video clips of Embu and Karate Demonstrations! It's great to learn from the choreography of Top Shotokan Karate-ka from around the world! Even after watching the videos over and over again, some of the acrobatics still make me gasp and shake my head!
Today, I'll finish formatting and upgrading Sensei's Office - right now there are Nine Categories with over 100 of the best Shotokan Karate Training Videos online. I estimate three hours to finish the referbishment in this area. Following those renovations, my next goal is to re-vamp the Membership Levels to include an eye-popping bonus Membership Level for those people who refer other karate-ka to MyShotokan.
I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited about re-opening the site and showing everyone around the new and improved 'dojo'!
Regards!!
MyShotokan.
All of the Shotokan Kata Video pages have been completed and I've been able to make a lot of progress in a new area of the site I'm calling Sensei's Office.
Sensei's Office is a place completely filled with a lifetime collection of Essential Shotokan books, videos, DVDs. You'll find rare and out-of-print treasures and a huge shelf filled with over 100 videos of Shotokan's top karate Masters, karate classes taught in Japanese and personal recordings of dojo sparing and dojo training drills from several top karate clubs around the world. Sensei's Office is also a store-house of tournament trophies with a box thats full of tournament footage. In Sensei's Office, you can sit down and study some of the worlds to Kata and Kumite competitors in action!
But my favorite part about Sensei's Office are the video clips of Embu and Karate Demonstrations! It's great to learn from the choreography of Top Shotokan Karate-ka from around the world! Even after watching the videos over and over again, some of the acrobatics still make me gasp and shake my head!
Today, I'll finish formatting and upgrading Sensei's Office - right now there are Nine Categories with over 100 of the best Shotokan Karate Training Videos online. I estimate three hours to finish the referbishment in this area. Following those renovations, my next goal is to re-vamp the Membership Levels to include an eye-popping bonus Membership Level for those people who refer other karate-ka to MyShotokan.
I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited about re-opening the site and showing everyone around the new and improved 'dojo'!
Regards!!
MyShotokan.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
MyShotokan Renovation Update Report
Hi All,
I've had a couple email requests for temporary access to the videos. One person reports that she is getting ready for testing, another was excited about learning a senior kata for the first time and they wanted to review a couple different people doing the same kata - and they wanted to quickly login and review a few points.
Sorry! Things are a shambles! If this website were a kitchen - there'd be no cookin' goin' on today!
... the login can't be activated yet, but I can give you an update report:
I've reformated Heian Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Yondan and Godan - I've also reformatted the three Tekki Kata pages, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai pages are complete.
Today I'll complete reformating the Katas from Book 7 in the Best Karate Series: Empi, Hangetsu, Jitte - as well as Katas from Books 8, 9 10 and 11.
Let's see now... it takes me about 20 minutes to reorganize each kata page... 14 katas left to do, that's about 5 hours, give or take.... Then, tomorrow, I'll begin reformatting the pages with videos of Kumite Drills, Self Defence demonstrations etc.
The new layout is really exciting to work on! After I'm finished each page I can't help but smile! It's lookin' great - but most of all - it's easy to move around and find all the info you could ever need to help with any of the Shotokan Kata!
Ok! Back to work! I can't wait till I can open the doors!!
:-)
I've had a couple email requests for temporary access to the videos. One person reports that she is getting ready for testing, another was excited about learning a senior kata for the first time and they wanted to review a couple different people doing the same kata - and they wanted to quickly login and review a few points.
Sorry! Things are a shambles! If this website were a kitchen - there'd be no cookin' goin' on today!
... the login can't be activated yet, but I can give you an update report:
I've reformated Heian Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Yondan and Godan - I've also reformatted the three Tekki Kata pages, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai pages are complete.
Today I'll complete reformating the Katas from Book 7 in the Best Karate Series: Empi, Hangetsu, Jitte - as well as Katas from Books 8, 9 10 and 11.
Let's see now... it takes me about 20 minutes to reorganize each kata page... 14 katas left to do, that's about 5 hours, give or take.... Then, tomorrow, I'll begin reformatting the pages with videos of Kumite Drills, Self Defence demonstrations etc.
The new layout is really exciting to work on! After I'm finished each page I can't help but smile! It's lookin' great - but most of all - it's easy to move around and find all the info you could ever need to help with any of the Shotokan Kata!
Ok! Back to work! I can't wait till I can open the doors!!
:-)
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Upgrades and Wish List
Hello everyone!
I'd like to thank you all again for making MyShotokan.com so popular! The comments and the feedback have been very encouraging, constructive and helpful.
A few Members have been kind enough to tell me, in detail, where they have found bugs in the site - and to these people I bow especially low. You have my gratitude for helping me present an easy way for Shotokan karate students to study all the kata.
I'm afraid I have some bad news though.
When I started on the upgrades, the suggestions I began to receive made me stop and re-think a few things. I took out a pad of paper and started to scratch up a To-Do List... drew a few flow charts and new page layouts...
Well, the long and the short of it is, I've just added four extra days of building time to get the site up to the new standards!
I'm taking the site apart by the seams, if you will, and re-stitching the pieces in a way that will make it easier to navitate and will offer much more support information about every individual Shotokan kata. But that's not all! Just wait till you see the new and expanded sections!
Thanks again for making my hobby so much fun!
Don't forget to add me in your MySpace Profile
Shotokan Karate Blog
I'd like to thank you all again for making MyShotokan.com so popular! The comments and the feedback have been very encouraging, constructive and helpful.
A few Members have been kind enough to tell me, in detail, where they have found bugs in the site - and to these people I bow especially low. You have my gratitude for helping me present an easy way for Shotokan karate students to study all the kata.
I'm afraid I have some bad news though.
When I started on the upgrades, the suggestions I began to receive made me stop and re-think a few things. I took out a pad of paper and started to scratch up a To-Do List... drew a few flow charts and new page layouts...
Well, the long and the short of it is, I've just added four extra days of building time to get the site up to the new standards!
That means I'm going to MOVE BACK THE GRAND RE-OPENING one more week.
The site will now be Launched on Tuesday, Feb 13th
I'm taking the site apart by the seams, if you will, and re-stitching the pieces in a way that will make it easier to navitate and will offer much more support information about every individual Shotokan kata. But that's not all! Just wait till you see the new and expanded sections!
Thanks again for making my hobby so much fun!
Don't forget to add me in your MySpace Profile
Shotokan Karate Blog
Sunday, February 4, 2007
YES it's true
MyShotokan is CLOSED FOR UPGRADES!!
We would like to thank everyone for our unexpected popularity!
In just two months, MyShotokan.com has grown to an
International membership of over 700 Karate-ka!
We are in the process of improving the site and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause! But I'm sure you'll enjoy the upgrades!!
We would like to thank everyone for our unexpected popularity!
In just two months, MyShotokan.com has grown to an
International membership of over 700 Karate-ka!
We are in the process of improving the site and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause! But I'm sure you'll enjoy the upgrades!!
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