Sensei wishes to inform everyone that training will continue as normal throughout the holiday season except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. So no lessons on 25 December, 26 December and 1 January, but otherwise all session will take place. Please also note that on 1 January a new price structure will come into effect. There is no change if you pay as you go (£7 per session), but if you pay by Standing Order you will probably need to change it.
One would not normally think that a Karate club would need anyone fighting their corner. However, when it comes to dealing with local government it turns out that knowing your katas is no match to knowing your way around the corridors of power.
This came to light when we wanted to hire the Rose hall at the Vyne community centre, which is council run, for our Tuesday sessions. At first all seemed well and all the details were agreed, but then the council suddenly had a change of heart over what we thought was a trivial matter. Things seemed to be going nowhere when I decided to call my local councillor Melanie Whitehand, who listened to what I had to say, asked me to leave the matter with her and within 24 hours the matter was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
So, all’s well that ends well! We had our first session today at the Vyne with no fewer than 14 students attending, which was quite a strong start. We will run every week until December 18th with a view to resume in the next year. Sessions are every Tuesday from 17:00 till 18:00. See you there!
Sensei is pleased to announce the addition of Tuesday sessions to take place in the Rose room at the Vyne community centre, the Broadway, Knaphill, Woking, GU21 2SP from 17:00 till 18:00. If you normally pay by standing order sessions are just €3 for the month of November until a new price structure is worked out. Otherwise, if you pay as you go, sessions are still €7. See you there!
Sensei wishes to inform everybody that due to the closure of the Queen Eleanor School for half-term he has had to move the lesson to a different venue. Also, please note that there will be just a single joint session for adults and kids.
The lesson will take place at the Green Ark Hall in Lido Road Guildford, GU1 1HB, and will run for one hour from 19:00.
Unfortunately the hall at Queen Eleanor’s school will not be available the last Wednesday of this month (the 31st). Sensei Jamie is looking for an alternative hall close by so please stay tunes for updates.
Karate experts may find this somewhat of a no brainer (excuse the pun), but a group of scientists has made the effort to prove the point using some state of the art imaging technology. It turns out that karate training doesn’t only affect the body, but it also affects the brain.
An article published in the Science Daily describes the findings:
“Researchers from Imperial College London and UCL (University College London) found that differences in the structure of white matter – the connections between brain regions – were correlated with how black belts and novices performed in a test of punching ability.
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“The study, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, looked for differences in brain structure between 12 karate practitioners with a black belt rank and an average of 13.8 years’ karate experience, and 12 control subjects of similar age who exercised regularly but did not have any martial arts experience.
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“Brain scans showed that the microscopic structure in certain regions of the brain differed between the two groups. Each brain region is composed of grey matter, consisting of the main bodies of nerve cells, and white matter, which is mainly made up of bundles of fibres that carry signals from one region to another. The scans used in this study, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), detected structural differences in the white matter of parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, which are known to be involved in controlling movement.
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“The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can’t produce. We think that ability might be related to fine tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronise their arm and trunk movements very accurately.”
A message for Sensei Jamie:
“Regretfully, the next two session in Guildford (1st & 8th August) are cancelled. This is due to the school not being able to make the hall available because of staff holiday. I was only informed last week whilst abroad on holiday and therefore have been unable to arrange an alternative. If you pay by standing order I will be contacting you shortly after my return to discuss a refund. Irrespective, if you would like to maintain your training regimen you have the following options:
I appreciate that this may cause some annoyance, however it is also a great opportunity for our karatekas to experience other instructors. Both Sensei Austin from Egham who is 5th dan and Sensei Jerome from Sutton who is 4th dan are accomplished instructors and I am sure you will enjoy training with them.
Again, I apologise for any inconvenience.
Yours,
Jamie.”
And in more ways than one. Whilst it is very unlikely that you will ever get to use karate in anger an article published on the BBC today based on scientific research claims that “a lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths as smoking across the world”. The article also mentions that “… people in higher income countries were the least active with those in the UK among the worst as nearly two thirds of adults were judged not to be doing enough.”
So, why not do something about it? If you want to get active and fit start karate today. Woking and Guildford are not close enough? Why not try Egham or Sutton or one of the many KUGB clubs closest to you. Know someone who is maybe not as active as they should be? Use the buttons below to share this post and maybe karate could save their lives too.
