Seishinkai Shotokan Karate InternationalSeishinkai Shotokan Karate International
News and Club Notices
Updated February 1st, 2010
Club Notices
Club documentation – Licence Form
Mar 20 Sat… Charity Open Shotokan Course – click here for details of a forthcoming open-course to be taught by Simon Staples and Steve Hollister. The course will be focusing on Competition kumite (Sensei Hollister) and 'Pure karate' for reality (Sensei Staples). The proceeds from the course are going to help the family of a former SEKU member whose wife has terminal cancer and needs to raise £30,000 to fund a trip to a specialist treatment centre in Mexico; both Sensei’s are teaching entirely for free. Details of the charity can be found at www.seizethisday.co.uk.
ISTC 2010 – click here for information and booking details for this year’ training camp in France
Club News
2010 Squad – the SSKI Squad 2010 in their new tracksuits at the February training session.
SSKI Open Course with Sensei Dave Hazard 7th Dan – Another absolutely wonderful weekend’s course was held with Sensei Hazard at the Hemel Hempstead honbu dojo of the Association on the weekend of 6/7th February. The course was well subscribed to and everyone enjoyed every session they attended. It is always great to see instructors and students from other Associations training on these courses and it was excellent to see the likes of Matt Powell, Graham Palmer, Donovan Slue and others at this seminar. The junior session on the Saturday concentrated mainly on blocking and counter attacking, in a kind of a clock formation, covering all of the basic blocks and using many different angles while the senior session was a kicking lesson using most of the kicks used in Shotokan karate. On the first session on the Sunday Sensei Hazard concentrated on the Shotokan kata Empi and its applications with the final session being used for close-quarter combat using open-handed techniques only. Sensei Phipps thanked Sensei Hazard for another fantastic weekend’s karate and now everyone looks forward to his return in September of this year.
Sensei Phipps and Sensei Hazard.
Attention Squad Members – there will be an extra kumite squad session on at the London dojo on Thursday 4th March (7.30–9pm) in preparation for the Legend Open Championships on 13th March. Adult squad to attend and any of the junior squad that can make it. Development squad are also obviously welcome; likewise, if the Referees/Judges want to be there then the more the merrier!
Sponsorship – Many thanks must go to Sensei Tony Bunting 6th Dan, who has obtained sponsorship to the tune of £900 from the Buckinghamshire Building Society and the Harpenden Building Society for the new 2010 squad tracksuit tops. Well done Tony, you’re a star!
Phipps Sensei’s 2009 Christmas/New Year USA Visit – Phipps sensei enjoyed another stay at the SSKI USA branch where he taught extensively at the Urbana and Springfield dojos for around two and a half weeks. This trip the bunkai/oyo of the first four Heian kata were dealt with in great depth at both dojo and the advanced kata Jitte was briefly touched on at the Springfield dojo, as was kata Tekki Shodan. On the Saturday sessions at the Urbana dojo, nunchaku classes were held and the first grading was achieved by all eleven students who took this first exam. They were, Diane Cox, Corie Fish, Tori Enochs, Luke Pyle, Brian Finney, Jennifer Ramsey, Trevor Hiles, Austin Mattox, Cyndi Eickhoff, Ben Grooms and Austin Fisher. At the SSKI USA Karate Dan Grading which was held in the Urbana dojo on Saturday 19th December Neil Raska was successful in passing his shodan exam. The panel of examiners were: Sensei Phipps, Sensei Ed Cox, Sensei Randy Bodey, Sensei Jeff Sanders and Sensei Jan Meyer. Congratulations to Neil. Also a very successful two–day Instructor’s Course was held on the very first weekend of Phipps sensei’s visit and seven black–belts passed this first Certification Course. They were: Sensei Ed Cox, Sensei Randy Bodey, Sensei Jeff Sanders, Sensei Jeannie Yates, Sensei Jan Meyer, Sensei Vince Raska and Sensei Diane Cox. All were presented with their certificates by Phipps sensei. The annual AGM was held after the annual Pot Luck Supper and a New Year party was held at the Fish’s residence in Springfield. This time Phipps sensei decided not to dress up for the occasion! All in all another busy and very successful trip and we now look forward to the Easter visit of the Chief Instructor to SSKI.
New SSKI USA Website – we are pleased to announce that the new SSKI USA website is now up and running.
4th Dan Grading – Many congratulations to Jeff Carson who passed his 4th Dan Grading on Monday December 14th.
Dan Gradings – Congratulations to all who passed at the Association Dan Grading on Saturday December 12th: Shodan – Danny Richards, Emily Blundell and Karen Snowley. Nidan – Teiki Benveniste and Thomas Oliver.
November 21st Sat… Results from Portsmouth Open Shotokan Championships 2009 at the Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth
New Association Baseball Caps for sale: £12 all sizes, order through Sensei Phipps.
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Sensei Phipps’ USA visit (October/November 2009)
This was to be another very successful trip, where Phipps sensei taught regularly at both the Urbana and Springfield dojos throughout the twelve days of his visit. The main theme for these classes was building up speed in basic movement, which led eventually to being much faster in actual sparring. A very well attended nunchaku class was also held on the final Saturday of this trip and this was a huge success with the Urbana dojo full of would–be weapons experts.
The highlight of the trip and indeed the main reason for sensei visiting on this occasion was the WTKO Cincinnati tournament held on Saturday 24th October. Sensei John Mullin 7th Dan and founder of the WTKO was also in attendance and both had a lot of catching up to do. Sensei Sonny Kim 6th Dan and the instructor to the Cincinnati group made everyone feel very welcome and indeed came to train with Phipps sensei a few days later at the SSKI Springfield dojo. A mutual friendship was formed, with Kim sensei inviting the SSKI students to visit his dojo and train with him whenever they could, to which the SSKI-USA group readily agreed.
Another highlight was the Halloween Party which was held at Jan Meyer’s house. Everyone had to dress up in fancy dress and Phipps sensei, Randy Bodey and Jeff Sanders all dressed up in crazy women’s outfits and came to the party as Peter, Paul and Hairy! They entered to a small song they had invented for the occasion which was sung to the tune of the famous Christmas Carol: We Three Kings of Orient Are! The words went something like this:
We three queens from Seishinkai are,
Two from Urbana one from afar,
One named Jeff and one named Randy,
The blonde in the middle’s a little bit dandy!
This brought the house down and the evening was great fun (see photo of this dynamic trio!).
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Another great trip came all too quickly to an end and we all look forward to the Christmas period when we can all be together again in the true spirit of karatedo.
Mock Dan Gradings – From the December 2009 grading and including this grading, the Mock Grading in the Hemel Hempstead dojo, which is held ten days prior to the Dan Grading itself, will now be compulsory for ALL students taking Dan Gradings. A student not attending the Mock Grading will not be allowed to take the Dan Grading immediately following. This is for the sole benefit of the student taking the said grading.
Dan Grading Kata – From the December 2009 grading and including this grading, a student taking the nidan exam will not be allowed to perform Bassai-dai kata as their tokui kata. Likewise a student taking the sandan exam will not be allowed to perform katas Jion, Bassai-dai or Hangetsu as their tokui kata. For these advanced gradings a new kata should be studied and performed and not one that has been previously performed as a shitei kata in a previous grading.
‘Little Book of Seishinkai’ – The new, limited edition, special 25th anniversary edition of the ‘Little Book of Seishinkai’ (gold edition) is now available from the Association HQ or ask your sensei for details. Book is £10 and signed copies are available!
News Archive
Off to Jolly old England – It was a hot summer day when talk began of perhaps, just maybe, we could go over to Hemel Hempstead and train with our much loved Sensei Malcolm Phipps in his Dojo, and especially on a weekend conference by Sensei Dave Hazard. Could we do it? Would we make fools of ourselves? These were some of our questions. However, like headstrong, foolhardy karateka we thought, “Why not?” And so we did. We left Urbana, Ohio at about 3am with our trip to the Columbus airport. We were in high spirits and hardly noticed our lack of sleep. Sensei Phipps and Sensei Tony met us on arrival and took us to our Bed and Breakfast. Our adventure had begun. Thursday and Friday were fun days of sightseeing in the country around Hemel Hempstead and the “headquarters” of Seishinkai Shotokan Karate International. Then London by train and an open-topped bus tour. Sensei Phipps showed us how to drive in the English countryside. With all of the round-a-bouts and driving on the ‘other’ side of the road, just a car ride caused an adreneline rush!
Saturday came and Sensei Hazard’s seminar. We each hoped our training would stand up in a room full of karateka who have the opportunity to train weekly with the likes of Sensei Phipps and have regular seminars with Sensei Hazard. After observing one blistering gyakuzuki by Sensei Hazard we stood in awe. Class began and we scrambled to the back of the line of black belts. Sensei Hazard quickly put us at ease with his own personal blend of humour and serious karate. We learned techniques to improve our training, many very minute but very important to our overall performance and for our teaching. After two days of hard training we were exhausted but exhilarated and eager to get back to the States to share our new learning with our students. Sensei Phipps said we trained well and he was proud of us. What greater praise could we possibly receive? Monday we trained with the club in Hemel Hempstead at their regular class. We met so many wonderful people. You all were so gracious and made us feel welcome as part of your SSKI family. Special thanks to Sensei Phipps, Sensei Hazard and the Carson family for your hospitality. We look forward to a return visit and extend an offer to any of you who would wish to visit Ohio. Jan Meyer 2nd Dan, SSKI–USA
Congratulations! Many congratulations to Adam and Janine on their engagement.
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Sept 19/20 Sat/Sun… Sensei Dave Hazard 7th Dan – SSKI Open Autumn Course
Another absolutely brilliant SSKI Open Course with Sensei Dave Hazard 7th Dan was experienced by those who attended on the two days of Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September 2009. Sessions included street situations using our karate skills, the kata Gankaku and its bunkai and an excellent keri (kicking) session to finish the weekend off. At these seminars four instructors from the USA branch of SSKI attended and were in absolute awe of Sensei Hazard and the superb Course. The four, who travelled 8000 miles round trip to train with Sensei Hazard were Randy Bodey 2nd Dan, Jeff Sanders 2nd Dan, Jan Meyer 2nd Dan and Dennis Huff 1st Dan. Sensei Phipps thanked Sensei Hazard for the brilliant weekend and everyone is looking forward to the two Courses with Sensei Hazard in 2010. The dates are 6/7th February and 25/26th September 2010.
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(L to R: Dave Hazard, Randy Bodey, Jan Meyer, Jeff Sanders, Malcolm Phipps, Dennis Huff, Shaun Banfield) |
July 4/5th – Sensei Hazard 7th Dan Course: Another brilliant weekend’s course (at the Hemel Hempstead Dojo) with Sensei Hazard, where on the Saturday he covered the kata Gojushiho-dai for the senior grades and on the Sunday close–quarter techniques using the elbows and open-handed techniques. The junior grades were treated to an excellent kicking lesson on the Sunday which involved many intricate ways of improving your mawashi-geri. On the Saturday they concentrated mainly on basics and kata (Heian Sandan and Tekki Shodan). This course was very well attended with guests coming from many different groups and everyone went away with something to work on. Sensei Phipps thanked Sensei Hazard for a wonderful weekend and we all look forward to Sensei Hazard’s return on 19/20th September of this year. Keep an eye on the website for new times and prices for this seminar.
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Dan Gradings – At the Association Dan Grading on Saturday 13th June 2009, the following participants were successful in passing their grading: Shodan – Leah Groom, Petra Ewington, Imran Ullah and Paul Munjic. Nidan – Kaan Yargici, Nicholas Ross–McCall, Anthony Holt and Thomas Carson. Congratulations to all of them.
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Shobu-Ippon Medal Table – SSKI is in the very prestigious number one spot. Well done to all who have taken these medals over the years. Click here to see the table.
Sensei Phipps’ USA Trip April 2009 – At nearly midnight on Wednesday 8th April, Malcolm Phipps sensei arrived at Columbus, Ohio Airport for a three week training visit. For these three weeks he would be staying with the Sanders family in Urbana. The visit was an extremely successful one with sensei visiting all three USA dojos in Urbana, Springfield Athletic Club and Montessori School in Springfield. The main theme was to improve the general speed and kime of all the students and sensei taught many different ways of achieving this goal, through a variety of advanced and basic kihon and kumite techniques. His two advanced kata for this trip were, Sochin and Ji’in. The USA group has come on in leaps and bounds in the last couple of years and is now an excellent group and one for SSKI to be very proud of. The Chief Instructor for the USA is sensei Ed Cox 6th Dan, who runs the Urbana dojo and the Montessori School dojo. The Springfield Athletic Club dojo is basically run by three instructors, Randy Bodey, Jeff Sanders and Jan Meyer who are all second dans. On Phipps sensei’s visit, Kyle Long took his shodan grading and passed in front of a panel of five senior instructors, which included all of the above plus Phipps sensei. On Phipps sensei’s last Saturday, the Urbana dojo held a ‘Kickathon’ to raise funds for the ‘Give Kids The World’ campaign, which is a fund to help children in dire need of love and help throughout the world, many with terminal illnesses. The event was hosted by Ed Cox sensei and sponsored by the Post Office Rural Carriers Auxiliary. Not only did the students practice their variety of kicks on the dojo kickbags for a couple of hours but also broke wooden boards in a tameshiwari event. Phipps sensei also got involved in this event and successfully punched his way through three one inch boards. At this event there was also an auction for many wonderful gifts that were donated by local businesses and individual people. In total the ‘Kickathon’ and the auction raised the staggering amount of US$2,100. Well done to all involved who helped this extremely worthy and much needed cause. And so, after a very physically and mentally tiring three weeks karate training, it was time for sensei to return to England. The good news is that Phipps sensei will be back in the USA in July for three more weeks where the main kata will be Gojushiho-dai. All are welcome! We are glad to report that sensei arrived safely home in the UK with his luggage in tact and without Swine Flu! He was, however, a little jet-lagged and had the usual mountain of paperwork to get through! The fun and reward for being the Association’s Chief Instructor!
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and examiners |
board with fingertips!!! |
jodan mawashi-geri |
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his sweeping techniques! |
with Phipps sensei. |
New Association Structure
Association Hierarchy – The following positions and titles come into effect from February 2009:
» Chief Instructor and Chairman – Sensei Malcolm Phipps 7th Dan
» Assistant Chief Instructor and Chairman – Sensei Tony Bunting 6th Dan
» Association Team Coach – Sensei Adam Cockfield 4th Dan
» Association Chief Referee – Sensei Jeff Carson 3rd Dan
Executive & Technical Committee – The above four sensei plus: Sensei Daniel White 3rd Dan, Sensei Paul Carvell 3rd Dan, Sensei Nick Forgham 3rd Dan and Sensei Peter Welch 3rd Dan.
Hemel Hempstead Honbu Black-Belts – Photograph of students that trained on Wednesday 11th February on the Black–Belt only session. The lesson, taken by Sensei Phipps, consisted of the kata Kanku–dai and Jiyu–Ippon line training drills. The next of these lessons will be on Wednesday 11th March.
 Hemel Hempstead Honbu Black–Belts |
SSKI Course (18th January 2009 – Hemel Hempstead dojo). The course instructors for this were Malcolm Phipps sensei, Tony Bunting sensei and Adam Cockfield sensei. The course was split into three groups, using three separate halls and each sensei worked on one important aspect of Shotokan karate (kata, kumite and kihon); this was one of the most successful SSKI courses held for many a year. Many thanks to all three instructors and here’s to the next similar course on Sunday 5th April.
Please also see your club’s AGM Minutes for some very important changes, especially to Dan Gradings, Squad Training sessions and Black-belt only lessons.
December 6th Sat…At the Association’s Dan Grading at the Hemel Hempstead dojo, the following were successful in passing their dan grades: Antony Bunting to Rokudan (6th Dan), Stacey Barton to Nidan (2nd Dan) and Paul Hazell to Nidan (2nd Dan). Sensei Phipps gave a small speech before awarding Sensei Bunting with his 6th Dan certificate, thanking him for his fantastic support during Sensei Phipps’ illness and indeed since. Tony is a true, loyal and very respected instructor who is a credit to the Association and indeed a great friend. His grade is therefore thoroughly well-deserved. Stacey Barton and Paul Hazell both passed their Nidan grades in real style giving even more strength to the very powerful Hemel Hempstead dojo and indeed the Association as a whole.
 Malcolm Phipps presenting Tony Bunting with his certificate |
 Stacey Barton, Malcolm Phipps, Tony Bunting and Paul Hazell |
September 27th Sat… Congratulations to Sensei Malcolm Phipps 7th Dan, our Chief Instructor, for being unanimously voted to the position of Chairman to the Shotokan Alliance at the meeting at the Holiday Inn, Reading on Saturday 27th September 2008. (We've had Chairman Mao, now we've got Chairman Mal!!!)
New SSKI Dan Grades – On Saturday 6th September at the Hemel Hempstead Honbu Dojo the following students passed their Dan Gradings: Shodan – Gary Richards, Sam Richards and Claire Cerins. Congratulations to these fine new shodans, which now gives the Honbu Dojo no less than twenty–five training Black-belts.
Successful Yondan Grading – on Wednesday 16th April, under the watchful eye of Sensei Malcolm Phipps 7th Dan and Sensei Tony Bunting 5th Dan, Sensei Adam Cockfield passed his yondan (4th Dan) examination in real style. Adam had to perform a kata that had been given to him by the above panel, three months previously. The panel had chosen kata Meikyo to which Adam had to perform the kata in front of the panel and the senior class. Then, with four of his London club’s black-belts, had to show the panel the oyo/bunkai of the kata; Adam performed this once slowly and then once at full speed. Adam then went on to take a one and a half hour senior grade lesson in front of the panel. Adam also had to write a thesis on any subject pertaining to karate training and also a smaller thesis on the kata Meikyo. Adam’s chosen subject for his main thesis was ‘The Impact of Competition on Modern Shotokan Karate’; click here to read Adam's two excellent and well-researched theses. The whole grading was a huge success; both Sensei Malcolm and Sensei Tony commented that this was the very best yondan grading they had ever witnessed and has set a real benchmark for future participants. A grade which was really earned and not just given for a certain amount of time elapsing or any other such means. Adam is the very successful Association’s Coach and his London club is now a real force to be reckoned with, with eight excellent black-belts and a strong club below these yudansha. Well done, Adam, and well-deserved!
Sensei Dave Hazard 7th Dan Course – on Sunday 20th April at the Hemel Hempstead honbu dojo, SSKI students and their guests were treated to yet another absolutely brilliant Course by Sensei Hazard. Guests came from as far afield as Ramsgate, Norwich and Billingshurst to train with Sensei Hazard and this excellent Course made the journey worthwhile. In the junior session Sensei concentrated on the kata Heian Yondan, cleverly giving bunkai and partner work in the early part and then putting the kata together near the end of this session. In the senior session a similar idea was put into operation concentrating on the kata Jion which contained some very interesting oyo and bunkai. Another absolutely superb Course with Sensei Hazard and everyone looks forward to his return on the weekend of 20/21st of September to the Hemel Hempstead dojo. Sensei Phipps thanked Sensei Hazard at the end of the senior session for such a great day and then both Sensei Phipps and Sensei Hazard presented Sensei Adam Cockfield with his 4th Dan certificate for his successful grading the previous Wednesday.
