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.
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.
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
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. |
Sensei Phipps’ Christmas/New Year 2008/9 USA Visit
On Wednesday 17th December 2008, the SSKI Chief Instructor, Sensei Malcolm Phipps 7th Dan flew to the USA and visited the Association’s Ohio clubs. His stay was for three weeks, which of course included the Christmas and New Year holiday periods. The USA group has opened another dojo in the City of Springfield, Ohio and this dojo is very capably run by Sensei Jeff Sanders, Sensei Randy Bodey and Sensei Jan Meyer, all three holding the nidan grade. This new club has around twenty students, with no less than six nidan black-belts.
Sensei Phipps devoted his time between the City of Urbana dojo, which is run by Sensei Ed Cox 6th Dan, the Chief Instructor to the USA group of SSKI and the Springfield dojo. The classes included junior and senior grades and were a mixture of adults and children. Sensei Phipps wanted to improve the jiyu-ippon kumite of the USA group, something he has been working on in the UK and so many of the lessons were taken up by the teaching of these kumite techniques. The two kata that Sensei taught on this trip were, Gojushiho-sho and Kanku-dai with a quick recap on some of the Heian kata on the very last lesson in Urbana.
Sensei also worked on improving turning and spinning in kihon, kata and kumite and again these lessons were well received by both dojo. Many different methods were used by Sensei Phipps, which in many cases took on the look of mini-kata. He also worked on the cutting out of superfluous movement of the body in kihon (basics). The classes also worked on unsoku (foot movement) in all aspects of Shotokan karate with the students also practising koshi no kaiten (rotation of the hips). Another lesson in the Urbana dojo worked on kumite free-fighting techniques and these went down extremely well with all concerned. The lessons were all well attended and everyone came away with a lot to work on before his next visit in April.
At a Dan Grading held in the Urbana dojo, Sensei Jan Meyer passed her nidan exam in style in front of examiners Sensei Phipps, Sensei Ed Cox and Sensei Jeff Sanders.
On the lighter side, the Christmas party at the Friend’s Church was absolutely packed as Sensei Cox presented end of the year awards to students for best attendance and student of the year etc. On Sensei Phipps’ birthday, Sensei Randy Bodey presented Sensei Phipps with Sir Zippy, a skeleton dressed in a GI and also supporting a black-belt (see photo below) and stated that this is what Sensei Phipps would look like after his very busy trip!
A wonderful three-week visit and many thanks must go to the Sanders family (Jeff, Lisa, Bishop, Mary-Rose and AJ) for putting up with Sensei for the whole visit and to all the instructors in both dojo who made Sensei Phipps feel so very welcome.
Here’s to the Easter visit!
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