Sunday, October 4, 2009

CCHS Karate 2009-2010!

Osu!

I hope you have had a fantastic summer, I know I have! My wife and I welcomed our first baby in August. Adalayde Victoria was born on 8/22/2009 at 4:20pm. She weighed 8 lbs 6 ounces and was about 20 inches long. She is the most beautiful thing these eyes have every seen. I have already ordered a kyokushin gi for her and hopefully she'll be able to wear it for beach training in 2010.





As I have said in the past, this year the CCHS Karate Club is offering both a Varsity and JV concentration (see Varsity letter below). There will be several requirements that will need to be met in order to earn a Varsity letter. We will go over these requirements in depth during our first meeting in November. I am very excited about this year, I think that we will have an even larger number of participants than last year!



I'm looking forward to seeing you at the opening meeting...See you November 19th in room 223 right after school!

Osu!

Sensei

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

CCHS/MKA Beach Training

OSU!

The CCHS Karate Club was proud to join the Giordano Family Methuen Karate Association in their yearly beach training session at the Salisbury Beach Reservation. I am very proud to say that 8 Central Catholic students along with about 100 MKA students participated in this annual event.



I know that everyone had a great time, trained hard, and got a lot out of the session. My students had the opportunity to see and train with over 100 dedicated karateka pushing themselves every step of the way!



I truly hope that every one of the 40 or so students who tried working out with the CCHS Karate Club got something positive out of it. This beach training session made a fantastic end to a spectacular inaugural year of karate at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA.



Train hard this summer and we'll see you in December!

Osu!

Sensei

Friday, May 22, 2009

Central Catholic High School Promotes 5 Students To Yellow Belt!

Osu!

There has been a lot going on at the CCHS Kyokushin Karate club! Several students tested and were successfully promoted to Roku Kyu (yellow belt) in the Kyokushin Karate system. Dan Blackwell, David Daniels, Shannon Bradish, Amy Whitney Perry, and Brendan Stolarz completed their test and showed incredible skill and determination. Hanshi Larry Giordano along with Sensei John Goddard of the Giordano Family Methuen Karate Association were present and gave the students one of the hardest classes of the year. Each student was pushed to the limit while trying to give their all both physically and mentally. I am very proud of each of my students and their willingness to approach every class as if it was a promotion. Here is a picture of 4 of the 5 new yellow belts receiving their certificate and obi.






Recently, I also tried to incorporate a tournament like atmosphere into our classes. Each student had the opportunity to compete in kumite while being judged for ippon (full point score) and waza ari (half point score). I believe that this tournament like class will prepare each student for next year when we compete in several local and regional tournaments.



Lastly, I was fortunate enough to celebrate the accomplishment of two of my senior students at a senior awards banquet. Dan Blackwell and David Daniels received an award recognizing their extreme dedication and love of the martial arts. These two seniors have not only been a part of the CCHS Karate Club, they have been leaders by both example and by spirit! I am very lucky to have had these two strong individuals helping me to build a strong Kyokushin club at Central Catholic High School. Here are a couple of Tameshiwari pics of these two fine karateka!





Excellent job this year and congratulations on your graduation!

Osu!

Sensei

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Hanshi Larry F. Giordano Visits the CCHS Karate Club

Osu!

It was my honor tonight to have Hanshi Larry F. Giordano of the Methuen Karate Association as a special guest instructor. We at the CCHS Karate Club are so lucky to have such a decorated karate master share his knowledge with us. Hanshi Giordano is currently one of the highest ranking black belts (9th Degree black belt) in the world and has been actively involved in karate throughout the Merrimack Valley for over 40 years! I am so thankful that Hanshi has given me his support in starting the CCHS Karate Club. I only hope that one day I can accomplish even half of the success that he has had.





We were also very lucky to have Sensei John Goddard of the Methuen Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club and MKA teach us a new series of ground fighting techniques. Sensei Goddard has been so selfless with his time and we at the CCHS Karate Club thank him for all of his help! We can't wait to see him again in April.

Osu!

Sensei

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Blue Belt Promotions

Osu!

The CCHS Karate Club is proud to announce the successful promotion of Dan Blackwell, Shannon Bradish, Amy Whitney Perry, and Brendan Stolarz to Hachi Kyu in the Kyokushin Karate system. These four students are the first to achieve new rank at the CCHS Karate Club. I'm looking forward to more of my students achieving higher rank. I'm sure this will happen soon enough given the intensity of each of my students during class. I'm very pleased with the dedication and hard work that all of my students have shown over the past four months.
Osu!
Sensei

Friday, January 30, 2009

Tameshiwari (Breaking) Class

Osu!

The CCHS Karate Club is proud to announce that it's first breaking class, held on January 27th, 2009, was a huge success! Once again, we added a new student to the class, which brings the current enrollment to over 20 students! Some of our veteran students had been looking forward to this class for a long time. Finally they had the chance to test their skills and techniques against stacks of 1 inch thick pine boards. I'm very happy to say that my students met the challenge...breaking upwards of 50 boards in total for the evening!


After completing a spectacular breaking class, several students successfully tested for their 2nd and 3rd blue stripes. This means that it's only a matter of weeks before the CCHS Karate Club promotes it's first group of blue belts. There will be an official promotion date set sometime over the next few weeks. Good luck to each student!

Next week the CCHS Karate Club will welcome a very special guest instructor to class. Sensei John Goddard, a 3rd degree black belt in Kyokushin karate and an apprentice instructor of grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (under Goru Jim Marino and the Methuen Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club) will introduce ground fighting techniques to our students. We at the CCHS Karate Club are very lucky to have Sensei Goddard share his overwhelming amount of knowledge in these areas with us.


Osu!

Sensei

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Kumite Class

Osu!

We were lucky enough to have a big class tonight...about 17 students. We started class with a good warmup consisting of basics, pushups, and situps. Then we talked about our tameshiwari (breaking) class which will be held on the last Tuesday of this month. Next we discussed the ins and outs of kumite (sparring). After demonstrating a few ideas, the students put on their gloves and we started to work on our fighting applications. Each pair of students had the opportunity to spar for about 1 minute. This gave them the chance to see what it's like to defend themselves using the techniques that we've practiced for weeks now. Next we worked on Taikyoku Ichi...this is our first basic form or kata. At the end of class, some of my students had demonstrated a strong understanding of their basic techniques and were promoted with a new stripe on their belt.
Here is a photo of the class in seiza (kneeling) position preparing to meditate. More photos of sparring and breaking will come toward the end of the month. No classes will be held on January 20th due to midterm exams. See you on the 27th!
Osu!
Sensei