Seminar and Grading with Shihan Brett Halliday

On Saturday, 24 September 2011, Zanshin Karate-Do are pleased to present a seminar and colour belt grading in the Kinnegad GAA centre dojo. The seminar will be given by Shihan Brett Halliday (6th Dan) one of the highest-ranked Shotokan instructors in Ireland. Shihan Brett heads Renshukan Karate-Do Europe, to which we are affiliated. The cost of the grading and seminar is €15 (under 16s) and €25 (senior members). This includes seminar, grading etc. Liam and Proinsias strongly urge all Zanshin members to attend this seminar. The grading panel will comprise all four Zanshin instructors , Shihan Brett and some external examiners. Come and enjoy training at a higher level!Seminar and grading will run from 1.00 PM until 5.00 PM.

Course with Sensei Ken Fitzpatrick

On Monday, 8th August, Zanshin Kinnegad presented a course by Sensei Ken Fitzpatrick, 4th Dan Kyokushin Karate. Kyokushin is an extremely powerful style of full-contact karate, famed for its "knockdown" style of fighting. Sensei Ken, ably assisted by his black belts Senpai Alan and Senpai Ciarán started the junior class with a vigorous warm-up, using focus mitts as a target for a punch/elbow/knee combination. A lot of the drills that followed were lively and vigorous, using sparring drills and pad-work to promote spirit and good technique. We finished the class by demonstrating Taikyoku Shodan kata for our visitors. Sensei Ken subsequently commented on the discipline and good manners of our juniors - well done guys!

At 8.00, the senior class started. All our seniors were there, along with Sensei Keith and Senpai Fergus from our Portarlington dojo. Also present were Senseis Liam Gorman and Gerry McCarthy from the Irish  Shotokan Academy, Guro Donal Connaughton from Midlands FMA Club, and Sensei Darren Hand from Kyushoshin Ju-Jutsu. Ken, Alan and Ciarán presented a brilliant class, concentrating on techniques from Kyokushin sparring. We were especially impressed by the low kicking drills and astonished at the power that the visiting black belts could generate in their low kicks. Sensei Ken said that it takes two years to develop a proper leg-kick, and after trying it for ourselves, we believe him!
Next, the Kyokushin black-belts demonstrated some kata, including the famous "Sanchin Kata", and Senpai Ciaran showed us some bunkai (applications). The class finished up with some line sparring.
We were tremenduously impressed by the power, speed and technique of Sensei Ken and his students. Equally importantly, their friendly, approachable and modest demeanour marked them out as true gentlemen. They were fantastic ambassadors for their style and their club, and we hope to host them again before too long. The evening finished with a short presentation to Sensei Ken on behalf of the club.
Liam and Proinsias would like to thank Sensei Ken, Senpai Alan and Senpai Ciarán. We'd also like to thank our students, colleagues and visitors for making the evening a great success. You can see the pace of the evening in the following photos (note the steam and misted-up mirrors!)

(Sensei Liam, Sensei Ken, Senpai Alan, Senpai Ciaran, Proinsias)