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Our aim at the
Aldershot, Farnham and Haslemere karate clubs, is
to teach you Wado karate
to the best of our ability and it’s important that from the
outset, you understand that good
 Wado
karate is not necessarily a quick fix to be a great fighter, or is it
necessarily an easy martial art to learn. It requires patience,
dedication and robust training, over a period of many years, before
you can start to move in the correct manner. It also requires a
degree of intelligence and therefore it is a very challenging style
on more than just a physical level, it is a style that is also
extremely rewarding if you stick at it and continue to gradually
improve over time.
It may be best
summarised that Wado Ryu
karate is not only a superb form of physical exercise, but it is
also hard to surpass as a mental discipline as well. Our style of
karate is also rich in real combat skills from
Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu, which means it is a very
useful and comprehensive self defence system.
The club instructors,
Graham Hopkins and
Corin Pegden, have collectively been studying
Wado karate for well over 50 years. Both of them are always happy to
take on new committed students, in either the adult or children’s
classes, providing they are keen to learn authentic Wado Ryu karate,
as taught by our Chie f Instructor,
Shiomitsu Sensei
9th Dan Hanshi. The emphasis is on quality of student much rather
than quantity of student.
The club instructor's are not claiming to be experts
in their art and never
will
do. They do however, know that their instructors definitely are!
Graham and
Corin are very fortunate to be able to offer their
students the chance to regularly train with some very distinguished
and world renowned martial artists at the clubs.
However, if you are
purely looking to get a black
belt within a couple of years, then the style and our clubs may
not be suited to you, as you would honestly be far better off going
to a shop and just buying one. The training at the classes is an on-going
process, just as any karate training should be and therefore it is
only through continuous study, hard work and effort that you will
start to reap the physical and
personal
benefits that Wado karate can give you.
The founder of
Wado karate,
Hironori Ohtsuka
wrote: "Learning Wado Ryu is difficult. In a period of a few years,
one cannot learn true Wado-Ryu
karate
perfectly — it takes many years of training. It is like becoming a
doctor. In order to get ‘Hakase-go’ (a doctor degree) in Japan, you
have to complete six years of elementary school, finish four years
of university and then four years of graduate school. After you get
the degree you still have to pass the national exam, then practice
at the hospital for several years to become a professional doctor or
professor. To become a
Wado Ryu
professional, it takes the same effort. The best known and most
respected doctors in the world are those who make efforts day and
night. Whenever they have time, they work to develop or
improve their own theory or techniques. This process makes them
unique from others and is why they become well known and famous. "
One of the key principles to understand whilst studying
Wado karate is
"mudana no shikara, mudana no waza and mudana no ugoki", which
translates as "no unnecessary force, technique or movement".
Shiomitsu Sensei
continually reminds us when he teaches at the clubs about how to
move the body effectively. "Minimum effort and maximum impact" is
how he may describe what he is implying through his seminars. Our
dojo rules explain
the principles and behaviours we adopt in the lessons
Although the clubs are
based in Aldershot,
Farnham and
Haslemere, we have
many students from the surrounding villages, such as; Alton, Ash,
Bordon, Chiddingfold, Crondall, Elstead, Farnborough, Frensham,
Grayshott, Guildford, Hindhead, Headley, Liphook, Liss, Midhurst, Petersfield,
Rowledge, Tongham and Whitehill to name but a few! We also have
occasional visits from students of other styles and have people
come occasionally from as far a field as Milton Keynes and
Bournemouth to train with us!
If you want to
understand more about what happens in a
typical lesson, then click on the
link and you will see how they are structured.
The list below are
examples of the various instructors, events and training sessions
that will be open to any student who trains with us. This wide and
far ranging list is by no means exhaustive, nor is it compulsory to
attend each and every session. We are aware that some students will
have a preference to fighting, others to general keep fit, body
conditioning, self defence, competitions or maybe a bit of
everything we have to offer. Therefore the student is able to pick
and choose the events that most suit them, as we cater for everyone.
Most of our students will try and attend the majority of the events,
because they know they will learn a great deal from the instructors
who are teaching.
Here are a list of just some
of the courses that you will be able to benefit from, by training
with us at
our clubs.
-
Club level training sessions with
Masafumi
Shiomitsu 9th Dan Hanshi several times every
year.
-
Bi-annual training at the week long Winter Course in Guildford,
Surrey, with the son of the original founder of Wado karate and
the second Grandmaster of Wado karate,
Hironori Ohtsuka 10th Dan.
-
Training with the Wado Academy senior instructors at the Winter
and Summer courses, taught by such distinguished instructors as
Sensei’s Shiomitsu,
Kazutaka Ohtsuka,
George Grimes and
Arthur Meek.
-
Annual courses at the clubs, with 9 times world champion and
Britain’s most successful karate competitor ever,
Wayne
Otto O.B.E.
-
National squad training sessions with top competitors and
instructors, many of whom have won major championships and
titles. These take place every two months on average, one of
which is always at one of our clubs.
-
Access to several tournaments every year, such as the Wado Ryu
nationals and Wado Karate Federation events. We also run a local
inter-club event every year for those that want to compete, but
don’t want to travel long distances, or are keen to find a good
entry level tournament.
-
Annual training sessions at club level with other top Sensei’s,
such as
George Grimes 7th Dan,
Arthur Meek 6th
Dan, who teaches grappling and
self defence techniques.
-
Twice yearly instructors courses taught by Sensei Shiomitsu 9th
Dan Hanshi, which ensure all
 high
grade students are regulated and have the necessary
qualifications to run a club.
-
Other seminars from
occasional guests such as
Peter Edwards 6th Dan Wado
Ryu and Tyrone Pardue 5th Dan Wado Ryu USA.
-
Student of the month award alternating between kids and
adults which are put on the website.
-
Access
to other karate styles on the twice yearly Japanese Martial Arts
Commission (JMAC) events covering Wado Ryu and Shito Ryu, as
taught by Sensei’s Shiomitsu and Tomiyama.
-
Students
have the ability to train at the Wado Academy clubs across
Europe and the World. Some of our members have trained in
Norway, Italy, France, USA, Ireland and Sweden for example.
-
The ability to train
in Japan with top Sensei, such as the 2009 trip to Tokyo with
Sensei Shiomitsu for the World Championships. Students will be
able to train at the Honbu dojo and at other top clubs under the
best instructors.
-
The clubs also
invite instructors down from other styles, so students can
practise other arts, such as Batto Jutsu, which introduces
students to using a sword.
-
Regular Jujitsu seminars with top level local instructors.
If any of the above is of interest to you, or you would like to find
out more, then please
contact us via email, or call 07876 577675. |
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