ESKA Kumite Squad

For a number of years ESKA has run a highly successful Kata Squad under Sensei's John Gillespie and Paul Grimsey. In last year's Amateur Martial Arts (AMA) International Open Karate Championships the squad did extremely well with three silver medals and two bronzes. Three of these medals were obtained by our own Paul Grimsey for male, weapons and team Kata. The competition is written up on our AMA 2005 page.

So far the developing Kumite Squad has trained at the Sandy Dojo at Sandy Upper School between 10:00am - 12:00pm, on four occasions

• Sunday  10th April 2005
• Sunday 25th September 2005
• Sunday 4th December 2005
• Sunday 22nd January 2006

The adults at the third Kumite course
Including Alison, Martin and Declan from Hitchin

Sensei Scoot demonstration

The Second Kumite Course by Sensei Richard Scoot (for further information please check out the Sandy Dojo Website)

The 2nd ESKA Kumite Course was held on Sunday 25th September 2005 at the Sandy club Dojo. Sensei's Richard Scoot and Gavin Paul ran the course which started with basic punching and kicking drills.

The Instructors then took turns to demonstrate and teach various combinations, these were then put into practice with half the class taking to the Tatami for sparring and the rest practicing their combinations one to one.

After two hours of hard training we emerged with some excellent karateka who showed a real talent for Kumite a special mention should be made to a young Miss Pearson who proceeded to batter down most of the men's defences with an aggressive barrage of techniques.

The course was attended by around twenty students (15 down on the first course) which was a little disappointing so can we PLEASE ask all of the ESKA instructors to support and promote these classes to your students as we obviously have some real talent in ESKA who with a little coaching could make an excellent squad and make ESKA proud at competitions. Remember just how well the Kata squad have done in recent years.

Alison Pearson and Vicky Byford trade blows

The Third Kumite Course

For the next third of the course we took to the mats to be paired up and try out our techniques on each other. The group was split into juniors and seniors with Vicky Byford supervising the juniors and Sensei Scoot the seniors. It quickly became apparent and was confirmed by Sensei Scoot that in Kumite you need to dominate your opponent and control their movements on the mat if you are to win. For some of us it became apparent that to be dominated out of the competition area could mean mean a jogai or warning or points against you. We also realised that there were a load of new Japanese karate terms to be learnt. To help our members a glossary will be built up on our kumite page. For the final session Sensei Scoot brought the juniors and seniors together and setup pairings to demonstrate particular aspects of Kumite competition including scoring and the advantages and disadvantages of height and reach.

The full squad at the third Kumite course
Including Alison, Andrew, Declan and Martin from Hitchin

The Fourth Kumite Course

Sadly with the double booking of the Kata and Kumite squad courses on the same Sunday the numbers were down with established Kata squad members being sorely missed. Sensei Scoot assured us that the Kata squad have now learnt their lesson and we will be avoiding their bookings in future.

As explained on the day Kumite bouts last for a very long two minutes with stops and starts as points are scored, contestants misbehave, and the referee gets bored of nothing happening. Sensei Scoot explained that a full bout with stops and starts can last ten minutes and with the contestants high on adrenaline this can really sap your strength and stamina very quickly. So the fourth course was intended to be a stamina building exercise for the participants.

Circuit training

The course got off to a great start with circuit training with Sensei Paul.

• Crunches
• Running on a soft surface
• Press-ups
• Step-ups
• Kicking drills
• Triceps presses

Bout conditioning

Combination Drills

Uraken Drills

Gyaku Drills