What a massive weekend! Thank you to everyone who attended our 5^th anniversary celebration on Saturday night. It was recently brought to my attention that some football league decided to hold their ‘Grand Final’ on the same day again – and again without even consulting me. So inconsiderate. Hopefully they give more thought to their timing in the future.

For those who were not able to attend, I gave a talk about the history of Sobukan, some of our highlights, recognised a few people’s contributions to our dojo, and importantly I spoke about my vision for the next five years of our dojo.

Find the speech here, but a summary of my plan for the next five years includes:

• A flexible syllabus that promotes strong self defence skills in every fighting range
• Learning support outside of class
• Leadership development programme
• Additional Sobukan dojo
• Interclub comps and training events
• Annual training trips to Japan
• Host masters from Japan for seminars, competitions and gradings
• Sister school in Japan
• Updated image and more active promotion

Before I forget, please note that the following class will not run in October:
Wednesday 15: Kids Karate (due to interstate travel) – adult classes will run as normal.
Apologies for any inconvenience.

I could not be prouder of everyone who tested for their new grades. I was slightly stricter with my scoring than I have been in previous tests, and was delighted to see that the additional energy that we have invested in preparing for this grading was not wasted. The skill level was the highest I have seen in each belt group in any test to date, and the discipline and concentrated demonstrated over the two six hour sessions was admirable.

As I have explained to everyone, there is no pressure to grade immediately. The grading test gives me an opportunity to evaluate your current ability, offer feedback and prepare to grade you when you are ready. Many people will be awarded their belts immediately, others will be awarded their belts once they have demonstrated the required level in some remaining criteria. If you do not grade immediately I understand you will be disappointed. Please use that disappointment to motivate yourself to improve.

Please find a list of those who have passed immediately below. More will be added shortly, I am sure! Please don’t hesitate to ask me for feedback outside of lesson times, including via email.

Important dates