Updated 27/7/2010 

Shoto’s Twenty Precepts

... 1) Karate-Do begins with courtesy and ends with courtesy. 2) There is no first attack in Karate. 3) Karate is a great assistance to justice. 4) Know yourself first, and then others. 5) Spirit first, then technique second. 6) Always be ready to release your mind. 7) Misfortune (Accidents) always comes out of idleness (Negligence). 8) Do not think that Karate training is only in the Dojo. 9) It will take your entire life to learn Karate, there is no limit. 10) Put your everyday living into Karate and you will find the ideal state of existence. 11) Karate is like hot water, if you do not give it heat constantly, it will again become cold water. 12) Do not think that you have to win, rather think that you do not have to lose. 13) Victory depends on your ability to distinguish vulnerable points from invulnerable ones. 14) The Battle is according to how you manoeuvre guarded and unguarded, move according to your opponent. 15) Think of the hands and feet as swords. 16) When you leave home, think that you have numerous opponents waiting for you, it is your behaviour that invites trouble from them. 17) Beginners must master low stance and posture, natural body position for advanced. 18) Practicing a Kata is one thing and engaging in a real fight is another. 19) Do not forget:- a) Strength and weakness of power. b) Stretching and contraction of the body. c) Slowness and speed of techniques. Apply these correctly. 20) Always think and devise ways to live the precepts every day.

Special Group

The special group will train as usual on Sunday 10 ~ 11am .   The sole qualification for joining this group is that you have to be serious about learning Shotokan karate. Full stop.  Regardless of your grade, you will get a lot out of attending these increasingly popular sessions, guaranteed.  Why don’t you try a session?  Sunday morning training with no rush hour traffic to contend with, followed by a day of well earned relaxation.   Imagine that..... 

Weekly report

There must have been something special in the air on Tuesday, to judge by the size of the turn out.  Very well done to all who came to train. It did my old heart good to see a turnout reminiscent of the good old days of the ‘70s.  Jacksons Lane goes from strength to strength!  Thursday  was another absolute cracker of a session with the added bonus of yet more new faces in the mix.  All in all, it has been a vintage week.  When you train, you’re not just improving your own standard beyond belief, you’re also supporting your club in the best possible way.  Everyone’s a winner!                    -Vic

The new Japanese style warmups & sessions implemented by Sensei Palmer, following his recent intensive training sessions in Japan under extremely highly ranked  instructors, are proving very popular.  Comments about them heard by your editor include “I like ‘em...”,  “They’re good...” , “Oh yeah...”.        -Vic

** Thursday Flexi-Sessions!!

We all live in the real world: making time for training can be difficult, so, recognizing this, Senseis Palmer and Robins have re-jigged training times and conditions to better suit members’ demanding lifestyles.  Tuesday training times are 6-7pm for the intensive Japanese-style session, and the Spring/Summer Thursday training times are  6-7.30pm,

3)  “Oh no, I’ll be late!!” 

Don’t worry, you’ll always be welcome at either weekday session, regardless of the time.  Just be sure to warm up a little outside the dojo, sign in as usual, make certain Sensei knows you are present in the traditional way and when asked to join, do so from round the back of the class, never move between Sensei and Shomen.

3)  “I’ll not be able to fit in the whole session!!” 

No problem, there will be a brief break at 7pm on Thursday for those who have to leave then. Let’s face it, one hour of training is infinitely better than no training at all!!

Free Kata sessions!! Saturdays from 4pm to 4.45pm.  These extremely popular sessions are free to club members who attended other sessions in the week.  All others are welcome to participate on the usual paid session basis.  Guests are welcome but please check with Sensei first.