Kaizen Karate Club are delighted to host the IJKA Summer Training Seminar with World Chief Instructor Shihan S. Kato 9th Dan on the 25th and 26th of June.
The seminar will be held at Gaelscoil An Teaghlaigh Naofa, Tory Top Road, Ballyphehane,
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IJKA Ireland are proud to host the IJKA World Karate Championships in Cork, Ireland, in July 2017. More information can be found at: http://www.karatecork2017.com
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Well done to everyone who took part in this year's IJKA Open. A great day was had by all. Congratulations to Sinead O' Flynn and Conall O' Callaghan, who won Best Junior Female and Best Junior Male; David O' Donovan, who won Best Senior Male; Steve Collins, who won Senior Men's Kata; Jean O' Connor, who won Senior Ladies' Kata; Martin Sheehan, who won Senior Men's Kumite; Chloe Millar, who won Senior Ladies' Kumite; Kildorrery Karate Club, who won Senior Men's Team Kumite; and Passage West Karate Club, who won Senior Mixed Team Kata. Passage West Karate Club was awarded the Jesse Pablo Memorial Shield as the most successful club on the day.
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IJKA Irish Open Shotokan Championships 2016
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On Sunday next, 20th March, the IJKA Munster Open Shotokan Karate Championships will take place at The NMCI in Ringaskiddy. The event is being hosted by Passage West Karate Club and is open to all clubs and associations. All proceeds from the day will be used to help send a team to the SKDUN European Open Karate Championships in Nuremberg Germany next month. Best of luck to Sensei Joe Hunter and all the crew in Passage West on the day and we would ask that all IJKA members please support the tournament.
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Last weekend the club was honoured to have IJKA World Chief Instructor Kato Shihan and Sensei Milena Galabova in Fermoy to present the IJKA Spring Training Seminar. The turn out as always was great and we were treated to a magnificent display by Kato Shihan and Milena. The great master was in fantastic form and left both novices and seasoned blackbelts in awe with his presentations. Thanks to everyone who attended the course, our friends from the UK, instructors and students from the different clubs and associations and to the parents who brought their children along. Kato Shihan and Sensei Milena will be back in Ireland for the Summer Seminar and full details will be posted nearer to event.
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This weekend, 12th and 13th March 2016, IJKA World Chief Instructor Kato Shihan and Sensei Milena Galabova will present a Spring Seminar at the IJKA Hombu dojo in Fermoy Leisure Centre.
The course which is open to all clubs and associations will begin on Saturday morning at 11am, with an all grades class until 1pm. The seminar will re-commence at 2pm with a special children's and wheelchair session. Parents and carers are welcome to attend. This will be followed by an all grades class from 3pm to 5pm. Sunday morning will kick off at 10.30am with an instructors' class and will be immediately followed by an all grades' session.The course will finish up with a Dan ( blackbelt ) grading examination at 1pm.
Kato Shihan is 9th Dan blackbelt and is one of the greatest living karate instructors and a special effort should be made to attend to the course.
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Well done to all who competed at the SKIF Piltown Open on the 28th February. There were some fantastic performances on the day from IJKA Ireland students, including Barry Vosloo of Passage West Karate Club, who was awarded The Nathan Blackmore Perpetual Cup on the day. Osu.
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Barry Vosloo accepting the Nathan Blackmore Perpetual Cup.
This weekend IJKA World Chief Instructor Kato Shihan and Sensei Milena Galabova will present a Spring Seminar at the IJKA Hombu dojo in Fermoy Leisure Centre.
The course which is open to all clubs and associations will begin on Saturday morning at 11am, with an all grades class until 1pm. The seminar will re-commence at 2pm with a special children's and wheelchair session. Parents and carers are welcome to attend. This will be followed by an all grades class from 3pm to 5pm. Sunday morning will kick off at 10.30am with an instructors class and will be immediately followed by an all grades session.The course will finish up with a Dan ( blackbelt ) grading examination at 1pm.
Kato Shihan is 9th Dan blackbelt and is one of the greatest living karate instructors and a special effort should be made to attend to the course.
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Kato Shihan at the IJKA Hombu Dojo Fermoy - Spring 2014
Jean O'Connor, the current under 21 IJKA World Open Kata Champion, was last night warmly congratulated by her Ballinhassig club mates, ahead of her honorary trip to Japan.
Jean departs for Japan on Thursday and will spend two weeks assisting at a junior Gasshuku, hosted by Utsumi Takato Sensei, near Mount Fugi.
Best wishes Jean on your fantastic achievement. Osu
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Jean O'Connor pictured with club mates & Instructors ahead of honorary trip to Japan
IJKA Ireland congratulates Brian Toomey Sensei on receiving The Community Spirit Award at the Cork Martial Arts Promotions Awards 2015.
Brian humbly accepted the award, at a special ceremony in the Gresham Metropole Hotel, in recognition of his outstanding work in promoting wheelchair karate in Ireland. This is a wonderful accolade, which highlights and acknowledges Brian's passionate view that karate must be accessible to all.
The awards ceremony was preceded by a karate demonstration for Enable Ireland earlier in the week, where Sensei Toomey and Sensei David O’ Donovan gave a well-received demonstration to members of the Irish Wheelchair Association and The Brothers of Charity.
Well done Brian from all at IJKA Ireland.
Osu
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Sensei Toomey pictured with his Community Spirt award at the Cork Martial Arts Promotions Awards
Following on from the success of last year’s Open Championship, Passage West Karate Club will host the IJKA Munster Open Championships on Sunday 12th April 2015.
Venue: Star of the Sea Primary School. Passage West, Co. Cork
Registration: 10am. Tournament will commence at 11am.
Fee: €20 (Covers entry to all individual & team events).
Rules: Standard Shobu-Ippon rules will apply.
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Best Male & Female Competitor of the day, at the Passage West Open Championship 2014, Milena Galabova Sensei (IJKA Bulgaria) & Charlie Bigger Sensei (SKIF Ireland).
Congratulations to the students of West Karate Club, Galway, who recently passed Dan grading examinations under IJKA Ireland Chief Instructor Sensei Brian Toomey, 7th Dan, at the IJKA Ireland Hombu Dojo in Fermoy. The successful candidates were presented with their well earned Dan Diplomas at a seminar in Galway at the weekend.
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The successful students of West Karate Club pictured with Club Instructor Sensei Brendan O'Flaherty (L) and grading examiner Sensei Brian Toomey, Chief Instructor IJKA Ireland (R)
There was a Civic Reception held for the victorious Cork members of the IJKA Ireland national squad on Thursday evening 7th August 2014. The honour was afforded to them by Cork County Mayor Alan Coleman, following the squads triumph at the World Championships in Poland the previous month.
The ceremony took place in the lofty surroundings of Cork County Hall, one of the tallest buildings in Ireland. The victorious 33 squad members paraded their 67 medals on the 17th - floor Vertigo rooftop pavilion.
After greetings and welcomes from Councillor Seamus McGrath, Councillor Marcia D’Alton, and Councillor Kevin O’ Keefee, both the Mayor and Michael McGrath TD told the assembled audience of the County's pride in the squad’s achievements at the World Championships.
The Mayor then presented IJKA Ireland Chief Instructor Brian Toomey with a crystal piece, commemorating his squad’s unprecedented 88 medal haul at the Championships. Sensei Toomey responded on behalf of IJKA Ireland by thanking the Mayor and Council officials for the honour that had been bestowed on the team and by acknowledging the hard work put in by the competitors, instructors and parents alike, on the run in to the Championships.
The Mayor and Councillors were then treated to a karate demonstration, before all in attendance enjoyed some light refreshments and took in the panoramic views of Cork City from some 219 feet above the banks of the River Lee.
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The Passage West contingent of the IJKA Ireland National squad pictured with (L-R) Councillor Marcia D’Alton, Lord Mayor Alan Coleman, Michael McGrath TD and Councillor Seamus McGrath
Jessica Palmer, Jean O'Connor and Rebecca Palmer photographed with Milena Galabova Sensei, at the IJKA Ireland Hombu dojo in Fermoy, in training ahead of thier upcoming honorary trip to Japan.
The three were invited by Takato Sensei, IJKA Japan, to assist in a ten day (13th-23rd Feb 2015) junior Gasshuku in Shizuoka Japan.
The invite follows their unprecedented succes at the IJKA World Open Championships in Poznan, Poland in July 2014.
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(L-R) Jessica Palmer, Jean O’Connor, Milena Galabova Sensei and Rebecca Palmer
IJKA Ireland Chief Instructor, Brian Toomey Sensei 7th Dan IJKA, will run a Referee Course in the IJKA Ireland Hombu Dojo in Fermoy on Sunday 22nd February 2015.
The course will comprise of theory in the morning and a practical component in the afternoon. All those who successfully complete the course will be IJKA certified International referees.
All those looking to attend the course are asked to familiarise themselves with the attached competition rules in advance of the course. Osu
Here are the competition rules.
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IJKA World Open Karate Championships, Poland 2014
The Cork members of the Irish squad are privileged to have been invited to attend a Civic Reception at the County Hall on thurs next 7th August at 4:30pm.
The reception is in recognition of the squads unprecedented success at the Shotokan World Open Karate Championships in Poznan Poland last month where a total of 88 medals were won by the Irish.
Squad members are requested to attend the County Offices in their squad tracksuit and to bring their medals with them. This is a huge honour. We look forward to the event.
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Cork members of the Irish squad pictured with Michael McGrath TD and Councillor Marcia Dalton.
WEST Karate Club in Galway City is celebrating an impressive haul of 21 medals – including eight gold – from the World IJKA (International Japanese Karate-do Association) Championships which were held in Poznan last weekend.
In all, 10 West Karate fighters featured on the 50-strong Irish delegation that travelled to Poland, with Rebecca Palmer (Senior Women’s Kata) and Craig Dempsey (U-21 World Kata) leading the way with individual gold medals.
Palmer was also part of the U-21 ladies Kata team, alongside her sister Jessica and Jean O’Connor, which secured gold in their event while Dempsey was to the fore with Darren O’Brien and Johnathan Lardner on the victorious U-21 men’s team Kata.
West Karate Chief Instructor Brendan O’Flaherty, one of several Irish coaches attending to the fighters at the Championships, paid tribute to his Galway charges, noting they had trained hard and prepared diligently ever since returning from their first Worlds in Bulgaria last year.
"It was our first time to go to the Worlds last year and we won nine medals, although no gold. So, they started training really hard in January with a view to peaking at the World Championships in July," said O’Flaherty.
"We did four competitions in the run-in and we were winning medals without really peaking. So, I knew we were ready. I asked them were they ready to peak going to Poznan and they said they were."
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The West Karate members who were part of the 50-strong Irish delegation which took part in the World IJKA Championships in Poznan last weekend. Back row, left to right: Orlaith Burke, Jonathan Lardner, Sensai Vtsumi Takato, Jillian Marelich, Jacqui O'Shea. Front row: Chief Instructor, Brendan O'Flaherty, Jessica Palmer, Rebecca Palmer, Donagh Hanrahan, Darren O'Brien, Craig Dempsey, Jack Quinn, Brian Toomey (Sensei).
A 52 person strong Irish squad returned home from the Shotokan World Open Karate Championships having won an unprecedented 88 medals. This was the most successful performance an Irish Karate team ever had at a World Championship, which saw the team wining no less than 22 gold, 21 silver & 45 bronze medals.
The team secured medals in almost every category at the event from age 10 years up to the veteran category and in both the kata (form) and kumite (free fighting) disciplines. The championships were held in Poznan, Poland on the 19th and 20th of July 2014.
The squad will now take a well-deserved rest before the focus turns to next year’s World Championship which is scheduled to take place in Turkey in May 2015.
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Team Ireland pictured following the Championship in Poland
A 52 person strong Irish squad will compete at the Shotokan World Open Karate Championships which will be held in Poznań, Poland, on the 19th and 20th of July. While the squad has participated in competition for many years and its members have won numerous provincial, national and international titles this will be the first world championships for many of its junior members.
While karate doesn’t have a high profile in Ireland when compared to its popularity in other countries, the Irish compete very effectively at International level and are in with a strong chance of winning medals at this years’ World Championship. Competitors selected to represent Ireland at the Championship will be at the top of their game and stand a real chance of coming back with medals.
Discipline, dedication and repetition are essential elements of karate and the competitors commenced their training six months in advance of the championship. Training typically consists of two club training sessions each week, with a separate kumite and kata squad session taking place each weekend. Two months or so before the championship, the intensity of training will dramatically increase. Training will include flexibility exercise, physical conditioning, sparring and kata training. Psychological preparation will be every bit as important as physical preparation and the key will be having the competitors mentally prepared. Often the competitor who moves first and confidently will win.
As with many other sports it is about peaking at the right time and about controlling the nerves and adrenaline in the period immediately preceding a contest. Match practice is seen as critical in this regard and the squad will compete at a number of local, provincial and national tournaments on the run in to the Championship.
There are many techniques a competitor can use in a contest, but at international level they will concentrate on a small number of moves and practice them until they can deliver those as quickly and as clinically as possible. Karate-do, translates as 'the way of the empty hand' and it evolved in Japan as a means of fighting without weapons. It relies on techniques that were designed to incapacitate opponents in the minimum amount of time. A lot of the moves, if carried out with full power and speed, have the potential to cause huge damage to an opponent. That is the principle behind the scoring system in kumite competition. A killing move is executed at full power and speed, but with maximum control. A judge will be able to see if a move had been pushed that extra inch it would have completely incapacitated the other fighter.
Chief Instructor Brian Toomey gets huge enjoyment out of passing on his knowledge to the students. Toomey remarks - “Karate is a great thing for both children and adults to be involved in. Although it can be difficult to keep the children interested when they are young, in the long term the interest, discipline and self-confidence gained from their training proves invaluable in their everyday lives. If the karate student never has to use their fighting abilities in real life, their training will help them immeasurably in other ways. It teaches you discipline, self-respect and respect for others. It also teaches you to look after yourself physically”.
As the competitors prepare for the biggest contest of their lives, their focus and self-discipline will be tested to the limits.
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Members of the IJKA Ireland Squad in training ahead of the World Championship 2014
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