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It is that time of year …. NATIONALS! This year we are off to Coral Gables, FL for the challenge. We have a few more going this year from JKA NorCal/Prime Time. Two kids team! The Men’s team and this year a Women’s team (finally).

Everyone has been training hard over the past month preparing for the event.  We have our jackets ready, DoGi pressed, sparring gloves seasoned, and spirits high …

Thank you Senpai Emerson and Kore for holding down the fort at home court keeping classes going for the dojo.  Stay tuned for updates on our Facebook page and tweets on results. Cheer for us at JKA/AF Nationals website!

We are always connected with our karate family.  Sensei Christina was back in Miami, Florida to celebrate 18th year Dojo Anniversary with Miami Shotokan Karate Club– enjoying festivities with Beach Training at Key Biscayne, FL.  Train with some of USA team members, family and friends.

NEW UPDATE: KYU belt promotion test 06/18/11 results are posted.  If you are interested in planning for November’s National Tournament click here for details.

We are back from JKA/AF National Training Camp in New Orleans (blog https://jkanorcal.org/archives/821).

Sensei Kunio Kobayashi was truly an example of the high standards of JKA instruction. He inspired us to strive for continuous improvement and encouraged instructors to create the right environment for development.  Furthermore, it was so nice to reconnect with all our friends – learning, communing and playing together – good spirit of karate. Congratulations to Sensei Khim, Christina and John for qualifying on their JKA certifications!

Glad to be back here in the Bay Area.  We are preparing for our upcoming Belt Promotion test for JKA NorCal/Prime Time students on 6/18/11. Summer training is definitely heating up – dojo students are preparing for their rank test.

Black belt students are supporting Sensei Khim in helping him train for the upcoming 12th Funakoshi Gichin Cup World Karate-Do Championship 2011 to be held in Pattaya, Thailand (Aug18-Aug21) hosted by JKA Thailand (details on event).  Anyone interested in traveling to support the team, feel free to contact us if you want more details how to travel with the team.  So proud to be cheering on the USA team who are comprised of JKA/AF members as well as our affiliate JKA from Sensei Masataka Mori’s students – GO TEAM USA!

There are a slew of exciting karate camps offered by JKA this summer …

If you enjoy and want more of the South Louisiana hospitality, consider 2011 Annual Acadiana JKA/AF Karate Training Camp and Dan Exam (Aug 5-7) in Lafayette, LA.  It is their 9th annual event hosted by JKA instructors Scott Decuir and Lane Nevils and will feature Master Mikami (JKA 8th Dan) the entire camp!

One overseas is a really fun camp in Germany – the Gasshuku held in Herford hosted by JKA/WF EUROPE on Aug1-Aug5.  It is Sensei Ochi’s National Training Camp held annually every summer.  They have a panel of distinguished JKA instructors (from Europe and JKA HQ) offering a selection of class for only 100EUR … and furthermore, stocked with beer tent every night and disco night!  Our JKA karate family around the world … train hard and play hard.  If anyone is interested in attending, please contact foo@jkanorcal.org.

But something closer to home that you can plan for is our 2011 JKA/AF Nationals & Collegiate Goodwill Tournament to be held at the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida (Nov 12-13).  An all SHOTOKAN competition at an exciting venue with many international countries planning to be in attendance (Goodwill Tournament).   Anyone interested in  participating or attending, feel free to contact us at info@jkanorcal.org or info@miamishotokan.org

SAVE THE DATE … check out this video on the upcoming event.

Can you believe that Summer is almost upon us?  With Memorial Day just around the corner.

Hope you are training well, so many exciting events upcoming as well much to be thankful for last year with great results and experience from the JKA AF Nationals back in November.

If you missed Sensei Jose’s visit back in February, there are more of exciting guest instructors locally here in the Bay Area as well as instructional camps across the country.

We are sorry to have missed this year’s first ever The Southern Open Karate Championships hosted by Sensei Joey Giluso (JKA of Ponchatoula) held in Hammond, Louisiana.  A good variety of karate styles and weapons competition was presented at this event.  You may want to plan for it next year and perhaps squeeze in a nice vacation in the southern region too.  Check out a well documented photoblog here that gives a flavor of the diversity in martial arts discipline  Southern Open Championships | allysonokeefe.com.

Almost upon our doorstep also in Louisiana is 2011 JKA/AF National Training Camp featuring JKA instructor Kunio Kobayashi (6th Dan).  It is hosted by JKA/AF HQ in New Orleans, LA.  A wonderful opportunity to fellowship and train with dojos around the country and our international karate-ka family.  Eat, sleep, training … karate heaven!  Also a forum where we share best practices and get qualified – JKA certification for judges, instructor and examiner.  Sensei Mikami is bringing to U.S. experienced and accomplished JKA instructors to help us grow and improve.  Take the opportunity …

if you are interested in going, please ask Sensei Khim or Christina for details on our travel plans and check out registration packet at JKA/AF site.  The camp starts on Thursday 6/2 with an evening class and ends on Sunday 6/5 morning.

Then in August JKA’s Funokoshi Cup will be held in Thailand with participants from our dojo (Sensei Khim) and before the year ends, an exciting 2011 JKA/AF Nationals and Goodwill Tournament is planned for Miami, Florida in Nov.

In early June, JKA AF invites JKA instructor Sensei Kurasako (7th Dan) to 2010 JKA AF National Camp in New Orleans, LA (June 3-6). We are privileged to have elite JKA instructors here in the US each year to promote the high standards of traditional Japanese Shotokan karate. Sensei Kurasako is one of the respected Vice General Manager of Technical Division. It would be most enlightening to learn from him and understand his perspective of the art. This event, open to all martial arts organization, will offer learning opportunities from high level instructors as well as qualifications to JKA certifications for Dan ranking and Instructor – Judges – Examiner grading. Above all, a wonderful venue for karate-kas to build community in a learning environment!

For our west coast karate friends, Sensei Kurasako will be stopping in the Bay Area on his pacific route back to Japan for a 2-day JKA NorCal Summer Seminar (June 12-13). Check out the details for this event.

There has been few and far between opportunities for us karatekas here in the Bay Area to train with these elite JKA instructors locally. Most of the time, it is only afforded by those who have the time and resources to travel to the various national camps around the country and internationally. JKA NorCal aim to lean on JKA AF’s annual national camp and invite Sensei Mikami with visiting JKA headquarters instructor here to the SF Bay Area during their scheduled USA tour each summer. The plan for our Annual JKA NorCal Summer Seminar is a 2-day curriculum with classes for both students and instructors (June). Our venue/event will be a smaller setting and likely a more personal experience than a typical week-long camp. We are encouraging all our karate friends in the area to attend – it will be a program that will allow students and instructors to train with and meet our JKA instructors. We also hope to provide a memorable visit for our guest instructors – especially showing off the sights and scenery here in beautiful Bay Area!

We’ve just concluded a successful seminar … thanks to everyone who participated! Stay tuned for more exciting events with the JKA …

We’ve had an exciting first 3 months of 2010 with much of our hard work in training and conditioning rewarded by a successful event at Ozawa Cup in Vegas this past weekend (April 1-4). This is a testimony to our discipline of good instruction, commitment and planning our curriculum for the year. Not only was it a good benchmark for our development and goals, it gave us a good perspective and appreciation for other styles, kobudo (weapons) and non-traditional martial arts. Additionally, it is at these events that afford us the opportunity to bond with our JKA AF team mates (namely Raymunda Semana, Holly Damico and Andres Fiallos) whom we typically compete with at a national level. This venue gave us a chance to get to know each other, have good laughs, share best practices and take ownership in helping Sensei Mikami build up JKA AF as one community!

Sensei Koyama once gave a lecture on the “Seasons of Karate” that struck a chord for me and inspired us to be mindful on the balance of our training. It is not healthy nor sustaining to be only training for competition all year round.

This quarter, we move from competition to a “Learning & Training” mode – in the dojo, across the country, overseas – attending camps and seminars to hone our karate skill and broaden our experience. And bring it back to share our learnings with our students and members.

Upcoming at the end of April in Guilford, UK there is a Spring Camp hosted by JKA-England featuring world class JKA instructors Sensei Ohta (6th Dan), Sensei Naka (6th Dan), Sensei Osaka (8th Dan) and Sensei Mori (8th Dan). Anyone interested in joining us, please reach out to Christina for more details. See Christina’s blog on the event (for more pics and details).

Hope you are all well rested and from the holidays and ready for an exciting year ahead. We are back in full schedule of training at our dojo in Prime Time Athletic Club. Please do stop by and join us.

We started the year with 1st training of 2010 on 1/4/10 – an invigorating class and kicked off the 1st series of 12-week Conditioning Program (adaptation of PX90). John Sam’s leading us in conditioning to keep us in shape through March and right in time for next tournament in Las Vegas for the Ozawa Cup (4/3). Join us for last half an hour after MWF classes 8:15-8:45pm.

So many programs are planned for this year. Check out our new JKA NorCal 2010 Calendar, click on Blog link to print the pdf copy for yourself to keep up to date on the events for the year and enjoy the photos from last year.

We approach our JKA NorCal 1st Year Anniversary on Feb 1st, 2010. A productive and foundational year for our dojo – we will celebrate with Prime Time Karate Program students on Saturday Feb 6th (Noon) at our Joint Advanced Training followed by the presentation of new belts and party at the Cafe after class.

For the month of February, we are having Joint Advanced Training every Saturday at our 10-11:30am class to introduce our new higher belt students from Prime Time to advanced kata & kumite training with JKA NorCal Advanced belt students. Inspiring more mentoring, teaching and learning …

We will also be hosting a Self-Defense Class at the end of March (Tuesday 7:30-8:30pm) for all members in Prime Time to learn more about self-defense, martial arts and discipline of training.