Our annual charity kick-a-thon event is taking place the week of December 14-20. This year’s fundraising effort is for Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line is free, 24/7 support for those in crisis. Text 741741 from anywhere in the US to text with a trained Crisis Counselor. Crisis Text Line trains volunteers to support people […]
Current/Upcoming Events/Announcements: Our weekly schedule now includes 14 youth classes/week, as well as 11 adult classes/week (25+classes/week; several adult classes are open to advanced kids as well). We will be adding more youth classes within the coming months! See the latest schedule here. In our weekly kata classes on Saturday mornings, we are now doing […]
We are now studying Gankaku for the advanced kata in our Saturday classes. (back to Heian Shodan for the basic kata) Gankaku is another old kata that, like Empi (our last kata-of-the-month), is meant to conjure an image of a bird. In contrast to Empi’s darting in and out and jumping up like a swallow, […]
Are you staying at home for the Thanksgiving holiday? Not sure what to do with the kids? How about signing them up for a self-defense class?Please consider enrolling your kid(s) in self-defense and also taking a class yourself. This is an important life-skill that should be on everyone’s to-do list.Self-defense workshops the week of November […]
We are now studying Empi for the advanced kata in our Saturday classes. (Heian Godan for the basic kata) Empi means “flight of the swallow” and contains movements that resemble a small bird darting in & out, up & down. This kata is derived from a very old kata, Wanshu, which may have been brought […]
This Saturday we are doing Heian Godan (平安五段), the fifth kata in our regular syllabus. The Heian kata came to Japan from Okinawa, where Funakoshi Sensei gave them their Japanese name. Heian means “peace and safety.” These kata were developed from the advanced kata to play the same role we use them for today: as a gateway […]
Sensei Elmar Schmeisser will be teaching a seminar at Silicon Valley Karate’s headquarters location on October 20, 2018, 1:00-3:00pm. This seminar will be open to anyone 15 years or older and minimum green belt and is geared toward more advanced adults. Sensei Schmeisser has been doing Shotokan and other martial arts for over 45 years […]
Calling all female Shotokan Karate people 15 years old and older, minimum purple belt level… This will be the region’s first women-focused training session. It is open to any female Shotokan practitioner minimum 15 years of age and minimum purple belt level. Any affiliation is welcome. Training will be led this time by Sensei Rachel […]
We are now studying Kanku-sho in our Saturday classes. The predecessor kata on which Kanku-sho was derived, Kanku-dai, is very old and versions of it are practiced by people in various styles of Karate. Older versions may go by the name ‘Kushanko” and the -dai suffix was added when a secondary version (-sho) was created […]
The Gorokhovsky family moved to Maui this summer (we all feel so sorry for them… 😉 ), where they joined a new dojo. They recently participated in a fairly large tournament there and did well. Jacob got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (kumite, individual kata, team kata), Emily three 2nd places, Jane and Vadim both got […]
