News & Announcements

Outstanding!

Silicon Valley Karate black belts Sonali & Keira get recognized as a “Star Student Athletes”: https://patch.com/california/paloalto/palo-alto-star-student-athlete-excels-karate https://patch.com/california/redwoodcity-woodside/redwood-city-star-student-athlete-keira-excels-karate  

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Current Kata for Saturday Morning Kata Class: Hangetsu

Our current kata-of-the-month is Hangetsu (半月). The kata name means “Half Moon,” which refers to the way we step in the kata’s signature stance, hangetsu-dachi. In contrast to fudo-dachi we used in Sochin, with Hangetsu we practice gripping the floor and connecting with an inward squeeze in hangetsu-dachi and neko-ashi-dachi. You can see good examples of Hangetsu performed by Osaka Sensei here and by Kanazawa Sensei here. And […]

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Current Kata for Saturday Morning Kata Class: Sochin

In our advanced kata sessions on Saturdays, we are currently studying Sochin (壮鎮). The kata name translates as something like “Magnificent Calm.” It features low, solid stance, mostly fudo-dachi, and slow, powerful moves alternating with explosive speed. It’s excellent practice for developing strong, solid technique and connection to the ground. You can see excellent examples of […]

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Another New Black Belt!

Sonali passed her shodan (first degree black belt) as a result of her re-exam this Thursday evening.  She is still a teenager but has already been teaching kids’ classes for a while. Her 9+ years of dedicated training have, and continue to pay off. Silicon Valley Karate is proud of Sonali’s accomplishments and her promotion […]

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Kata of the Month: Chinte

We are next moving to Chinte for the advanced kata in our Saturday classes, from May (Heian Nidan for the basic kata). Our last kata-of-the-month was Gankaku. Gankaku very closely resembles its predecessor kata, Chinto. This next kata is Chinte and some historians believe the two kata to have been linked in some way but […]

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