Scott Langley Sensei will be visiting our dojo to teach seminars on January 14 & 15th (Saturday & Sunday). This will be his third visit here, and we are very much looking forward to it. Those of you who experienced Langley Sensei’s instruction at our dojo in 2015 and/or the WTKO summer camp in Cupertino […]
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
Our annual “Shotokan Kata Review” is coming up on January 7th (Saturday), 8-10am. We will go through 27 traditional Shotokan kata, twice each. And if time permits we will review additional kata. This is a great opportunity to discover (or re-discover) the breadth of the traditional Shotokan kata syllabus. Sensei Jon Keeling has been running […]
Join us for our 18th annual charity kick-a-thon! We are raising money for charity – this year for Community Services Agency (see below). During the week of December 16-22, we did kicks – LOTS of them… For the entire week, we held kick-a-thon events in all youth classes, building up to the finale on Thursday […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
For years at Silicon Valley Karate, we have been wearing pink belts for Breast Cancer Awareness in October. Join us!
As many already know, Sensei Jon Keeling has a long and deep history with Karate. He started his journey in his hometown of Newtown, CT, on September 3, 1982 and instantly fell in love with the activity, attending every class offered. He eventually started teaching at that first dojo in 1984 and after attaining his […]
