New Black Belts For Washinkai karate

Thirteen students from Javea based Washinkai karate club travelled to England to take part in the summer ‘gasshuku’, or intensive training, in the historic village of Milton Abbas in Dorset last month

Training alongside more than 100 black belts from around the world in the sunshine in the beautiful grounds of Milton Abbey school, the students learnt a whole range of new kumite techniques and kata under the guidance of Chris Thompson 8th Dan, founder of Washinkai karate. One of the highlights of the week was a visit from Yoshinobu Ohta, 6th Dan and Chief Instructor of the Japan Karate Association and the JKA team, who taught two advanced Shotokan kata. Later in the day the JKA team and the Washinkai team demonstrated kata in front of all the black belts and the two master instructors. Another focus of the gasshuku was gradings. Black belt gradings run from Shodan (first black belt or Dan) upwards. Ray Sweeney, Chief Instructor and founder of Washinkai Spain, took his 4th Dan alongside his wife Nikki, who took her 2nd Dan. After months of training, both passed with flying colours, with Ray managing to put in an incredibly powerful performance in spite of suffering from flu on the day. “The summer gasshuku offers our students a wonderful opportunity to learn a whole range of new techniques from all styles of karate” said Ray. Perhaps even more important is the camaraderie - it’s a great way to make and meet new friends. Once again we had the opportunity to demonstrate our skills in the competition arena and came away with the biggest haul of medals. The new season, starting in September will see many new Black Belts as well as several more 2nd Dans and this will take Washinkai Spain up to a whole new level since its foundation 8 years ago”. Washinkai Karate is the Municipal Karate School of both Javea and Benitachell. With 5 instructors and over 100 students ranging from 4 to 80 years of age classes are held in schools and colleges throughout the area. For more information please visit http://www.washinkai.org or call Ray Sweeney on 637564416.