After another fantastic year we have a number of updates and announcements moving forward to 2020. The first of which is that our 2020 calendar running up to June is now available on the website calendar (with the exception of a couple of courses which are still to be confirmed).
We have one more nights training this Friday 20th December which also will be our Christmas Night In!
If you’re able to make training then all are welcome to stay after the 6:30 to 7:30 class has finished when our advanced class is cancelled in favour of some music and food (PIZZA!). This is a great chance to socialise in an informal setting with everybody and get to know your students/instructors a bit better.
If you’re not able to make the last session of the year then we are back on the 6th and 8th of January 2020 (a Monday and Wednesday) and we look forward to seeing you then.
This is also when a number of changes will be implemented:
The Monday Fitness Burst is changing!
The Fitness Burst on Monday’s is changing to a competition practice class aimed at both Kata and Kumite. This is to help build the skills you need for not only competition but also to improve your general karate and give you more confidence with gradings in future.
The classes will rotate with 2 weeks focus on Kata and 2 on Kumite (Freestyle).
The classes will still include fitness elements (mostly on the kumite nights) but will serve as a good warm up before the main classes and will let you work on skills you might not always get the chance to in the larger class environment.
The atmosphere we normally have for our classes won’t change so if you’re a little nervous just come along anyway or message an instructor with any queries!
Advanced Classes Opening up to Adults/Middle Grades
Our advanced classes will be opening up slightly for adults of any grade or children of middle grades (green belt and up or lower at the discretion of Sensei Robert).
The content of the classes won’t change and will still be geared towards brown and black belt level basics, kata and kumite, however, from the improvement we’ve seen in a number of students who have trained in these classes at a slightly lower grade the decision has been made to open these classes and allow a wider group to train in the advanced sessions in 2020.
The classes will sometimes be high paced and high level however there is no pressure on you to keep up at lower grades, just put in the effort to do what you can and the results will soon follow!
Pricing
In line with the advanced classes being opened to lower grades the pricing structure in 2020 will be adjusted slightly. There are still a few minor details around monthly payments to be ironed out however the website will be updated to reflect the new prices once confirmed and an announcement will be put out on our social media feeds. The maximum price of training in all 3 classes will not be increasing, however the fees for 2 or less classes per night may rise slightly.
Again check back for more details.
Japanese Courses
Our courses with the Honbu Dojo Sensei from Japan have always been open to all grades however, as a result of our Tigers Program and steady recruitment of new members, we have a number of children at the lower grade/age range in our main classes. The content of these Japanese Courses will be moving away from basic style classes towards a majority of kata and kumite in future.
As such the level of the courses will change and they will no longer be suitable for some of our younger members. Traditionally we only have around 3 Japanese courses per year, so overall this will not effect the amount of training our younger members can participate in annually, however there will be a minimum age/grade for these courses which will be decided on prior to each individual course depending on the content we are looking to cover.
These minimum requirements will be announced in advance by Sensei Robert but if in doubt message us to confirm.
Members Only Section
Work has started on our “Members Only” section – this will be a protected section of our website only for JKS Edinburgh members which will contain the grading syllabus and plans to host new video content of grading material/kata to help with home revision/practice.
The section will be flexible and if it is a success is likely to grow over the coming months/years to include other karate content to help you in your training and evolution as a Karate-ka.
It may also be used to augment our email and private Facebook group to advertise internal messages/posts.
If you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see in a members only section please get in touch!
2019 has been a fantastic year for us with Sensei Maja and Declan successfully passing their Sandan grading this year under our World Chief Instructor Kagawa Shihan, competition success for some of our younger students and our Tigers class continuing to go from strength to strength to name just a couple of the highlights.
We were also able to send our first batch of students across to train in Japan at the international seminar in Tokyo and we aim to continue this trend annually/bi-annually moving forward.
We look forward to continuing our successes in 2020 with more high level seminars, competition opportunities and great karate. We’d also like to thank everybody who has contributed to another successful year for JKS Edinburgh and the wide JKS family worldwide!
If you have any queries about any of the above, please message us on the contact us page, our social media, email or simply speak to us at training.
Kind regards, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
-JKS Edinburgh