2002 KWF South African Elite Black Belt Championship

The concept of holding the KWF South Africa Elite Black Belt Championship in conjunction with a short seminar for karateka of all grades, before and after the event, proved a tremendous success. The fact that the championship was only 2 hours in duration removed the monotony for spectators of long drawn out whole day repetition, prevalent in karate championships currently. The excitement was furthermore exacerbated by the superb performances of each and everyone of the elite contestants, both male and female.

In the mens’ division, Shane Dorfman captured the Grand Champion title (winner of both kata and kumite) with a very polished and professional performance in both sections. Both runners-up, Tyrone Theodorides (kumite) and Bryan Dukas (kata) were extremely impressive in their respective divisions. In the ladies’ division, Natasha Raath came out top in kumite against sterling opposition from the other elite kumite ladies.

The first seminar sessions were held before the Elite tournament and continued in the afternoon.

Malcolm Sensei opened the seminar with concepts that are vital to all karateka, irrespective of grade. The concepts discussed, demonstrated and pracised were:-

• feet placement – direction and suction cap feel
• stance – weight distribution, extremity pressure, longitudinal and lateral pressure, width, length and height, and ankle flexibility
• hip rotation – extreme hanmi / extreme shoman, aductor leg muscle contribution to inward rotation, hikite contribution to inward and outward rotation, and pendulum action for maegeri
• Correct and most effective fighting stance with respect to stability, mobility, and initial speed potential and acceleration potential

Malcolm Sensei emphasised the important aspect of safe training –

• correct spine position at all times throughout all movements and techniques,
• correct alignment of all parts of the body at all times,
• control of movement by major muscle groups,
• cohesion of body parts (body moving as one unit)
• utilisation of the mid-section as the base and core of all technique implementation.

He pointed out that incorrect training often led to severe injury to hips (hip replacement), back (spinal fusion) and knees (meniscus, ligament operations). Often, the dedicated karateka would not be able to continue training, both permanently or temporarily, by incorrect and unsafe training methods. Correct and safe training would virtually ensure a lifetime of training and fulfilment of dedication and effort...

Mike Sensei's class started with the concept of balance during the execution of techniques.

The gyaku zuki techniques practiced were done in various directions, and eventually ended with the students doing them while rotating 360 degrees. Emphasis was placed on the pivotal leg (jiku ashi) and the route of the moving leg, while stepping into an attack or moving back from an attack. The path of the zuki was also practiced, as it is common to see, even amongst senior karate'ka that the path of the zuki is not correctly executed.

The second phase of Sensei Mike's lesson consisted of concentrating on stability. The students were giving various techniques to do in a specific order. The students were made aware of the shifting of the body weight from one stance to another and of how the lowering of the center of gravity influences stability.

Sensei Ian's session was an interesting application of psychological research that he has been doing into the theory of self-defense as formulated by Geoff Thomson, a martial artist. The basis of this theory, is that an attacker works, acts and has certain rituals prior to picking and attacking a victim - therefore, the man in the street can protect himself by understanding the rituals and the mental stages an attacker goes through prior to an attack.

The sequence of events is termed "the 3 second fight", indicating the time lapse between the first interaction with the intended victim and the actual attack.