Karatedo Shitokai New Zealand

Sensei Bob traveled to Mackay, Northern Queensland in late July, at the request of a long time friend of his, Earl McCann, who is head instructor at a club in the city. Earl is ex-South African, and used to head up a club in Kerikeri in the late 90’s, but who is now an Australian citizen, teaching at a Mackay secondary school.

Earl and his wife Jo, made Bob very welcome, and their hospitality was generous in the extreme (Jo is a superb cook!), and as Bob has said about his New Caledonia visits, there are worse places to be than Mackay in July. Briefly, Mackay is a thriving coastal city, based around the mining industry, (many of the club members work in mining), with great winter temperatures, (would be very hot in the summer), and superb for solid training in July.

Earl’s club has both junior and senior members, similar to Karatedo Shitokai, and they were all really eager to learn. In fact the senior members trained very hard, learning bunkai applications from different Shitoryu kata, as can be seen from the story photos.

While he was there, Bob carried out two gradings, a Nidan for Sandra Sivyer, Earl’s Sempai, and a Yondan for Earl. These gradings had been planned for several months and both gradees had been working very hard on their syllabuses (the emails ran hot over the preceding months!)

Both showed their training and preparation, and Sandra, who had to comply with our strict and hard Nidan grading with its "spirit” section, performed most credibly, as did Earl, who showed his many years experience in Karate, and Bob had no hesitation in passing them for their respective grades. Congratulations to both on their performances.

All in all, a great visit, which by comments passed, will most probably be repeated in the not too distant future, with the distinct possibility of their club becoming affiliated with Karatedo Shitokai NZ.

Thanks, Jo and Earl and your club for your outstanding hospitality and desire to learn.