New Dimensions

 When I was very young and still in primary school we lived in a small mining town in the northern Cape. Once a week we used to go to the club and attend classes in different sports. On one of those evenings, I walked into the large hall and was amazed to see that there were karate classes on offer. I immediately enrolled. First on the agenda the instructor started teaching us some basic moves which he called katas. From there on it was a regular thing, katas, and more katas. It was quite enjoyable, and I was getting quite good at it. I can’t remember what happened but after a while those classes stopped.  It was some time after that that I went to the movies and saw how the guys were using karate to defend themselves. There were the Karate Kid, Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon by Jackie Chan, and Enter the Dragon by Bruce Lee. Who could forget seeing Chuck Norris?  Yesterday, I was browsing You Tube and noticed a video about Chuck Norris who was commenting on Bruce Lee’s deat...

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT  New beginners’ karate classes have been available since March 2019. Mondays and Wednesdays from 17:00 to 19:00 Cell: 083 320-4339 Tony de Beer. In the world, we live in it's a good idea to know how to defend yourself. Shorei Martial Arts Academy is run by a very experienced Sensei who is willing to teach beginners how to deal with attackers. I wrote about his karate school before and he can be reached via his cell number or website . Shorei Martial Arts Academy has also now been added to Aw-Sum Community Directory . That's for awesome services and quality standards.

The next Johannesburg Karate Gasshuku will be held on 8 September 2018. For more information, you can go to the website to get more details. There is no doubt that anyone who is a karateka earns our respect. There have been many movies depicting the sheer brilliance of individuals defending themselves against attackers with martial arts techniques, usually bare-handed. One particular film star that comes to mind is my favorite, Jackie Chan. I love watching the guy going bananas ducking and diving and kicking his way out of several attackers. I just Googled some facts about Jackie Chan and discovered that he is a black belt in Hapkido and also knows other martial arts as well. To the uninformed like me, it all seems like karate, but I am probably insulting the martial arts purists when I make statements like that. However one looks at the sport of karate and martial arts you have to agree on one thing. You don't mess with those guys because you are going to get your bu...

Here is a new video of karate and self-defense demonstrations taken during the grading in November 2017. Congratulations to the following gents who received their certificates on Saturday 30 September Mark Pretorius (3rd dan); Hennie Esterhuisen (4th dan); Tony de Beer (instructor 7th dan); Mzoxolo Maki (1st dan). From left to right. Karate is an excellent form of self-defense, something that applies to everyone, young and old. "Karate, a martial art, was developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called te (手?), "hand"; tii in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes. Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital-point strikes a...