Friday, 5 November 2004
The Kaizen karate academy, established in one of the capital’s biggest and oldest Karate clubs, is having its first junior black belt grading on 13 November at its training centre, or Dojo, at 223 Thorndon Quay above the Resene Paint Shop.
The candidates are Greer Chrisp, a 15 year old student at Wellington Girls College, and Michael Canty, a 14 year old student at Wellington College. Greer has been training since she was 10 and Michael since he was 6. Some of their friends, who started with them have stopped, but what made them kept training?
"I have kept training in Seido because there are heaps of different things to learn in the training - every lesson is different and this keeps me motivated to achieve high standards," says Michael. "Karate is something that can never be perfected, it's a lifelong thing to learn. I dropped several other sports so I could keep doing my karate," says Greer.
The head of Kaizen and founder of the Wellington Seido Karate club, fifth dan black belt Ben Otang who witnessed the development in these young students says it’s been a great achievement for them to reach this level. “I’ve been really grateful for the support of their parents in taking them to their karate training among the other busy schedules of a typical teenager. If they are successful in their grading, they will be the first junior black belts in the Wellington Seido Dojo” says Mr Otang.
“The number of children training in Wellington Seido Karate has increased tremendously over the last few years.
“Those that have trained longer have gained confidence and discipline. Some of the kids will always come and thank me after class.
“I always encourage them to appreciate what they have in life and they start this by thanking their parents or caregivers for taking them to class and to do jobs around their home without being asked,” he said.
“We’ve had a record number of senior students grade to black belt this year, but these two will add extra depth to our student membership in the Wellington Seido branch.
“Later in the month, we are having a mini tournament for kids, involving other Dojos and styles of karate, where they will compete in kata (set forms of movements) and other karate-orientated type games.
“The aim of the competition is to encourage them to increase the proficiency of their techniques through fun and games. It will be a great event to finish the training year with,” Ben Otang said.
Contact: Ben Otang
Phone: (04) 471 2822 or 027 4719 055
Email: ben.otang@paradise.net.nz
or principal.instructor@seidokaratewellington.co.nz
Website: www.seidokaratewellington.co.nz
Seido is one of the largest styles of marital arts in New Zealand - there are 18 schools in this country with around two thousand students. Internationally there are more than 40 thousand Seido students in 16 countries with nearly 100 branches worldwide. In the Capital there are around 200 members, of these 45% are women and more than 40% of members are children.