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PROFILE
ON:
Andy Whitehead
INSTRUCTOR: 2nd DAN
Karate (Open Hand, the Japanese translation) seemed
such a good idea, I once thought to myself as I watched my young children
going through their strict regime of warming up and stretching before
launching in to their Karate lesson.
Like many of you, I'd tried many forms of keeping my
body in shape, like going down the Gym, swimming, jogging etc, and failing
to keep them going with any consistently. I mean there's always a
good reason why you can't make the gym tonight!
So I though I'd give Karate a go, I mean it seemed to
offer the discipline, the exercise, some incentive to attend each
week, as well as looking quite fun. I gave it a go, and my reward for 6 years hard graft,
the Black Belt, awarded to me here
from the 3 times world champion & England coach 6th Dan, Tim Stephens
and my coach Shaun Lanhan.
Now you may think of Karate as being a bit violent,
which it can certainly look like in certain situations. But basically it is a
non-contact sport and that's exactly how it's taught. Full regard is
always given to the health and safety of students at all times.
Saying that for use in self defence you do need to train quite
differently to respond appropriately and naturally in aggressive
situations. Attendance of voluntary specialist courses provides
these skills, aimed at the
higher grades, where full body contact is inevitable. Some of the subject areas
include defence
in close proximity situations, multiple attackers and weapon attacks (such
as bottles, knifes etc). Of cause there always one person I
can't defend my self against - the wife !!
For my day job I manage and run a telecommunications
design and development team for a multi-national company, and as an
excellent way to relieve stress I try and train at least twice a week at the
Bearwood Karate Club (www.bearwoodkarate.co.uk)
, it's a great friendly club run by Shaun Lanhan and has a good
student age range (and I'm not the
oldest). It keeps me flexible, fit and out of trouble. We practise
the Wado Ryu style (the way of peace) which started to become
established in the 1940's. It combines Jujitsu with traditional Shotokan Karate the
result being a more natural and more faster style of Karate.
I would thoroughly recommend Karate as great sport sport for all ages,
the discipline and self control side of it can be especially good for the
kids, with the fitness side being particularly good for the more older of
us.
Go on, give it a try!!
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Proud Moment
Receiving my Black Belt
from Tim Stevens and Shaun Lanham 2001
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