Abie Grundling from Pretoria returned home after winning the second JSKA Europe Championships hosted in Glasgow last week. It had been a long and hard journey for Abie starting his career in the fighting arts with Koos Burger sensei as a young boy. Injuries hampered his progression but hard committed training earned him an invitation to the above mentioned championships. Abie adapted his training program with focus on projection and cardio training more than sixty days before travelling the Europe. He completed his preparation in Guildford, UK before travelling to Scotland with the UK team. The days before the championships were spent training in the JSKA Masters Training Camp to gain valuable knowledge from the high graded leadership of JSKA.

Abie’s division was early on the day of the event and included participants from across Europe including the former JSKA Europe Champion Lars Degner from Germany. The preliminary rounds offered little opposition and afforded Abie time to adapt to the weather conditions and competition surface. Abie was soon waiting to be called for the final of the Europe Senior Male division.

It had been an intense clash between two experienced fighters from different continents. Abie gained the first point with an expected reverse punch and was awarded Wazari (half point). No effective clash followed for some time until Abie attacked with an extremely well timed foot-sweep. A perfectly executed strike to the back of the German’s head landed even before he touched the floor. Hans Muller sensei awarded an undisputed full Ippon and the Europe Crown to a South African.

Well done Abie! Your example and achievement certainly motivated the young generation. The Karate Academy ventures into new avenues with KarateFit offered at selected schools. Focus will be on Cardio fitness for adult students. The December holidays not too far could serve as the motivating factor for the fairer gender. The Academy gained much knowledge and experience from Europe regarding the Bully-problem that had become a huge problem in Europe. A project called Beat-the-Bully will be offered to our youngsters in the capital. It is unfortunate that such need had arisen in our schools but the restoration of self-confidence could attribute to conquer this damaging sickness.

The last semester will include a huge team competing in the 20th JSKA Development Championships hosted in North West Province. Namibia promised an experienced team which includes a number of champions from the 2014 JSKA World Champs hosted Italy last.

ENERGY is created by releasing a compressed substance to its expanded variation. In the vast world of physical science, one can identify a large number of unrelated movements under these conditions.

An example related to our rugbyfanatical nation is a scrum between opposing sides. The most powerful individuals usually play as forwards in a team and always those with a body mass that one would hate to find in an opposing team.

But these enormous blocks of power and energy still find it necessary to compress their legs when setting in a scrum with the sole objective of executing maximum power and strength to overpower the opposing side.

In the competitive game of squash, players are taught to “bend their knees” to create maximum projection in distance and speed. A former world champion stated that the player who bends his knees will win the game.

Athletic codes like sprinting, shotput and javelin require a mastery of compression before the final actions are executed.

In the ancient art of unarmed combat, compression or contraction is essential in nearly every move in Kata and Kumite. The very first move in Heian Shodan stipulates compression in the preparation phase of the defence only then followed by the expansion of the technique.

The most obvious compression is seen in those jumping movements like in Heian Godan and more advanced Kata like Empi. I personally enjoy Kankuku Sho which includes two very different variations of jumps.

Kamae or the ready position in a fighting stance will be in a natural position with relaxed bend legs and compressed arms. A fighter will, like the forward player in rugby, compress his or her legs and upper body to gain maximum distance in the shortest time possible.

Projection as a result of compression will firstly gain the necessary distance from the attacker to the defender but through projection also enhance the attacking hand or leg attack. It is thereby impossible to execute an effective technique without the support of the projection of the compressed badly.

In Shotokan style of karate, power is mostly created in a linear fashion opposing to the circular movements found in the Nahate styles of karate.

This will be my last column at the end of an exciting year filled with great challenges and opportunities. Enjoy the festive season and we look forward to seeing you on the tatami next year.

15 Nov 2014 / Pretoria News Weekend / Soon Pretorius