Karate

The Seishin Shotokan Karate Club has been going from strength to strength and will celebrate the 20th anniversary since its chief instructor, Sensei A G Sanna, started teaching at City of London School. Sensai is the 5th Dan of the Japanese Karate Association and the Governing Body of English Karate and also works as a National Referee.

At CLS, he regularly trains in ‘Kumite’, (sparring and free fighting), ‘Kata’, (formal exercises) and ‘Kihon’, (the practising of techniques such as punching, kicking and striking). ‘Karate’, he says, ‘has many mental and physical benefits. By focussing on correct spine alignment, it promotes good posture. Also, because of the need for co-ordination, Karate encourages balance between the right and left sides of the body. Concentration plays a big part in our training sessions’, he adds, ‘since the boys need to remember long sequences of movement’.

Over the years, Sensai has observed how boys find Karate particularly effective for relieving stress from those long hours of study. Many find the high-energy aggression levels in Karate truly cathartic. But there is a subtler side to Karate, argues Sensai. The special benefit of this sport is the refinement of ‘a sixth sense’ – that intuitive, heightened state of awareness that a boy develops when practising self-defence situations.

Under Sensai’s expert instruction, many CLS boys have achieved ‘Shodan’ (Black Belt Status) – Gupta, Antoniou, Hennigan and Conn to name but a few. Are you the next in line to join Sensai’s Hall of Fame? Every Monday, Thursday and Friday after school, boys of all ages can join up for classes with Sensai, whilst on Wednesdays afternoons, the 5th and 6th years can take Karate as their Games option.

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