The IKK held the first of its national gradings for 2015 in Gaelic Street dojo over the weekend of the 26th and 27th June. Over the course of the weekend we had four people attempting 2nd kyu, one attempting 1st Kyu and one attempting Shodan.

The Friday night was for Dan grade candidates only. By contrast to the last National grading in December 2014 when the temperature had dropped to -4 the temperature over this weekend was in the mid 20s so the venue was very warm and humid. Most of Friday night was spent on the hhysical test along with many technical aspects with just Patrycja Calka attempting shodan.

On Saturday she was joined by the rest of the grading candidates and approximately 20 others from dojos across Ireland who had come along to train. Everyone was put through their paces with emphasis Kihon in the morning and on Kata and Renraku in the afternoon, finishing with an hour of Kumite. The day was interspersed with many water breaks due to the intense heat.

At the end of the day Shihan Kevin was please to announce the promotion to 4th Kyu of:

Artur Smolarek

and the promotion to 2nd Kyu of:

Mark Curran 
Louise Crowley 
Ailish Coakley 
Bridget Clarke

and the promotion to 1st Kyu of:

Emilia Cahill

Also promoted was the IKKs newest Senpai:

Patrycja Calka

Congratulations to all who were successful.


Shane

The Irish Karate Kyokushinkai held its National Grading in Galway on 6th & 7th December 2013. There were candidates for 2nd Kyu up to Shodan. The grading took place over the Friday night and all day Saturday.

The Saturday session was also an open training session. Present on the Grading Panel was Shihan Kevin Callan assisted by Sensei Shane Lalor and Sensei Ken Fitzpatrick. The IKK Life President Shihan Liam Keaveney 7th Dan was also in attendance.

At the end of a long hard day there was some disappointment for some and joy for others especially the IKKs newest Shodan Senpai Niall King of Galway dojo.

But this was not the end of the day as there was one final surprise in store for Shihan Kevin. Shihan Liam on behalf of the IFK announced Shihan Kevins promotion to Rokudan - 6th Dan. Congratulations to Shihan Kevin.

Shane

On Saturday 8th June we held a joint National Grading and Knockdown Squad Session in Finglas. We had 4 people going for 2nd Kyu and 1 for 1st Kyu along with 6 of the squad who will be fighting at the forthcoming British Regional tournament at the end of June. Shihan Kevin ran the sessions assisted by the Senseis.

Due to the unusually good weather we decided to have the first part of the training session outdoors in a local park. This started with a series of sprints on a path that had somewhat of an incline followed by some basic padwork. At this stage those going for grading broke off to go through Kata. We had a short break for lunch back at the gym except for the grading candidates who were put through their paces on their own for a while longer. After lunch the fighters joined back in for a more technical padwork session and as usual we finished off with a solid hour of Kumite with particular emphasis being placed on the fighters for the next tournament though I did see some good up and coming prospects. At the end of the day Shihan thanked everyone for their participation and help and said that it was a great days training and everyone worked hard.

Shane