10th April 2018

Dear Parents and Karateka

NEWS LETTER   –   SECOND TERM  2018

I would like to welcome all our karateka back from their respective holidays and trust that you are well rested and ready to train hard again.  I would like to take this opportunity to bring a few important issues and dates to your attention.

1. IMPORTANT DATES –   DIARY

THE NEW  TERM  HAS  STARTED  AND  I  WOULD  LIKE  TO  REMIND  ALL  PARENTS  THAT  FEES

ARE  PAYABLE  IN  ADVANCE.      FEES FOR 2^ND TERM MUST BE PAID IN FULL   NOT  LATER THAN

  30 APRIL 2018 (Except the clients who are on debit order)

TO ALL PARENTS WITH OUTSTANDING FEES

We as instructors feel that we can no longer spend our time and energy begging people for outstanding fees.  There are still students who did not pay their fees for the first term.   That is fees that should have been paid in January 2018.

Students whose fees are not paid for the 1^st term will be asked to sit out at training from 18/04/18.

I hope that you will understand and that we will receive your co-operation in this matter. We have an option of debit orders where you can pay per month instead of the terms fee that should be paid in full. An administration fee for late payments will be charged from now on – R50 after the first month.

**   When you make a payment by eft, please include the student as well as the dojo’s name eg. P.Smit –Panorama. It

      make things so much easier and makes the chances of mistakes much less.

LIFE LONG INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION  FEE  –  COMPULSORY 

All Karateka from Grade 1 must be registered in Japan. This is not a new procedure but it was not enforced before. All students are handed an envelope in which R150, 1 passport size photo, with the following info: full name and date of birth, current grade (belt) and last date of grading.   If you have not yet done this, please do it now. I have been informed by Honbu Japan that we will not be allowed to do any more gradings if students are not registered. As international Chairman I am allowed to issue cards locally so that we can speed up the process. We now have the machine in the office and cards will be processed once a week.

Registration – PrePrimary Students:   They don’t have to register the 1^st year of karate., once they graded to Orange belt – registration must be done.

2. WP KARATE TOURNAMENT (JUNIORS & SENIORS)  –   5 MAY  2018

We will host the above tournament at CPUT (Pentech), Bellville South on Saturday 5^th May 2018. We would like all students with the capability to take part, to enter. In the u/7 and u/9 age group the standard is not high yet and all students who are now in the second year of training, should take part. In the older divisions we will select the students to take part to prevent any inexperienced student being overwhelmed by more experienced students. Competent  students will receive a letter with their name filled in. We will have a novice tournament in August or September for the lower grades up to purple belt to compete.

**  All Junior fighters MUST have proof of age ready at registration.   Without proof of age there will be NO participation.

3. KARATE UNIFORMS

The wearing of a karate uniform is compulsory and helps to ensure discipline in class and create a sense of belonging.  Please try your utmost to buy the suit by the end of April 2018.

A karate suit that is specially made for our specific style are available from our “Fighting Spirit” Martial Arts shop in Welgemoed and the price is R400 for up to 8 years (size 0000, 000, 00, 0) and  R450  for all the bigger uniforms from size 1 to 7.

All students from Grade 1 who started at the beginning of the year MUST have shin pads and gloves. This is to protect the karateka as well as the opponent from injuries. A full set of approved gloves and pads cost R350 at our shop. Please invest in that please. Preschool kids do not need the protectors.

4. INTERNATIONAL CAMP : 18 – 20  MAY  2018 –  OPPISEE,  MELKBOSSTRAND

Our International camp will take place at Oppisee, Melkbosstrand. Our annual International camp always proved to be very interesting and enjoyable.  During the International camp we will learn new and interesting techniques from our visiting Japanese Instructors, while we will use the September camp to prepare the karateka going for brown and black belt for their grading. This year we have secured the services of two very experienced Japanese instructors, Shihan Akiyama as well as Sensei Chinone. All karateka 8 years and older are welcome to attend the whole weekend’s training. Younger karateka can attend a day’s training on the Saturday. On Sunday morning we will have a grading from 11h00 for Senior instructors.  Parents can fetch their children from 10h30.The grading will be for senior instructors and not open to public.     Please remember that NO cellphones will be allowed on the camp. We will supply our numbers in case of emergency. (No exceptions will be made)

These camps are compulsory for karateka who want to grade in December 2018 for their brown and black belts.

**  Karateka must arrange their own transport for May camp  (NO BUSSES)   – Map is available. It is very easy to

find. It is next to Melkbosstrand on the Cape Town side.

To give all our students an opportunity to train with the Japanese instructors, we will have a mass session at the Bellville Velodrome on Wednesday 16 May 2018 from 18h00 to 20h00. It will be very exciting and students may bring friends with for training and parents may also take part. We would like to assemble the biggest training group ever in South Africa. We will inform you in detail later. We will charge R30 per person to cover the rental costs.

6. GRADING MAY – JUNE 2018

The Pre-Primary students will grade on Saturday 26 May while the scholars with white belts will start as from Saturday 2^nd June 2018. The other groups will follow. You will receive a full breakdown of dates / grading times by 1^st week of May 2018. Please wait for this letter as we do not have the final dates. Grading will be at the Welgemoed dojo.

7. KARATE CLASSES: LONG WEEKEND – END APRIL

               Friday    27 April 2018        Public Holiday – NO CLASSES

Saturday 28^th April 2018      Only 8h30 class

Monday    30^th April 2018    School Holiday:  Evening class  18h00 – 19h30

Tuesday   1^st May 2018       Public Holiday – NO CLASSES

Classes back to normal on Wednesday 2^nd May 2018.

8. NUTRITION:  I want to inform everyone that we will be stocking the PHASED NUTRITION range of food supplements at the Fighting Spirit Martial Art Shop at the dojo from May 2018.

Phased nutrition is designed and patented to address the body’s changing metabolic requirements during all forms of sport or physical activity.    Phased nutrition was designed and tested over many years by more than 1000 professional athletes who included the Blue Bulls rugby during the 3 years they won the Currie Cup consecutively as well as the SA special forces units.   The products contain no sucrose, fructose, maltodextrins or soya.

The ingredients used are only the best and almost every single ingredient has been patented and undergone multiple clinical studies.  Prices are very competitive.   We also have diet shake with NO glycemic carbohydrates.    For extreme athletes we have 4 unique energy/protein drinks.

I hope that all karateka’s standard will improve a great deal this term. If you find that the school’s winter sport program clashes with the karate times, please phone our office or look on our website for alternative training times at nearby dojo’s. It is impossible to please everybody but I am sure that we can make a suitable plan. Your children will only experience the tremendous benefits of karate if they attend the classes on a regular basis.

Karate Greetings

HENNIE BOSMAN – 8^th DAN

INTERNATIONAL CHAIRMAN:   KYOKUSHIN-KAN