In The Dojo

This clip was put together using footage from various gradings held at the Dojo. Thanks to Taiga for doing the editing and putting it all together.

Online Dojo

It's been 5 years since our full time Dojo opened after I spent nearly three months fitting out the empty shell of the building we bought off the plans. I had a lot of help from family, friends and students and the end result was amazing. It is a great place to train and we have around 18 classes a week with time for more classes if needed. You can see the photos on the right side of the page under the heading "in the beginning".

Now it is time for the next big project, the Online Dojo, which I have been thinking and  talking about for a few years. It's also something that students have asked me about as they have been looking for a way to practice and learn at home or whilst away from the dojo. Recently I had a email from a student who trains in the eastern states (the other side of Australia if you're not familiar with where we are located) asking about resources to help with his training and also his daughters training to supplement their regular Dojo training. Shortly after that I had a new student start at the dojo he received his Gi (karate uniform) and his mother proceeded to help him with his belt which is always a challenge for new students, especially children! She did a pretty good job of putting it on and said " thanks to the internet for that", she had searched the internet and found a resource that helped here learn how to tie a karate belt. That was when I knew it was time to start the project I had always had in the back of my mind.

These days the advances in technology have made it much easier to use the internet to provide education and training services that are of a high standard and provide a real benefit to the participants. It is possible to study for a University degree through external studies which relies heavily on the internet to make it possible, this is what makes me confident that a professionally structured website with quality content would offer a real benefit to anyone interested in studying and learning karate.

I don't believe that there will ever be a substitute for attending a karate dojo and learning from a qualified instructor and it is not my intention to try and replace training at a reputable dojo with a qualified instructor. But I do believe that there is a place for an online dojo where anyone can go to learn and supplement their own training at a dojo. Initially, this was the main reason I decided to set up an online dojo so that students could have resources outside of the physical dojo to help with their training and this is still a very important part of why the online dojo is being developed. The more I got into the planning for the site content, the more I started to realise that much of what was being planned for inclusion could be of benefit for people who are new to karate and who are interested in learning the basics and increasing their knowledge. So the end result is that the online dojo will be open for anyone who is interested!

There is also an opportunity to provide resources for instructors as well as people who aspire to be an instructor. Again, primarily, this would be for members in our own organisation, however, there is no reason why other instructors could not benefit from the content. Therefore, the online dojo will also include an instructors area which will contain resources including video and .pdf files that will be beneficial to any karate instructor.

I am starting to realise that this will be a huge task but I am looking forward to the challenge! We have already started working on the video content which will include our entire curriculum from white to black belt which will include kata, bunkai and self defence. The instructors section among other things, will include higher level black belt kata with bunkai as well as webinars on other high level kata and bunkai. It will also be possible to download .pdf files for the curriculum and kata as well as other relevant information.

I will be providing progress updates on this blog as well as our Karate Dojo Online Facebook page and once we are ready to open the doors there will be some special offers for foundation members.