By Ron Lane
It was 8am on Saturday morning on Noosa’s West beach when some 50 plus members of the Karate Budokan Sunshine Coast Martial Arts Dojo assembled for a training session.
With the Noosa weather at its best a crowd soon gathered to watch this training session that could only be described as ‘different’.
With members ranging in age from six years to masters, the training techniques, which were conducted some on soft sand and some in shin-deep water, certainly proved to be a challenge.
“The idea is to take the students out of their normal environment,” said Sensei Bryan Dukas.
Dukas, a Black Belt 6th Dan, recently returned from a training camp in Japan was for the occasion supported by his father Mike, a Black Belt 8th Dan.
“By bringing our students to the beach we are placing them in a totally different situation thus teaching them to adapt to the unexpected.”
After approximately an hour of set moves both defensive and attack, the morning took on a more relaxed situation as students, regardless of age or grading, found themselves in wrestling situations, some in knee-deep water.
At the completion of this section the youth were invited to go through set patterns which gave them the opportunity to engage their sensei in mock physical contact.
With these exercises being completed, the young ones then found themselves under the trees at the back of the beach where, to their surprise, a Karate Santa awaited to wish them the season’s best and present them with small tokens of Christmas cheer.
All in all it was a training session with a difference and well conducted by our people.
This is yet another sport in which membership is on the increase and we wish those involved all the best.
