One topic which splits many karate-ka and has always been a bone of contention is competitions within karate, indeed master Gichin Funakoshi the founder of modern karate often said “There are no contests in karate”, the Shotokai style does not have competitions for this very reason. With this in mind have we all lost our ...

I often hear people who do karate or have done karate in the past say they don’t like kata. Sometimes if they have done it in the past and quit they will say something along the lines of karate is too formal or rigid and when you dig a bit deeper inevitably kata is cited ...

Saturday 8th February 2014 Bartley Green Community Leisure Centre On Saturday 8th february 2014 Shihan Cyril Cummins 8th dan and Sensei Slater Williams 7th dan (Redditch Shotokan Karate) held a special kata and bunkai course. The course was well attended with a number of students from different clubs attending. After the introductions and warm up the ...

Interviewed by Matt Russell 3rd Dan I find karate is the main focus of my day, to what extent and how does it affect yours? I find it impacts a great deal, I have to think of my students and set a program out for that evening to teach them, it is very im- portant to me. In terms ...

Friday 20th September 2013 Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre The special weapons course, was a great success covering an array of traditional karate weapons including the bo, tonfa, sai and nunchaku. What follows is a brief summary of the course and the weapons covered. I have now been to a few of Sensei Cummin’s weapons courses and ...

by Melissa Daly, 3rd Kyu From the 3rd to the 5th of May 2013, a number of karate students from BHSKC went to Blackpool for a special weekend training course organised by Sensei Cyril Cummins, now 8th Dan. For the duration of the weekend, we stayed in a lovely, homely hotel owned by Sensei Cummins’ son. ...

Friday 3rd May till Sunday 5th May 2013 On the 4th and 5th of May 2013, Sensei Cyril Cummins held an advanced training course in the Palatine Leisure Centre in Blackpool. Both of the 3-hour training sessions were extremely intense and physically challenging. The course covered kihon, kata and bunkai, as well as kumite in great ...

 Friday 19th April 2013 Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre   Sensei Cyril Cummin’s continued his kobudo (weapons training) sessions with a course featuring the Bo, Sai and Nunchaku. What follows is a brief summary of that course. The course started with the bo, as this has featured in a number of courses I felt that I was now ...

Friday 29th March 2013 Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre   The second of the Choose a Kata Friday nights took place on Friday 29th March with Matt Russell selection Jitte as his chosen kata. This is a preview of the night with a few photos of Matt performing the kata with Matt’s review of the night to ...

Interviewed by Steve O’Reilly 2nd Dan at the Halesowen Dojo on Tuesday 5th March 2013   Over the years, you have trained thousands of fellow karate ka, visiting many different countries. What do you consider to be your most memorable experience over this time? “Taking my 5th Dan examination at Crystal Palace under the Japanese Sensei. It was ...

Friday 1st March 2013 Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre   On the 1st of March Sensei Cummins, 7th dan dedicated the session at Nuffield Health Centre in Rubery to my choice of kata, Nijushiho. The course was open to all grades and karate students from different clubs and Sensei Cummins adapted the session to the kyu grades ...

Interviewed by Yvonne Skalban 6th Kyu How did you first get into karate? I killed someone! (laughs) No, I saw a film called “Mondo Cane”. It’s a film about different rituals in different countries, for  example, the Ghurkas cutting the head off an ox with a single blow, and, of course, the Japanese sensei have always ...

Friday 1st February 2013 Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre   On Friday the second bo and tonfa course to be held at the Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre in Rubery with Sensei Cyril Cummins 7th dan took place. This time the course was open to all clubs and associations which resulted in even more karateka gaining ...

Friday 30th November 2012 Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centre The Bo and Tonfa course took place on Friday at the Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing Centre and was thoroughly enjoyed by those who attended with many requests for another course to be held in the future made on the same day. The attendance for the course ...