Twelve and over, three times a week, white belt to fourth dan, with Gareth Morgan, sixth dan
Teens and adults karate
Traditional Shotokan karate for twelve-year-olds to people in their sixties, three sessions a week with Gareth Morgan, sixth dan, who has taught in Bridgend for thirty years: kihon, kata and kumite to the full syllabus, with black belt and dan gradings for those who keep going. Fitness is a by-product; the point is the art.
Adult karate here is traditional: lines by grade, Japanese terminology, kata practised until the movement is exact, and kumite that teaches timing and distance before it teaches anyone to hit hard. It suits people who want something to get properly good at over years, and it suits the thirty-five-year-old who has never done anything like it as much as the ex-junior coming back.
Sessions are Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm for ninety minutes and Saturday at 10am for an hour and a half. A typical session is a twenty-minute warm-up and stretch, half an hour of kihon in lines across the mats, half an hour of kata or kumite depending on the week, and ten minutes of conditioning. Beginners stand at the back of the lines and are taught by a senior grade for their first month while they learn the basics the rest of the class is doing.
The syllabus runs from tenth kyu (white belt) to first kyu (brown belt) over about four years for someone training twice a week, then to shodan, the first black belt, at a two-day grading in front of the association's senior panel. Forty-one people have made black belt at the club since 2006. The Saturday session is open to all grades but pitched at the brown and black belts preparing for dan gradings, and beginners are welcome to watch it.
Kumite progresses from pre-arranged drills to semi-free and then free sparring, always with control to the head and medium contact to the body, gloves and mouthguards compulsory. Members who want to compete go to association and Welsh championships two or three times a year, and the club has a small squad who train with Gareth on Friday evenings. Most members never compete, and that is fine.
Teens from twelve train with the adults; there is no separate teens class because the grades mix better than the ages do, and a fourteen-year-old green belt partnered with a forty-year-old green belt both learn something. Parents of under-sixteens can watch from the bench, and teens do not spar with adults outside their weight range.
What is included
- Tuesday and Thursday 7pm, ninety minutes; Saturday 10am, ninety minutes
- Traditional Shotokan, the full kyu syllabus and dan gradings
- Beginners taught by a senior grade at the back of the lines for the first month
- Controlled kumite: gloves and mouthguards compulsory, no hard contact to the head
- A competition squad on Fridays for the members who want it
- £45 a month for all karate sessions, £60 for everything
What it costs
£45 a month for every karate session, £60 for every discipline, or £9 a session. Licence £25 a year; an adult gi £35. No joining fee and no contract. The timetable has every session with its spaces and the memberships side by side; the gradings page has the dates, the places left and the belt ladder.
Questions about teens and adults karate
I am forty-five and unfit. Can I start?
Yes; a third of the adult class started in their thirties or forties. The warm-up is the same for everyone but scaled, the conditioning is yours to pace, and fitness arrives within a term without anyone shouting at you. Tell the instructor about any injury before the first session.
How long does a black belt take?
About four to five years training twice a week, longer at once a week. The minimum time between gradings is set by the association, and a grading is only entered when your instructor puts you forward. Some take longer and the belt means the same.
Do I have to compete?
No. Most members never do. The competition squad trains on Fridays for those who want it, and the club takes a team to two or three championships a year.
Your first session is free. Bring a T-shirt and joggers.
Tell us who is training, how old they are and the discipline you are curious about, and we ring back the same evening with a session that has space. Train barefoot on the mats, ask the instructor anything afterwards, and decide then. Or ring the club.