Recently our club become a member of Meibukan Goju Ryu International, our intention after becoming our own identity was to establish our network of Martial arts friends in the local area and concentrate of growing our own club and at the same time holding our high standard that we have become well known for over the past decade, today I still get complimented on how good our student are and how hard they train, in the martial arts industry comments like these are few and far between but we seem to get them regularly from all over, something for all of our members to be proud of… I know I am!

What will it mean to you as a student that we are now members of Meibukan?

Uniforms and patches etc will stay the same, nothing changes.

It means that we now have a permanent tie to Japan, in particular Okinawa. We have expanded our syllabus by adding extra kata, most of these are very different from what we do now but we have noticed that they are pretty easy to lean as well, all of our Brown/Black belts have learnt at least 2 or three each. We now are teaching weapons like Sai and Bo to 4kyu (Purple belt) and above, I used to learn weapons with my first Instructor of 19 years, adapting what I know to Meibukan has not been hard at all. Later we will add Katana to our advanced training if the students want to learn it, although I would recommend  learning basics with a Boken (wood sword) first to avoid injury.

We have not removed anything from our training syllabus that was being taught prior to joining Meibukan, Since they are also Goju Ryu most of the training is exactly the same, although the Okinawan’s are renown for being more relaxed in their training methods. Our training standards will not change. Our club pays a small fee per year to be a member and that’s it, this will allow myself and Sensei Scott to grade higher with international recognition and in the future there are plans to visit the Honbu Dojo in Okinawa to train. Those interested  in attending will be spoken to well in advance.

We will not be told how to run our club or will have to pay any other hidden costs etc. When we arrange a visit by the head of Meibukan, seminars will be arranged at reasonable prices for our students.