Lower Hutt Seido Karate

Welcome OZZIE visitors drop in for class – Thursday 15th September 2016

15 September 2016

It was a night of welcome and catch ups for us all as former Lower Hutt Dojo student Matt Barker, wife Rachael and son Jacob now living in Melbourne and annual visitor Alex Fox now living in Brisbane turned up to join us for class last night….

It always warms the heart when we get the opportunity to catch up with Seido friends and appreciate the times shared together…

It was also interesting to hear of all the new teachings and learnings of your karate journey’s with your Dojo’s in Australia…

Awesome to see you all….and please pass on our “Hello’s and best wishes” to Sensei Tome (Seido Melbourne)and Kyoshi’s Glyn and Catherine (Seido Brisbane)

Warmest regards

OSU

Ken Szeto

Pictured left to right: Front row Senpai Jon, Alex, Jacob, Kyoshi Dennis and Senpai Peri Back row: Matt, Sensei Ken

Pictured left to right: Senpai Brendon, Senpai Jon, Alex, Sensei Ken, Kyoshi Dennis and Senpai Peri

“Open hand, open mind and open heart” karate’s global welcome-ness…..Saturday 10th September 2016

12 September 2016

What great pictures to receive from Lower Hutt Seido student Susan De Gruttola…

Susan who has spent the last month visiting and staying with family in the UK extended her karate family by training at Sensei Hassoud’s Shotokan Dojo in East Barnet….

Thank you Sensei Hassoud for making Susan so welcome and sharing with her your knowledge and passion for karate….

You are a true testament to karate’s globally unifying attitudes to people irrespective of style….

OSU from us all at Seido Karate Lower Hutt Dojo, NZ…..

Deepest Sympathies and Huge Heart felt thoughts from us all at Seido Karate Lower Hutt Dojo – Passing of a most beautiful Dojo Mum….

7 September 2016

On behalf of us all at Seido Karate Lower Hutt Dojo, just letting you know Montana, that we were all so very sad to hear of the passing of mum….beautiful Kat….

Always ready with a warm smile and hug for her Dojo kids and friends, your amazing mum will be remembered by us as a beautiful and loving person to all….

Remember that we are only a call, a text or an email away Montana….keep in touch as we have certainly missed you since you both moved to Auckland…

Heart felt thoughts and love to you…

OSU

All the students, friends and families of Seido Karate Lower Hutt Dojo

Challenging and enjoyable grading tests Lower Hutt Dojo senior kyu grade students at Brooklyn Dojo – Saturday 3rd September 2016

3 September 2016

It was a challenging and enjoyable grading for 8 of Lower Hutt Dojo’s senior kyu grade students at Brooklyn Dojo over the weekend….

Sei Shihan Ben testing them all across all areas of their syllabus…

Well supported by the Lower Hutt Dojo cheer crew and families……all demonstrated their highest levels of ability and spirit and were deservedly rewarded with grading success…

Well done to all students and well done to the Dojo support crew for the noise and cheering….thank you to Brooklyn Dojo for hosting a busy and enjoyable morning…

Kindest Regards

OSU

Sensei Ken Szeto

Pictured left to right: Kent Horan, Nissa Mackie, Don Beattie, Wendy Trimmer, Liam Trimmer-Beattie, Hamish Horan, Neihana Anderson-Clark and Kerenza Robertson

Pictured: Lower Hutt Dojo Support Crew

Determination, self belief and amazing individual talent demonstrated at Junior Green Belts grading – Monday 22nd August 2016

22 August 2016

Proudly supported and encouraged by parents, families, friends and fellow students an amazing bunch of Juniors demonstrated their determination, self belief and individual talents last night…

Challenged both mentally and physically, all emerged with grading and self achievement success…

The key message throughout the grading “do not let self doubt influence your approach to life but instead focus upon the many wonders of your karate journey and not the destination”

Well done to all students and thank you to your wonderful parents, families, friends and fellow students for their amazing support and encouragement..

OSU

Sensei Ken Szeto

Pictured left to right: back row Patrick Gray, Neev Mackenzie, Abby Kincaid, Marcus Wong, Joshua Hall, Amy Turner and Harrison Fink Front row: Nicholas Hill, Alex Strickland, Vivek Patel, Jason Chao

Dojo Celebration Day – A Special Day Indeed and Enjoyed by All – Saturday 7th May 2016

11 May 2016

It is with sincere and heartfelt thanks that I thank everyone for being there on Saturday to celebrate the Opening of our wonderful little Dojo…

It was indeed a “Special Day” and in so many ways for so many people…

Congratulations to all those who successfully graded to Nidan under the challenging direction of Sei Shihan Ino Macquirang (Head of Seido Australia), Senpai Jon Mackie and Senpai Leighton Szeto (Lower Hutt Dojo) and Senpai Rob Campbell (South Wellington Dojo)

Congratulations to all those who successfully graded to Shodan under the wisdom of Hanshi Renzie Hanham (Head of Seido New Zealand), Senpai Christine Wilson (Brooklyn Dojo), Senpai Christine Barraud (South Wellington Dojo), Senpai Cole Jones (Upper Hutt Dojo) and Senpai Peri Stackhouse (Lower Hutt Dojo)

Congratulations also to the amazing army of Lower Hutt Dojo students, parents and families that gathered together to offer all our invited guests, senior students, fellow students, families and friends such fantastic Lower Hutt Dojo hospitality….

Thank you to everyone for your compliments and kind words throughout the day, thank you to everyone for acknowledging the specialness and togetherness of our Lower Hutt Dojo students and community….

We must remind ourselves that we are all part of a larger and wider community, a SEIDO community that is strong, respectful and world wide….

With much privilege and sincere gratitude
OSU
Ken Szeto

Pictured: Post shodan grading

Pictured left to right: Successful Shodan group Senpai Peri Stackhouse, Senpai Christine Barraud, Senpai Cole Jones and Senpai Christine Wilson

Pictured left to right: Sucessful Nidan group Standing Kyoshi Tony Gaeta, Sei Shihan Ino Macquirang, Sei Shihan Harry Roeleffs, Sensei Ken Szeto Kneeling Senpai Rob Campbell, Senpai Jon Mackie, Senpai Leighton Szeto

Black belt candidate students join together for training at Lower Hutt Dojo – April 2016

22 April 2016

It was another energy filled class last night with the attendances of the black belt candidate students from Kyoshi Tony Gaeta’s South Wellington Seido Karate Dojo….Senpai Rob Campbell and Christine Lin-Barraud…

All black belt candidates sharing some intense floor time together as the countdown to grading day gets closer and closer…

Keep up the great work candidates and we will all be there to support and encourage you all on the big day – 9am Saturday 7th May….

Warmest regards
OSU
Sensei Ken Szeto

Pictured left to right: Christine Lin-Barraud, Senpai Leighton Szeto, Senpai Rob Campbell, Senpai Jon Mackie and Peri Stackhouse

Dojo Celebration Day – Saturday 7th May 2016

16 April 2016

It will indeed be a special Day of Celebrations for our wonderful little Dojo….

We will have the privilege of some very special SEIDO Karate guests for the day…
Hanshi Renzie Hanham (8th Dan) – Head of Seido New Zealand
Sei Shihan Ino Macquirang (6th Dan) – Head of Seido Australia
Sei Shihan Michael Higgs (6th Dan) – Chief Instructor Seido Timaru
Sei Shihan Ben Otang (6th Dan) – Regional Chief Instructor Seido Wellington
Our programme outline for the day…
5am Nidan Grading (2nd Dan) – Closed to the Public, Only Seido Karate Black Belts allowed to attend
9am Shodan Grading (1st Dan) – Open to Public, All Seido Karate students, families and friends allowed to attend
There will be a post Shodan Grading BBQ, mix and mingle session at the Dojo (about 12.30pm) where everyone can congratulate those students that graded and then enjoy each others company over BBQ food and celebratory drinks…

I look forward to meeting old friends again and making many many new ones….

With much gratitude and thanks to everyone
OSU
Sensei Ken Szeto

“Academic and Career Development Focus” for new Dojo Collegiate Development Group 2016….

A new initiative to be implemented at the Dojo this year is the Dojo’s Collegiate Development Programme

Aimed at supporting the Dojo’s teenage students as a collective GROUP, the programme will seek to introduce a focus upon achieving academic and trade related success at College with an emphasis upon supporting them to look at their academic and career options and opportunities for their futures

A key goal for this Group being fundraising together for the next 12 months to raise enough funds to attend the SEIDO Karate International Tournament to be hosted sometime next year in JAPAN…

Keep up the great work Collegiates and welcome to the programme…let’s get busy and reach our goal of getting everyone to JAPAN next year…

OSU
Sensei Ken Szeto

Pictured: Dojo Collegiate Group students for 2016

“Energy and Enthusiasm” key ingredients to success behind Junior Academy Group for 2016….

It was a great night for parents and selected Junior Academy Group students at the Group get together last week at the Dojo…

The development programme was introduced 2 years ago and has proven to be hugely successful in many ways..

In addition to the extra demands expected of students in weekly classes, a key goal of the Junior Academy Group being fundraising together to get as many Academy Group students as possible to be able attend the SEIDO Karate Australia National Tournament held every year in November in Sydney, Australia….

Last year’s monumental fundraising efforts providing the opportunity for 30 Junior Academy students to attend…a great achievement indeed…

This year 17 new junior students have been selected to join those junior students from the previous year, making the Junior Academy Group student total 34 for 2016

Congratulations to all 2016 Junior Academy Group students and thank you to your amazing parents for their wonderful support…

Thank you everyone….
OSU
Sensei Ken Szeto

Pictured: Mixed Junior Academy Group and Junior Development Class students