On Friday afternoon we were honoured to have Mr Harrison come in to teach us a few Karate moves. He brought one of his karate students, Gillen with him. He explained that he has been learning the art of Karate for 30 years and is a black belt. He has competed all around the world including Russia and Japan. Karate means ’empty hands’ and Karate-Do means ‘the way of empty hands’. He explained that Karate began in the island of Okinawa when attackers took away the islanders weapons, so they had to use only their bare hands and feet to break through the defences.
Mr Harrison taught us that when practising Karate you should be calm and quiet to allow you to fully focus on yourself and your movements. At some points you could hear a pin drop – well done! Before practising blocks with a partner you have to bow and say ‘Osu’ (pronounced ‘oss’). We also had to opportunity to practise our punches and kicks using pads held by Mr Harrison and Gillen.
The final treat was a sight to behold! Gillen broke a piece of wood using only his elbow! Before hitting the board he focussed his thoughts and became very quiet and calm. It all happened very quickly and we were very impressed. A huge thank you to Mr Harrison and Gillen for taking the time to work with us and teach us a few moves.
Our dodgeball sessions in P.E. are well under way and I have to say how much I am enjoying watching our teams play against one another.
After great discussion, each team chose a name: The Dodgems and The Wrecking Balls. Before we begin each week we have a team tactics talk where the children consider how they played the week before. They discuss changes that could be made to they way they play as a team and how to use these changes during their next games.
Here are a few action shots from yesterday’s games.
Today we had our second badminton session and once again, great fun was had be all.
First we warmed up with a light jog and a few games of name tig (everyone’s favourite by all accounts). Next we worked on our control by bouncing the shuttlecock as many time as we could off the racket without dropping it. We had a 12 and an impressive 17!
We broke into two teams to see how many points each team could gain by trying to aim the shuttlecock directly into a hoop. A little more practice is needed on this one next week.
Finally we ended by practicing our forehand and backhand shots across the gym hall to our partners. We had some fantastic volleying going on. I think it may be time to get the nets out. Well done Primary 5!
Here are a few photographs from this afternoon’s session.
