On Friday afternoon, April 22nd, the UCT Karate Club braved the cold wind and rain to lend a hand to SHAWCO.
The club joined forces with SHAWCO by helping out at their Sports Day at a public primary school in Khayelitsha.
After a couple of rounds of breaking the ice (it was that cold) by singing songs and dancing circles with an excited bunch of grade 1, 2 and 3 pupils, the club assisted the SHAWCO members with their normal teaching schedule. This included helping the children practise their reading skills by reading books, as well as completing a worksheet. These worksheets allowed the children (and maybe even the karateka) to practise simple arithmetic, language structure, and colouring in, whilst simultaneously having fun.
After succeeding in this somewhat testing endeavour (the children kept on drilling us when the karate lesson would start), it was time for the karate club members to shine. The excitement was palpable when all the children started lining up. UCT Karate President Rifqah van Schalkwyk and fellow member Sahil Patel opened the lesson and then taught the children how to form a fist and how to punch, as well as introducing them to the forward stance, basic upper block, lower block, and how to do a front kick. The rest of the karate club members present walked around and helped the children correct their technique. In addition, the children learnt to show respect to everyone, including their opponents, as well as how to count to ten in Japanese. After the children received the opportunity to practise some of the Kihon on each other, the lesson ended with a traditional line-up, bow, and a resounding ‘Kiai!’
The karate lesson was a great opportunity for the kids to be exposed to something quite new and learn a bit of self-defence, as well as for the UCT karate club to get out into the community and help where it is needed.
The club expresses its gratitude to SHAWCO for inviting it to the Sports Day and providing transport to the venue. Furthermore, a big thank you goes out to the Karateka who participated in this exciting event.
There will definitely be more outreach events taking place throughout the rest of the year. These will most likely involve basic karate and self-defence at the Homestead Orphanage in Woodstock, and possibly a self-defence seminar with the UCT Mad Hatters’ society. The club will send announcements on further updates, and looks forward to people participating in these fun activities.
Written by: Ian Simon Olivier
Originally published: varsitynewspaper.co.za/sports/4579-karate-khayelitsha-outreach-update
