The SKA Midwest Team, including John Wood and Jeff Salkas from the Chicago dojo and Lien Phan from the UNL Lincoln dojo, placed first in the team tournament at the 67th Annual Nisei Week Exhibition and Tournament in Los Angeles on August 22nd.
Austin Thomas promoted to shodan
Congrats to Austin Thomas, Chicago Shotokan alumnus, for passing his shodan test at Midwest Summer Special Training 2026 in St. Joseph, MO! Austin’s strong spirit was on full display during the entire Special Training, and during his test. Congrats Austin!
Jeff Salkas leads practice on foot sweeps
Sandan Jeff Salkas leads a practice focused on break falls and ashibarai (foot sweeps), including how to setup the foot sweep, how to execute it, and how to deal with different distances, and different reactions from your opponent.
New Class on Wednesday Evenings
Chicago Shotokan is now offering a class on Wednesday evenings at the same location as our Sunday morning class. Where: Bernard Horwich Jewish Community Center3003 W. Touhy AveChicago, IL 60645 When:6:00pm – 7:30pm We hope you can join us!
Basics and Ippon Kumite
On Sunday, our growing group gathered to practice gyaku-zuki (reverse punch), age-uke (rising block) and tetsui-uke (hammer fist block). We then paired up to practice these techniques on each other during ippon kumite (one attack sparring).
First practice of 2019
Don DePree once said, “Feeling hinders form and thinking about form hinders feeling. Work both until best form and best feeling come together.” For the 1st practice of 2019, we tried to do just that with a Bassai practice that stressed a strong feeling without neglecting form.
Tekki Practice
On Sunday we had a strong practice focusing on the Tekki kata, Tekki Shodan, Tekki Nidan, and Tekki Sandan.
Strong feeling on Sunday
We had a great practice on Sunday. Andrew warmed us up and stretched us out, and then we proceeded to work on kata in groups, kicks, and kumite (one attack and three attack). Great to see everybody working hard to improve their attacks and defense.
Front stance, oi-zuki, and tetsui-uke
Last Sunday we had a great kihon (fundamentals) practice, focusing on zenkutsu-dachi (front stance), oi-zuki (lunge punch), and tetsui-uke (hammer fist block). After getting some reps in with the techniques, we finished up with ippon kumite (one time sparring) using the techniques we practiced.
Catching the moment (part 2)
A core component of our practice is catching the moment an opponent decides to attack, and using that moment to launch your own “counter” attack. An opponent’s eyes, feeling, body language, and movements can all tip off when they’ve made the decision to attack, but picking up on these cues and acting on them takes […]