On Saturday, November 23rd, a first-of-its-kind karate club opened its doors on the island to expose youngsters, as well as adults, to training in one of the most prominent of the martial arts disciplines.
The club’s name is the Pythons Karate Federation. The proprietors of the club, located in Rock Farm, are Mr. Paul Trim, President, and his mom, Uldean Trim, Vice President. For its opening, the Trims were joined by Sensei Cameron King, a visiting Karate Instructor from Barbados.
The Anguillian spoke with Mr. King who insisted that karate is not just a fighting or defensive art — as most people see it — but it is first and foremost a channel to teach the basic virtues of discipline and respect. He explained: “Karate is a Japanese martial art that teaches very firm discipline, respect and perseverance. We have a code called a dojo kun which is a system of the rules for the art of karate. These rules are enshrined in a creed that we recite every day. The rules stress: ‘to seek professional character; to be faithful; to endeavor against the odds, to respect others, and to refrain from violent behavior.”’
He went on to emphasize that the code enabled those who are being trained to strive for perfection, even though true perfection is unlikely to be attained. “The code calls its trainees to be faithful,” he claims, “not only in karate but in every aspect of everyday life. Karate basically is all about life. The conditions under which one trains in karate should be reflected in his or her everyday life.
“The disciplines learned in karate make one faithful. You come to the classes and train. You go to work, and you develop principles of faithfulness from what you’ve learned in karate. You go to school and you are inspired to work hard, to persevere and to be faithful due to the disciplines learned in karate. Karate teaches respect. Trainees develop respect for their fellowmen; respect for authority; and respect for whoever they come into contact with at any time.”
Sensei King emphasized: “In the practice of karate it is not about fighting. In fact, karate teaches us not to fight. There is an old saying which goes: ‘we learn to fight so that we don’t have to fight.’ In learning to fight through karate, the opponent that we are fighting is our self — not the other person, but we are fighting ourselves to bring balance to the challenges that life would present before us. That is the concept of karate.”
Mr. Paul Trim will be the senior instructor at the club. He said: “Our trainees will be divided into two groups. The ‘group one’ and ‘group two’ classification is specific to the Python Karate Federation. Group one will consist of trainees ages 5 to 11, while group two will be those trainees who are age 12 up to adulthood.”
He noted, “Classes will be conducted on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on Saturday mornings only. On Tuesday and Thursday, the ‘group one’ category will attend classes from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 pm, while the ‘group two’ category will attend classes from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. On Saturday mornings, there will be mixed category classes which will run from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. for everyone and, based on the instructor’s discretion, the classes may extend until 11:00 a.m.”
To contact the Python Karate Federation, one may call 584-9600 or 476-9303.
Staff Reporter, James Harrigan
