Karate is an open hand martial art originating in the Okinawan islands in Japan. Many different styles are practiced, and we are a all-styles club open to them everybody, and teach a variety of styles (primarily Shotokan, Shitoryu and Goju-ryu). We are a friendly club open to all levels of karate experience, whether you have never tried it before, or you have been practicing for years, and aim to make everyone feel welcome. We strive to offer well-rounded training sessions to give members a strong foundation in basic techniques, which they can further develop and implement in further training or competitions such as sparring (Kumite) or forms (Kata)
Competitive
Our club takes part in BUCS and SSS yearly, which are open to all experience levels, with opportunity to progress to European competitions by qualifying in BUCS. Competitions can be participated in individually or as part of a team. Individual entries are categorized by experience level for both kumite (fighting) and kata, and also by weight category for fighting. Team kata and kumite are open weight and open experience levels. We can have up to 3 people competing in each individual category, and a team each for male, female and kata in BUCS. We are able to enter more teams in SSS team categories. As part of the SKGB our members can also compete individually in any national or international open competitions run under the WKF (World Karate Federation)
Recreational
All aspects of our club are open to members who are only looking for recreational training, including the competition-oriented training session. There is no selected competitive squad in our club, and so no aspect of the club is reserved for competing All aspects of our club are open to members who are only looking for recreational training, including the competition-oriented training session. There is no selected competitive squad in our club, and so no aspect of the club is reserved for competing members and sparring is always optional (but you should try it, it's really fun!)
Training
We have 4 training sessions available weekly; members are welcome to train as much or as little as they like, and all of our sessions are open to all skill levels. We have a session focused on traditional and self-defence karate, and another focused on competition karate, which are led by our head coach Giovanni and assistant coach Andrew, with plenty of our committee and senior members on hand to give extra to help to anyone who needs it. We also have a strength and conditioning session led by our coach and personal trainer Mhairi, who is able to tailor sessions to best suit karate needs through her own years of karate practice, and a student- led session, normally led by Andrew and/ or senior committee members, that is focused on whatever members would like extra time on that week. Please note the competition training is open to all members, and you do not need to have any competition experience, or take part in future competitions if you don’t want to (although we do encourage everyone to give it a go ;) ) We have also had senior guest instructors come in to take sessions, and aim to continue this, such as self defence experts and a national competition referee and judge For full times and details of our training please see our Instagram, or visit https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/sport/timetables/club-sport/
Socials
We aim to hold socials around every fortnight, with each social carrying a different theme. Some examples of organized socials from last year include a horrible histories themed sub crawl, a joint martial arts pub crawl a movie night. In addition to these we always have a Halloween scavenger hunt, Christmas potluck, and an end of year club dinner. You can check out our Instagram and Facebook for more examples of past socials! Many members also head to the pub after training on a Monday if you’re looking for a more relaxed way to socialize
Additional Info
We are now able to have alumni and UofG staff join the club, but there are some additional GUSA restrictions, so please contact us if you’re interested before joining For any extra information or questions, feel free to contact us.
Insurance
It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the appropriate insurance cover for any activity you take part in. Upon joining, please check the level of insurance cover we, as a club, provide to you.
GUSA recommends that all students playing high risk sport, go abroad to compete/train, or are playing in governing body leagues, may want to consider/need to take out personal liability insurance, or join the sports governing body to be covered. Some insurance providers also offer specialist sports cover.