Category Archives: Events

Events

Tournaments 2016

This year has, as usual, been a very busy one as far as tournaments are concerned. Our karatekas who compete at these tournaments experience a totally different side of karate, namely sports karate.

Sports karate in this country is managed by KSA (Karate South Africa), which, in turn is managed by WKF (World Karate Federation) worldwide. Many styles of karate affiliate their competitive student with these organisations, such as our style, JKA (Japan Karate Association)

Sports karate has its own rules and is a totally different ball game to the traditional karate (JKA Organisation) our students train at the club. Sensei Eugene does try to keep a balance between the two, something only a few clubs do, and manage positively. Sport Karate and Club Karate compliment each other, and each should be respected for what it brings to the table in terms of improving a karate athlete’s abilities and performance.

Sports karate has two sections, Kata and Kumite. The Katas performed are usually very high level kata, and Free fighting, where points are awarded for execution of well targeted punches and kicks. Control of contact is applied, however the higher the age, the more contact is allowed.

Both styles, traditional and sports karate have different conditioning needs namely:

JKA’s goal originally is to “incapacitate an adversary with one blow”, whereas sport karate’s goals are to score points by tagging an opponent or to avoid being tagged/hit.

At Solis Ortus our primary foundation is the strong Budo of JKA, Shotokan.

Budo is a very broad term meaning  any discipline that has, for the practitioner, become a way of life. Budo, thus refers to post-1600 generations of Japanese fighting systems based on former arts, but which emphasize “do” — personal, ethical and spiritual development as the ultimate goal of training.

JKA is our Budo, and sports karate is a sport.

Our youngest competitor is 5 and our oldest is 52. In  our club alone we have produced about 15 to 20 protea members.

So far, in 2016 we have competed in the following tournaments:

JKA Traditional Tournaments:

JKA Gauteng Provincials: 11 and 12 March 2016

SA JKA Nationals: 20 and 21 May 2016

Sports Karate (also called All styles) Tournaments

Tshwane Trials:  6 February 2016

GKF Champs  : 19 / 21 February 2016

KSA U21,seniors, veterans and disabled  :  4 / 5 March 2016

KSA children, juniors and kadets :  18 / 19 March 2016

KSL Bulls challenge : 16 April 2016

Eagles Challenge  :  14 May 2016

KSL Lions challenge  :  18 June 2016

Kanazawa cup  :  30 April 2016

Gauteng Open Championships  :  7 May 2016

KSA Opens and Elite  :  15 July 2016

Walk a Mile  :  23 July 2016

Samurai Cup  :  3 September 2016

Sakura Kai Karate  :  3 September 2016

Legend of Legends  :  17 September 2016

Champions Challenge  :  17 September 2016​

 

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Club, Events, Main Club

OPEN DAY SUCCESS

Solis Ortus had its annual Open day on Saturday, 30 January 2016 at the Garsfontein dojo.

Preparations for this day started 2 weeks ago with various karatekas and parents helping to distribute pamphlets at all the schools in the East of Pretoria.  Thank you each an everyone for your help and ideas.

During the open day our current Solis Ortus students help us to showcase what they can do and how and what we teach them.  Thank you students, for being to eager in helping me always.  I always say I have the best students and I mean it.

Our seniors assisted in talking to all the new parents and potential new student.  This year we invited all the new students to join us on the tatamis for a fun session and this proved to be very successful.  Please help me in welcoming all the new students that will start during the course of February.

Remember, you were once where they are now.  Respect them and help them to become just as good as you are.

OSS

Events

Solis Ortus Open Day

KARATE IN PRETORIA. A SPORT FOR LIFE.

Karate is also more than just a sport, it teaches you about respect, discipline, character, leadership, humbleness,concentration and many more.

Doing all this while having alot of fun.

Come to our  Open Day and see for yourself why we are the most unique karate club in Pretoria.

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Events

CANSA – RELAY FOR LIFE

19 September 2015 marked the calendar for Solis Ortus’s second participation at the CANSA Relay for Life.  We got our sponsor through Tristan and Sandra Botha and was able to enter two teams.

The week leading up to the relay spoiled  us with beautiful warm weather and we were positive that the 2015 Relay will not be as cold as the 2014 Relay.  Boy, were we surprised on Saturday to wake up to overcast coldness.  I think the cold brings us all together, because as a result of the cold weather, we all huddled under a cazebo, sitting close together, chatting, laughing, crying for the loss of the springboks, sharing the jokes that instantly followed the loss.  We walked the walked, provided some entertainment to the crowds and spent quality time together!

Thank you to each and every person who joined us and shared in the special moments!

Events

Haldun Alagas

The Turkish karate trio of Haldun Alagas, Bahattin Kandaz and Sait Ucan first visited South Africa in 2010 to present its week long training camp.  The goal behind these training camps are to expose our athletes to the coaching of these top coaches in order to prepare them to reach their goals. The Turkish coaches are brilliant in movement and agility and their fighting combination is advanced.

Since 2010 Sensei Eugene Oosthuizen have not missed a single training camp hosted by Sensei Haldun Alagas.  Sensei Haldun Alagas is a Turkish karateka who is a multiple World and European champion.

On Saturday, 18 July 2015 Sensei Eugene Oosthuizen, together with Sensei Morgan Moss invited the Turkish karate trio to present a training session to juniors and seniors at the Solis Ortus dojo in Garsfontein.  Karatekas from all over Gauteng attended this training session.  Some found it so informative that they participated in both senior and junior sessions.  This is testament to the fact that our athletes are hungry to learn and willing to work hard.  We all enjoy receiving the world knowledge of our Seniors, Mentors and Champions.  It is always a privilege when we have them on South African soil and they are willing to share their knowledge with us.

On the day of the training sessions it was clear that all who arrived for the session was very excited to start and to learn.  The hall was packed and soon it became very hot inside on a chilly winter’s day.  Karatekas were split up into lines and groups to make movements easier.  All over you could see the concentration on each and every person’s face, each one trying their best to master a technique and do the best they can.  It is wonderful to see young and old put in all their effort because they love their sport so much.

The karate community is a strong one, and we are all connected and united in the sport.  It makes our Sensei very proud to share moments such as this one with so many athlete and he looks forward to sharing many more such moments with you all.

Events

Karate Instructors Camp

They say exciting or bad experiences make for good stories. Well, that’s how the saying goes and true to the saying that’s what happened. Solis Ortus Karate decided to have an instructors camp, called a gashuku. Sensei William was the team leader because sensei Eugene had an unforeseen other event. Sensei Adrian and sensei Lilian, sempai Annerien and Heilieth went on the camp. Like a bunch of school teenagers we all huddled into the Fortuner Toyota.
I spy with my little eye something starting with ….. Was the main game in the vehicle on our way to Ribeeks kloof near Middelburg, about an hour and a halfs drive from Pretoria. Laughing all the way there we arrived to a breath taking amazing sun set on the 20th Feb 2015.
Friday night was spent getting to know each other a bit better round the camp fire.
Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn. We went  driving up the mountain trail with the 4×4, sensei Lilian we realized is a bit scared of heights. Saturday afternoon sensei William sat us down for a serious discussion about what we need to do in our karate Solis Ortus club. Then we played a prank on sensei Lilian when we all got dressed in our Gi’s and woke sensei lilian up from a deep afternoon sleep. We then proceeded to take some
beautiful photos in our gi’s in various poses and on various objects.

We climbed a part of the mountain near by and posed for pics which
came out amazingly well. Being late afternoon we noticed that a generator was on near the pool which was becoming annoying. The generator was located about 50 meters from our chalet and housed inside a small stone house. So sensei Lilian and Adrian decided to go switch off the darn thing. That’s when things became dangerous
which makes for a good story. Apparently what sensei William and the rest noticed was a change in engine noise followed by loud shouting to the tune of “run its gonna blow,” followed by sparks and smoke. Then Lilian and Adrian were running for cover. Adrian fell and lay motionless for a while in the dark and Lilian grabbed him up and ran towards the camp site. At this stage sensei William was visibly distraught and came running down shouting ” fix it fix it!”
I guess the flee fight or freeze mode “thingy” works different in every one. Its strange how quick things can go wrong. All we wanted to do was switch the darn thing off. Anyways a long story short we called thee owners of the chalets and they sent out a maintenance guy who fixed it.

Sunday morning we actually practiced proper karate mostly fun stuff like jumping flying kicks into the dam giving the word “dam duiker”, a new meaning. And so a good time was had by all making for a great weekend. Moral learned was don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken and run like hell when sparks and smoke is near a 50 liter diesel tank. Oss.
Written by Adrian Bonafede

Club, Events

Open Day 2015

Solis Ortus in Pretoria had its Open Day this past Saturday, 24th of January 2015 and once again, it was a great success!

We had the privilege of showcasing some our most talented students and our training and teaching techniques to current and prospective students.

We are looking forward to a lasting relationship with our new students and we, as instructors, are equally excited about sharing our knowledge with you.

Thank you to everybody that made the day a great success!

Oss!

Solis Ortus Team

Continue reading Open Day 2015 →

Club, Events

Year End Function 2014

On 5 December 2014 Solis Ortus had its annual year end function to present all the students with something small for all their hard work and dedication during the year.  Little did I know that I will get the biggest “award” on this evening.

My Senior students surprised me with a video dedicated to my late father and founder of Solis Ortus, Coen Oosthuizen.  I was also presented with a special cake depicting my Karate time line.  It was all very special to me and I can not ask for a better dojo.

Once again I would like to extend a sincere thank you to every student and parent for all that you do for Solis Ortus.  Without you our dojo will not be this successful.

OSS

Continue reading Year End Function 2014 →

Club, Competition, Events

Shotocup Japan 2014

On 9 October 2014 the Senior South African Team departed for Japan to attend the 2014 Shoto World Cup. We were going to the birth place of our beloved sport and we were going to compete against the best of the best that JKA karate has to offer worldwide.
From our dojo, Sensei Eugene Oosthuizen competed in the team kumite event and the individual kumite. Sandra Erasmus competed in the kata and kumite event and Wasim Ghoor competed in the kata and kumite event.

We are so very proud of all the athletes who represented South Africa in Japan.

OSS

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Events

Breast Cancer Month

October was breast cancer awareness month and this year we started the pink belt initiative. For every pink belt sold we donated R10 to CANSA.
News of the pink belts quickly spread to other dojos and a batch pink belts were sent to a dojo in Kimberley who also supported this drive.
Thank you to all who purchased a pink belt to help with the donation towards CANSA. Everybody (boys and girls, men and women) looked smashing in their pink belts. Now we can put our pink belts away until next year October.

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Club, Competition, Events

Karate Super League Lions Challenge

On Saturday, 13 September 2014 I hosted the LIONS CHALLENGE (on of three tournaments in the Karate Super League series).  As the host and one of the directors of KSL, my students from Solis Ortus really did their part to participate in this tournament.  Congratulations AND thank you to all my Solis Ortus Students.

A special thank you to every other dojo (and its students) who supported the Challenge.  The day was fast paced, exciting and athletes walked away with trophies bigger than themselves!

To our Sponsors (SNT Sport, Girafrica, Millinium Bakery, Excelsior Group, Trophy & Medal Boutique, Shen Sport, Trilithon), THANK YOU!  Hope to see you all again next year!

Continue reading Karate Super League Lions Challenge →

Club, Events

KSA Development

The Gauteng Karate Federation hosted a Development tournament to give all our developments athletes an opportunity to show their worth.  The athletes who placed in the medals automatically qualified to compete in the KSA Developments tournament which was hosted in Durban end of August.

Solis Ortus had 5 students who qualified for the KSA Development Championship and made the dojo very proud with their achievements.  A special congratulations goes out to James Van Zyl who is our only disabled student who also competed in the able division and placed in the medals.

James, you are a true inspiration to us all!!!

Congratulations to my students, all of my students.  I do see a bright future for all of you.

OSS

Club, Events

Spring Day

The students at Solis Ortus were treated with some colourful cupcakes on spring day.  Our classes are usually 60 min long, the last 15 minutes are used for games, stretching and cooling down.

However, on spring day we utilised the last 15 minutes to treat our students to some “down” time and we all enjoyed a cup cake.

We also allowed our students to train in their favourite character t-shirt.

Articles, Events

Sensei Haldun Alagas Training Course

During the School Holidays (14 – 19 July) Sensei Eugene Oosthuizen attended a training course in Bloemfontein with Sensei Haldun Alagas of Turkey (several WKF world championship medalist) and various other karate athletes across South Africa.  The idea behind this training camp to provide South African karate athletes with more exposure to European karate in order for them to be competitive on world level.

Even though it was very cold in Bloemfontein, we were inspired and motivated to join the training of Sensei Haldun Alagas and his team from Turkey.  We attended two 2-hour training sessions a day in which we focused mainly on WKF kumite techniques and training.

Continue reading Sensei Haldun Alagas Training Course →

Events

Open day – 25 January 2014

On Saturday, 25 January 2014 we had our open day for the public to join us in the dojo and see firsthand how we train and what we teach our students.

During our open day many new students registered to join the Solis Ortus family.

What was even more impressive is the amount of mommies and daddies registering with their children to start with the sport of karate. And I am proud to announce that our dojo’s veteran group does really well at the tournaments.

WELCOME to all our new students!!!

Continue reading Open day – 25 January 2014 →