Valentine’s Day

As the story goes, St. Valentine of Terni was martyred on this day in 269 C.E. Thanks to the marital angle of his story, Valentine became the patron saint of love. But this historic day has a much different love story for the karatekas of Solis Ortus.
We celebrated Valentine’s Day for the passion of karate and were all dressed up in shades of red, pink and white. As always sensei Eugene is on target with his class planning. He picked the heart…yes, red heart – cardiovascular; very specific and especially for Valentine’s Day.
With great success and passion our classes consisted mostly to up the oxygen levels, basic training and a combination of both with rest intervals in-between.
Our minis class was so adorable when each one brought their own training partner with. Mostly it was a lovable soft toy or teddy which assisted them in their fundamental skills training. Mr Teddy or Soft toy had to balance on their heads to assist them in some balancing techniques. They also had fun with Mr Teddy in a karate way and so they rewrote the history of St Valentine in their own passionate way.
Our other classes focused more on cardio-respiratory fitness, basics and more complex feet movements of rapid accelerations and dis-accelerations with short duration techniques in-between performed with maximum intensity, and interrupted by small intervals.
The basic technical karate training formed part in building the correct form, stance, kick and the ability to perform the movements fast but accurately.
The oxygen maximum consumption in our karate training is an important indicator of cardio-respiratory fitness and endurance to empower us in our katas and kumite. The Valentine’s theme training was an excellent way to show our passion for karate and a super healthy heart.

Written by: Heilethe Calitz

This year, the Open Day exceeded all expectations and left many people with goose bumps whilst
others felt inspirational about the way Solis Ortus projects karate as a life sport but also as a lifestyle.
It is amazing to see how our parents’ family values blend in with the way we teach karate to our
students. As a responsible parent we teach our kids to respond to their ability which defines
responsibility; to be respectful to yourself and others, to always tell the truth and be sincere in
everything, to always do things right, put effort in what you do, and to have self-control. All these
principles form the basis in all human beings which defines their character, a person's essential
qualities. That is the 5 basic principles in life, but also the 5 basic principles in karate. How awesome
is that? You train your brain and get a full body conditioning session with it.
Solis Ortus strives to be the extension from home in a sporty environment.
We started the Open Day with our senior class and Black belts to show the public the growth,
passion and ethics of karate. The hall echoed with the traditional foot stamping and clap ritual and
the roar of “one way JKA, JKA one way”. A performance of a kata presented a plethora of close
combat techniques, which required an advanced understanding of body dynamics to perform their
small movements effectively. The Black belts concluded with kumite, free fighting. The children
applaud verbally “wow, that’s so cool”; “oooh….awesome.”
The minis, all dressed up in their little karate suits (Gi) looked so proud and ready for the day. This
moment was so precious and captured in everyone’s heart when the Black belts walked into the
dojo, hand-in- hand, each with a mini karateka (3-5 years of age). To envision it in your mind gives
you goose bumps. They bravely went through an obstacle course to demonstrate how important
fundamental skills are for karate. With a huge bow to their sensei, they left the dojo with memories
of immaculate promise to become whatever their minds perceived them to be.
The next group worked in belt levels to show the growth between the levels and what fundamental
skills we teach in the dojo to improve balance, core, fast feet, hands, basics and the combination
thereof to eventually perform the 3K’s (Kata, Kihon and Kumite) in karate.
Amongst the group, many of our karatekas achieved Tshwane, Gauteng and National colours. Some
of them also received their Protea colours and had the opportunity to travel overseas. Solis Ortus is
immensely proud of each and every karateka in the dojo and enjoys teaching them not only to be a
good sportsman, but to be an exceptional human being; to become a leader and to excel in their
school work or workplace; to rise above all circumstances; and to be the best they can be.
Open day was a huge success. Everyone who contributed did it with pride and honour. What a
privilege to be part of this incredible karate dojo.

Written by: Heilethe Calitz

2018 is big year for Solis Ortus as we are celebrating our 40th year of good traditional JKA karate. 2018 will be the year where we will fill the blank pages in our stable and glorious history. 2018 will be a promising year for our students and our competitors.
Hard work and dedication is the keyword to every success story. Here at Solis Ortus, through arduous training, we will practice to always give our best. We will embrace the 5 principles of our karate code: character, sincerity, effort, respect and self-control; to ensure improvement and to focus our minds to be completely present in each moment. We will live, sweat, laugh, and learn together until we accomplish. We will then celebrate together in all outcomes.
As this season tournaments already commenced, we are looking forward to all the upcoming events this year.
Congratulations to our Tshwane Children/Cadets & Junior Champs, who competed on the 3rd February 2018. We stand immensely proud of these little champs. Solis Ortus entered 14 competitors and received 17 medals in total: 6 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze. Fantastic achievement! Sensei is so proud of this group. Intense hard work resulted in a proud and growing group to reach unbelievable heights.
As Bruce Lee says: “Learning is never cumulative, it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.”
Excited to announce that out of 17 Dojos Solis Ortus received an overall 2nd place at the Eagles challenge 10 February. Out of 14 entries Solis Ortus succeeded in bringing home 6 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals; a total of 25 medals. Wow, what an achievement, 42 medals over 2 weekends. Well done all!
This coming weekend, 24 February, our junior karatekas will compete to achieve their Gauteng colours in the GKF Children/Cadets and Junior Champs. Solis Ortus wish you all the best of luck and is confident that you will all achieve your goals. Go out and be calm but alert, relaxed but ready, smooth but sharp, humble but confident, and be the best you can be.
Next weekend, 02-03 March, KSA U21/Seniors/Veterans will face their challenge. “Practice like you’ve never won. Perform like you’ve never lost.”
Good luck to our karatekas who will compete in these tournaments the upcoming two weekends. Solis Ortus wishing you all a fantastic tournament. Remember “Everyone you meet, has something to teach you.” Watch and learn, do and achieve. “It’s not about being better than the other. It’s about being better than you were yesterday.”

Written by: Heilethe Calitz