Ju-Jitsu: Club offers free classes to mark 15th anniversary (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Ju-Jitsu: Club offers free classes to mark 15th anniversary

8:47am Wednesday 4th January 2012 in Sport By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

FREE Ju-Jitsu and Nunchaku classes will be held by the Kesshin Kai Martial Arts Club through January as the club celebrates its 15th anniversary.

The club changed its name at the turn of the year from the Lakeland Ju-Jitsu Academy as it now extends beyond JuJitsu to Nunchaku and Kobudo.

Sensei Richard Smith started the club in 1997 in Ambleside with just five members, but 15 years on the academy has gone from strength to strength and now boasts 120 regular members, with classes being held in Kendal, Ambleside, Windermere and Carlisle.

And the new year brings a new dawn for the club as it opens a new venue in Penrith, offering a broader service across the county and Josh Weetman, 1st Dan will assist Sensei Smith in running the sessions there.

Sensei Smith said: “I have wanted to set up the Ju-Jitsu in Penrith for a while and it will be run in conjunction with our Carlisle branch. We are hoping it will help members from Penrith have better access to classes as well as students at Newton Rigg.

“It is a very good way to keep fit, helps to maintain discipline, co-ordination skills and most of all it is fun and we have opened the classes up to invite anyone interested in getting involved.”

The sports are open to anyone aged four up to 75 and classes range from private sessions to group and corporate meetings, while self-defence classes are also available through the club.

The club has enjoyed huge successes in both Ju-Jitsu and Nunchaku in the last two years with Sensei Smith placing second at the European Nunchaku Championships and several others reaching 1st Dan from October 2009 to March 2011.

The new title of the Kesshin Kai Martial Arts clubs translates as the group of determined hearts through martial arts and Sensei Smith said it was a more fitting name for the nature of the club.

He added: “Through true martial arts you are not only training your body and heart but more importantly your mind. Many people think it is all about violence and aggression but these people are uneducated on this subject.

“Martial arts is all about balance and trying to know yourself by understanding others.”

* Information: Sensei Richard Smith, tel, 07718 530346 or www.world-ju-jitsu.com