tournament time at the karate ranch! (part one)

This summer has been a prime opportunity for tournaments! As students have anticipated tournaments, they have trained hard physically and mentally to test themselves against fellow students (and we've had some exciting matches!). As a pre-tournament event the karate club went down to Indianola to run on the beach, practice kata, balance rocks and build sand castles.

Of course, everyone was a little surprised at the idea of building sand castles... but driving your fingers into the sand repeatedly can help out with knife-hand strikes. (not to mention concepts such as planning and cooperation).
Kata practice was quite interesting because it was the first time in a long time we'd had some of the oldest members show up. We practiced katas kihon, geki sai ichi, and geki sai ni.

Everyone was really excited. No one could suspect what would happen next...