HKK Christmas Kata Course - December 2025

What a way to end 2025!

Higashi clubs travelled from far and wide across the country, from deepest darkest Essex and Norfolk to the wild west of Wales, from the depths of Cornwall to the lofty heights of Staffordshire - all to attend the much-anticipated Christmas Kata Course and Grading in Swindon on 13th December.

After a sweaty warmup lead by Tony Sergent we covered basics and ran though the pinan katas and then moved on to kata with bunkai with top tips from Senseis Steve Bell, Jon Dunn, Sue Skinner, Steve Gibbs, and John Hurley.

After a short breather we then went into the grading with Maldon's Matthew Copsey and James Harvey earning 1st and 3rd dan respectively and John Barry from Luton earning his 1st dan.

Matthew Copsey 1st Dan and James Harvey 3rd Dan

John Barry 1st Dan

Kudos goes to Matt Copsey for taking on the stress of the grading after being rather ill during the day. Real testament to his character and fortitude for powering through and putting on a good show for the judging panel! Congratulations also go to Cedric from Swindon on being promoted to 1st kyu.

We would also like to thank all the parents and carers who attended the day and those who support their children throughout the year, ferrying them around to classes, training courses and competitions. It would be a lot harder to do all this without your support.

Special thanks also go to Emma Williams who organised the evening festivities at Fabio's restaurant and to Paul Cullum who organised the training venue.

And finally, a very special congratulations to Jon Dunn from HKK Wales on a well deserved promotion to 7th dan accompanied by a massive round of applause and cheers from all gathered there.

Jon Dunn 7th Dan

See you all in 2026 for lots more hard work, and love and laughter while we do it!

--Simon.

P.S. Check out this reel on Facebook, while you're here!