Carnegie Mellon
The Carnegie Mellon Shotokan Karate Club is the oldest martial arts club at CMU, teaching traditional karate to the Carnegie Mellon community for over 35 years on a volunteer basis. Our association with Shotokan Karate of America (SKA) began in 1973. SKA is a non-profit national organization under the leadership of Tsutomu Ohshima, who was the first person to start teaching karate in the US. Respecting the teaching principles of Mr. Ohshima and Sadaharu Honda, our club teaches karate for no charge for the benefit of student community.The CMU dojo is currently led by sandans Mark Ciancutti and John Stander and nidan Bruce Schmidt. We are also fortunate to occasionally receive as guests Pittsburgh-area godans Bob Bakos and Mike Duray, as well as (on very special occasions) Mr. Honda.
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Rahul Sukthankar, John Stander, Bob Bakos, Mark Ciancutti, Bruce Schmidt |
Practice schedule
Our club meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings (6:30-8:30pm) as well as Saturday mornings (10am-12noon) in the Skibo Gym fencing room.The first two weeks of September are designed to introduce new members to the club, but beginners are welcome to join our classes at any point—no prior martial arts experience is required. There is no fixed syllabus, and attending all the classes is not mandatory. Some members have schedule conflicts that prevent them from attending one or two classes every week. Obviously, though, the more classes you attend the faster you'll progress.
Special Training
Special Trainings are unique to SKA and its affiliated groups. They are practices which last from 2-4 days and are designed to push your body and mind to their maximum potential. It is said that one special training is worth 6 months of regular practice. Special trainings take place throughout the year across North America. According to many practitioners of karate, special trainings have been among the most demanding physical and mental challenges in their lives and definitely a life changing experience.The ideals behind Special Training are most clearly articulated by our senior Sadaharu Honda:
| We know that human beings are very kind to themselves and are living as easily as they can. In this kind of situation we only maintain what we have, and the only way to obtain something new is to push ourselves strongly forward. The purpose of practicing karate is to develop physical and mental strength by putting ourselves into hardship. |
Grading and ranking system
We still follow Master Funakoshi's original ranking system in SKA which consists of: 8th-4th kyu (white belt), 3rd-1st kyu (brown belt), and 1st-5th dan (black belt). Gradings for the kyu ranks are held in November and April (the months of Master Funakoshi's birth and death). Gradings for the dan ranks are held only at special trainings.Fees
Thanks to the generosity of our black belts, all of our classes are free. In order to be ranked, attend special trainings, other special events and to practice with hundreds of other SKA affiliated clubs worldwide, SKA membership is required. The fee for the first year of membership is $50, and $75 for subsequent years. However the club does not demand fees from students for regular practice.Who can join?
We are a student organization, and our classes are open to all members of the CMU community, i.e., all students (undergraduate or graduate), faculty, and staff. Unfortunately, due to current space limitations at Skibo Gym, we are unable to take students from outside of CMU—even those enrolled at other area universities. The only way you can practice with us is if you have access to Skibo Gym, and access to Skibo Gym requires a valid CMU ID.
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CMU dojo, February, 2006 |