It’s been a busy couple of months with more than 250 students attending the GKR Okinawa Experience 2025 in August, State and Zone Titles, our Stop Domestic & Family Violence Purple Belt Awareness Month and the GKR National Championships.
National Champs 2025
Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom recently hosted their National Championships. This year, we saw the Australian Champs return to Melbourne for the first time since 2018; in New Zealand, Christchurch hosted the NZ Champs for the first time ever, and Sheffield was once again the host of the UK Champs. National Championships are a great way to bring GKR students from far and wide together, to compete in the spirit of Karate-do and celebrate another fantastic year of achievements.
With strong competitor numbers across all 3 events we would like to extend our congratulations to everyone who competed.
Our newly crowned Open Division National Champions are:
Australia
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New Zealand
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United Kingdom
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For a full breakdown of results by division and photographs: AUS Click Here, NZ Click Here & UK Click Here
Stop Domestic & Family Violence – Purple Belt Month
Our second October Purple Belt awareness month was a great success. It was fantastic to see our students and families sporting purple belts and our Stop Domestic & Family t-shirts in GKR classes in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Your support goes a long way in providing assistance to our chosen charities; RizeUp Australia, Shine New Zealand and Refuge UK.
Throughout October, a series of self-defence seminars and fundraising activities were also held across multiple Dojos, providing additional opportunities to raise funds and awareness in support of those affected by domestic and family violence.
Since 2024, our Stop Domestic and Family Violence Campaign has raised $112,541.92 for RizeUp Australia, $28,308.47 for Shine New Zealand and £11,470.24 for Refuge United Kingdom.
GREAT NEWS – FREE Online Academy Access over Christmas!
We’re excited to provide all members with FREE access to the GKR Online Karate and Fitness Academy over the Christmas break!
With live online classes, along with over 300 on-demand training videos from some of GKR’s top instructors, PLUS over 50 home-training Pilates sessions – the Online Academy is the perfect way to stay sharp over the Christmas period. No payment details are required, and one account can be accessed by the entire family. Enjoy training anywhere, anytime this Christmas!
Click Here to claim your free holiday access, available from now until 10th January 2026.
OVER 250 STUDENTS ATTEND GKR’S 2025 OKINAWA EXPERIENCE
As a young man and enthusiastic karate student, Robert Sullivan (Kancho) travelled to Japan on multiple occasions to experience its culture and train with numerous masters. These trips had a profound impact on not only his karate knowledge, but equally his passion for training. Wanting students to experience these same benefits, Kancho Sullivan has endorsed and attended our organized GKR trips (“Experiences”) to Japan/Okinawa every 2 years since 2001.
While these started relatively small, the numbers have consistently grown each trip. In 2025, the trend continued with our largest to date – with more than 250 students from around Australia, New Zealand and the UK attending the ‘Okinawa Experience’.
For those unaware, Japan’s island of Okinawa is the birthplace of karate and still houses the majority of the world’s most revered masters. GKR hired Okinawa’s giant
Karate Hall (The Kaikan) for a week in August and invited various masters from different karate styles to come and share their techniques and philosophies.
This year we had 6 different masters teach, some of whom we had trained with before and others for the first time, such as Nobuko Oshiro Sensei, Okinawa’s first and only female Grand Master.
Training under masters from various styles exposes us to new ways of viewing our techniques, while helping us appreciate why different styles may vary in their techniques. Essentially there is no real ‘right or wrong’ and equally understanding that at its core, there are always more similarities between styles than differences.
Outside of training, we also organise two free days where students can socialise and experience the culture and beauty of Okinawa. This includes trips to historical karate-sites, castles, waterfalls and even getting 115 GKR students travelling by ferry to the islands of Zamami and Aka for some world-famous off-beach snorkeling.
While we are only there ‘officially’ for the week, most students add extra time for their own Japanese holiday, either in Okinawa or even on mainland Japan. If you are interested in our next trip, it will be in August 2027, and we have some ideas to make it our best one yet.
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
Earlier this month, Kancho sent out his annual Christmas email – if you have not already done so, please take the time to read this as it contains some important information. If you haven’t seen this email in your inbox, please check your spam or junk folder or Click Here to read online. Best wishes to our GKR family for a Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.
