Posted on: March 12th 2015 | Category:
Kung Fu is one of the martial arts that originally comes from China. I've been practising kung fu for two years.
My teacher Danil is very good at Kung Fu. He has been training for a very long time. He wears a blue belt. Last year I did my first grading and qualified for my green belt.
To move up to different coloured belts, you must have good skill and you have to be old enough.
During classes we warm up and then practise different stances. Some of the stances are: horse stance, bow and arrow, and cat stance. We also practise some moves such as: kicks, blocks, and punches. After we learn the moves, we then combine them. We also do some exercises to help us get more flexible and have better balance.
At the end of each class we practise Mandarin. I know several characters, such as 'horse,' and 'pig,' and I know my numbers up to 1000!
By Zain Sabur
I learn Karate at Muswell Hill Karate Academy and have been learning since I was 6. Karate is a Japanese martial art where a series of punches, kicks and strikes are taught. These are called 'Katas'.My instructor is called 'Sensei I Berisha' and is a world class Black-belt Sixth Dan. 'Sensei' means master in Japanese. He teaches in a studio called a 'Dojo'.All 'Sensei's' commands are in Japanese, so I now understand lots of Japanese words.I do Karate for self-defence and to keep myself fit.
Levels are marked by belt colours and I am on the green belt, which is the fifth belt out of eight colours. White is the lowest belt and black is the highest which is divided into levels called 'Dans'.I have been given the achievement award three times.
I would recommend karate to everyone even though it is hard work, because gives you power and strength.
Christian Chesney
My name is Georgina and I am in Form 3. Outside of school, I enjoy swimming and playing the piano. I train twice a week with my brother and sister at Barnet Copthall Swimming club. We start each training session with warm ups on all 4 strokes – back stroke, breast stroke, front crawl and butterfly, then we concentrate and perfect one stroke each week. It is tiring to swim lengths non-stop for an hour but you get used to it and I can feel my muscles are getting stronger! Getting out of bed especially in freezing winter on Saturday mornings (we are in the water at 8am!) is not easy but once I see all my friends and our amazing swimming coach encouraging us, I forget it’s so early in the morning! My favourite stroke is front crawl – I love swimming especially when we have competitions because we get crowned King or Queen!
My other passion is piano. I am preparing for my Grade 3 exam next term and I will be sitting my Grade 2 music theory exam next week. Hopefully I will get distinction like last time! I try my best to practise half an hour everyday but sometimes it’s hard to find the time so I make it up at weekends. I love playing the piano because I get to perform in assemblies and creative curriculum at school. My piano teacher entered me for the North London Music festival competition last year and I received commendation for both pieces I played. I was a bit nervous at first as I was one of the youngest in my age group. It was a fantastic experience because I received very encouraging feedback from the adjudicator. The North London Music festival is held every year in May and I will be competing again this year so hopefully I won’t be as nervous as last year because I will be one year older!
If any of you get a chance to swim in a club or play the piano, I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I do!
Georgina Chan
