While going through some old magazines recently, I came across the July 1998 issue of Kyokushinkai Magazine. It included two articles, including this one about beach training I had written after Hanshi Steve Arneil encouraged me to submit something for publication. I’ll share the second article in a future post.
At the time, I was writing a newsletter for my dojo in Florida. During one of Hanshi Arneil’s visits to the United States, the subject came up over lunch. He suggested that I submit something to Kyokushinkai Magazine, and Shihan Michael Monaco agreed that it was a good idea and encouraged me to follow through.
I don’t remember exactly how long it took me to write the articles, and after nearly thirty years some of the details have faded. I may have adapted material from the dojo newsletter, or I may have started from scratch. What I do remember is eventually submitting two articles, both of which appeared in the July 1998 issue.
The article below is one of them and describes our first beach training session at Playalinda Beach in September 1997. Beach training certainly isn’t unique within Kyokushin. Depending on where they live, many karateka have trained on beaches, along lakeshores, or in the surf. Kyokushin has a long history of training outdoors. For our dojo, however, this was the first of what I hoped would become regular monthly beach training sessions.
Looking back now, it’s interesting to realize this was one of the first articles I ever wrote about martial arts. It was published by the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) in the United Kingdom. At the time, I certainly never imagined that nearly thirty years later I would still be writing about Kyokushin. I’ll share the second article from that issue in a future post.
The article below is presented essentially as it appeared in Kyokushinkai Magazine, with only minor corrections to spelling, punctuation, and formatting and a couple of small word changes for clarity.
Beach Training in Florida
Originally published in Kyokushinkai Magazine, July 1998
On September 13, 1997, I took a small group of students to Playalinda Beach for the first of what I hoped would become monthly beach training sessions for Florida Kyokushin Karate students. Playalinda Beach is part of Canaveral National Seashore, about a 45-minute drive from Orlando.
It was still dark outside as we met to carpool to the beach. We began seeing light in the sky along the way, and the sun was just above the horizon by the time we reached our destination. The temperature was in the mid-70s as we began our training with a run down the beach and back.
In Florida during September, it does not take long for the temperature to reach the 90s once the sun comes up—another reason for arriving early.
After returning from our run, we performed calisthenics and stretching exercises and then hit the water to work on basics. The water was like stepping into a warm bath, only a little rougher than what you will find in your bathtub.
Beach training is a much different environment than training in the dojo. For one thing, the floor moves. Soft sand gives when you walk, run, or train on it. This provides an additional workout because you are using muscles that you would not normally use simply to stabilize yourself.
The same holds true for training in the water, only more so. The action of the waves striking you, the water pulling against you as it flows back out after hitting the beach, and the sand literally washing out from beneath your feet give a whole new meaning to the word “balance.”
For the next hour and a half, we worked on basics, both in and out of the water, and kata, interspersed with calisthenics, push-ups, and wind sprints. We were all tired after the training but agreed that it had been a great experience.
By this time, the temperature was approaching the aforementioned 90 degrees, so we dried off, changed our clothes, and headed for the nearest breakfast bar to take care of the appetites we had built up.
— Senpai Bill Stewart, 2nd Dan
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