Redcliffe Goju Karate

16/03/2026

🥋 Redcliffe Goju Kids Training Strong! 💪

Powerful kicks, great focus & big smiles at International Goju Karate-do Redcliffe tonight!

Our juniors are building confidence, discipline & respect every session.

📍 Red Cross Hall, Portwood Street, Redcliffe
🕖 Tue & Thu • 6:30–7:30pm (ages 6–12)

💥 Free trial classes available!
Comment “TRIAL” or message us 👇

02/02/2026

Looking for something positive, active, and confidence building?

For a limited time, new junior members get a FREE uniform when they enroll for 4 weeks of classes 🥋

That’s a full month of training for only $50! uniform included!

Structure. Discipline. Confidence. Fun.

Send a message to claim this offer!

📍 Location: Red Cross Hall, Redcliffe
🌎 www.gojukarateqld.com
⏰ Junior classes 6-7pm (Tues & Thur)

12/01/2026

Senior classes start back this Tuesday night. Looking forward to seeing you all.

15/07/2025

Classes return to 2 nights a week from today. Juniors from 6.30 to 7.30pm and seniors from 6.30 to 8.30pm.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tonight.

08/07/2025

29/04/2025

(Approx 2 minute 40 second read)

I often receive messages from people that say that in their dojo, or school, their instructor doesn’t teach bunkai applications - or are not very realistic.
This isn’t unusual. Many instructors were brought up on the idea that you shouldn’t question. You just did as you were told. Why? Well, perhaps they didn’t know either.
Not the best learning environment, is it?
But to be honest, once you reach a certain level, if you don’t question yourself and seek to find answers on your own, whose fault is it?
If your instructor doesn’t know, then search for someone who does. There is so much information available today. If you have the desire, it’s all there.
But you have to want it of course. It’s not brain surgery. If something doesn’t work when trying to apply it, look for another way.
I had another message recently from a sport-karate practitioner. The message again disputed my take on the usefulness of kata and its role in self-defense, asking: “What is sparring for?” The tirade went on, but I won’t give it too much credence - it was, shall we say, particularly rude. Anyway. God bless them.
Surely they must realize that the sparring mentioned is just that - sparring. It’s not real.
For me, I would describe sparring as practicing your techniques freely against an opponent who will resist your efforts and also apply their own. The restrictions are based on safety, not on realism. And for most practitioners, you stay standing.
Two opponents using and defending techniques for, say, 3-minutes. Contact is typically light unless told otherwise. There’s no winner and it should be about helping each other learn and practice.
Of course, the exact approach varies by school. Some prohibit certain techniques, others mandate specific ones. Some like to hack at the legs and pound the body, while others allow light contact to the head, while others don’t. The session usually begins at a distance, and many dangerous techniques are disallowed - and most dojo will expect you to stay standing.
Does that sound like any form of self-protection to you?
Self-protection requires a different mindset - a different set of skills. The right training for the right purpose, in the right context - that’s what truly matters.
Sparring is useful, it’s fun, it builds skill, and it has an important place in training. But - and this matters - everything we do needs to be in the right context. If you’re using sparring as your only method to prepare for self-defense, then you're placing it in the wrong context.
For those who are still unconvinced, think of it like this - in a self-defense scenario, people don’t square off. You’re not going to face off against a criminal the way you would an opponent in the dojo or in competition. Real-world situations rarely play out that cleanly.
If your goal is to compete, then find a dojo that excels in that. There are plenty of great schools that will help you.
But if your interest is self-protection, then you need to find a school that truly covers that type of training - not one where you stand toe-to-toe pretending that sparring is the answer to the knife-wielding thug hiding in the alleyway.
So back to the criticism of kata, which is abundant. When its function is properly understood, it offers insight - a glimpse into how the old pioneers, over a century ago, used their skills for real-world self-protection.
These weren’t techniques made for points or to impress judges. They were forged out of necessity, built on experience, and passed on in the only way they could at the time - through kata. It was, in a sense, their way of preserving knowledge for future generations.
The answers are there - if you're willing to look beyond the noise and apply a little common sense.
Written by Adam Carter

11/03/2025

Classes are back to normal tonight. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

06/03/2025

With the approach of TC Alfred there will be no training tonight, Thursday 6 March

22/02/2025

(Approx 2 minute 35 second read)

Social media today is flooded with people showing off their ideas of bunkai applications. Every day, my feed is full of someone performing something or other.
Sometimes, these ideas are just cringeworthy, so I move on. It’s not worth losing time over.
Now, I get that for many people, karate is just a fun way to wind down after a long day. They’re not looking for anything real. Some just want to move, sweat, and enjoy training without overcomplicating things. And that’s fine.
As instructors, we have to meet students where they are. Some want depth, some don’t. But even for those who see the dojo as an escape, karate has more to offer than just physical movement.
Okay, here we go. That said, where does it end?
I honestly can’t see the point in perpetuating the myth that most of these so-called bunkai applications are actual self-defense. It beggars belief.
Recently, I saw a post by a well-known instructor. He shared pictures of an equally well-known Okinawan master, long passed, who he claims was his sole instructor since the 1960s, demonstrating bunkai - for, you guessed it, self-defense.
Now, I get it - training has to start somewhere. You can’t throw full resistance and aggression at beginners right away. But come on. An ‘oi-zuki’ attack to the midsection, followed by the defender performing seven, yes seven, defensive techniques while the attacker stands frozen, arm outstretched? That’s not training. That’s play-acting.
And for those who insist that the pressure will ramp up over time - maybe, but let’s be honest, if a self-defense technique is flawed, it’s flawed no matter the pressure or aggression.
Yet, this is how applications are commonly demonstrated. Why? Because too many people accept whatever their instructor taught them without question.
"My instructor told me this, so it must be true!”
Sorry, but that doesn’t cut it. You have to think for yourself. Because those same students will eventually become instructors, and if they never question what they’ve learned, they’ll keep passing down the same flawed ideas. And so, the myth lives on.
Let’s be clear - if you’re training for self-defense, it’s not a game. It’s not a sport. It’s an investment in your safety, and it deserves your full attention. If it’s not self-defense, then say so. Don’t claim that it is. And if you do, then prove it - don’t just put on a performance like some ‘Kabuki’ play.
Now, imagine the irony: you spend years training your applications, convinced you’re learning how to defend yourself. Then, one day, you actually need to fight back… and your training fails you.
The attacker doesn’t leave his arm hanging in midair. Your techniques, drilled into you in a compliant dojo (there’s that repetition again), crumble under pressure. Worse, those bad habits become a liability.
It’s not just useless - it’s dangerous.
Don’t get me wrong - I have immense respect for skilled, knowledgeable, and dedicated instructors. I count many of them among my associates, some of them Okinawan. But let’s stop pretending that everything wrapped in the label of traditional karate equals real self-defense. Because it isn’t.
Perhaps in reality, some of the Okinawan teachers from that period were really teaching us what we call ‘Gendai Budō’ - a modern fighting art, all along, shaped more by structure, discipline, and physical development than by raw, functional self-defense. (Yes they were)
If that’s the case, then what many consider ‘traditional’ today might not have been intended for real combat at all.
And yet, the myth persists. I keep writing about it because I keep seeing it.
But why do so many people refuse to think for themselves? I don’t know, maybe there’s something in the water.
Written by Adam Carter

10/01/2025

Classes for the senior group start back next Tuesday, 14 January.
Time is 6:30 to 8pm
Looking forward to seeing everyone back on the mats.