Grove Martial Arts

17/06/2026

12/06/2026

Welcome to Hans island 🥋😂

All jokes aside this recent series of striking sessions at GMA has been really rewarding to teach.

The misunderstanding around Kihon (fundamentals) and what its role is in the wider training matrix formed the basis for these sessions.

To the outsider this display of military style drilling bares very little resemblance to how strikes are used in the “real world”. This is true!

However, the misunderstanding here is that Kihon is a method for developing many aspects of a particular skill; it isn’t the skill in its final form.

Each element of the skill will be expanded upon using footwork and body movement during moving Kihon and further developed again using dynamic Kihon to provide realistic uses for the skill. Impact drills develop the power and sparring deals with the techniques tactical employment.

Most importantly Kihon is exactly repeatable and simple. It is that repeatability and simplicity that builds the skill to a level where it is robust enough to build upon. If a practically usable skill is what we are looking to develop then we must not become bogged down in the perfection of Kihon for Kihon’s sake.

11/06/2026

Important Announcent!

We will be pausing new starters for our junior sessions at Grove soon.

We have been fortunate to have so many lovely students join us this year and we want to give everybody the opportunity to settle in over the summer.

The last date for new starters coming along will be the 15th of June. We will accept people again in the autumn and have a waiting list for those spaces so feel free to contact us to get your child's name on that.

We are still accepting new juniors at Didcot 😊

11/06/2026

Karate Kid the musical was a great recommendation by Sensei Chris Mort. It’s a real shame you couldn’t have joined us because it was AWESOME 👊

I highly recommend it if you are a fan of the film, even if you aren’t a fan of musicals it’s well worth a watch it might convert you!

The cast were fantastic and the whole production is so well put together. Amie and I both really enjoyed it 😊

We were extra fortunate to see Isaac Lewis play Daniel San. Isaac is Shihan Dan Lewis’s son and a Goju Ryu Karateka with DKK.

If you are in Oxford we highly recommend a visit to see the Karate Kid 🥋

09/06/2026

The Oxfordshire All Vale Practical Karate Championship is coming….

Saturday 4th July @ the Grove Dojo 1000 to 1600

Grove Martial Arts will be hosting a one of a kind practical Karate tournament that will see teams and individuals compete across a host of self-protection and Self-defence events.

This is the brain child of our very own Sensei Ed Glenn and forms part of his 4th Dan grading.

This first year the event is only open to GMA members but we plan to open it to the wider practical Karate community in the future.

Sign up today; the sign up sheet will be available at every session. Get your teams together and prepare to enter the forge!

04/06/2026

As it was mentioned in my post yesterday I thought I would share a few pictures from the recent GMA motorcycle tour.

A small group of us have been going to Europe each year for a tour around WW1 and WW2 battle sites and museums. It’s a wonderful opportunity to get hundreds of miles of riding and socialise as a club.

The invite is open to anyone with a motorbike who is a member or ex member of the club.

Sensei Troy and I are the original members of the group still riding. Thank you to the GMA instructor team and those senior students who stepped up to cover classes while we were away 👊

03/06/2026

Great to be back in the Dojo after the GMA motorbike tour to France 🇫🇷 and Belgium 🇧🇪

We ran Kakie drills to build body awareness of our connection to our partner and the ground. Once we had established this we then looked at controlling and redirecting the enemy by finding the direction they are weakest.

Here Stu is playing with arm redirecting and take down concepts with Sensei Lewis. Being tall Stu wanted to look at the modifications he would have to make with a smaller enemy.