In line with government announcements of lockdown rules being lifted, our karate clubs will be re-opening their doors from April 12th for children's classes. With the governments proposed roadmap out of lockdown, adult classes should resume from the 17th May. Lessons are currently restricted to 15 people indoors as per government guidelines, so please get in touch with your instructor to confirm your attendance at class. For any new enquiries, please email sskarateassociation@gmail.com or use our Contact page to register your interest. Please see our Locations page to access your local clubs Facebook page or website for specific information on their re-opening. We'd again like to thank all our members for staying active, attending zoom classes and supporting our clubs through each lockdown - we can't wait to see everyones faces back at club this year!

Firstly, Thank you!

With the end of National Lockdown 2.0, our clubs can now re-open! Clubs in tier 2 can re-open fully with the previous covid-19 safety measures in places (queued entry and exit, social distancing at all times, hand sanitiser stations). Clubs in tier 3 can open for U18's only. We expect these Tiers to change over the coming weeks and months, so please keep an eye out on your clubs social media for any changes! Great Sankey Karate Club - Tier 2 Re-opening Thursday 3rd December with full timetable in place. Thursdays 6pm - Children White - Blue 7pm - Children Blue + 8pm - Adults (open) 9pm - Adults (open) Sundays 8:45 - Children Advanced 9:40 - Adults (open) 10:35 - Adults (open) 11:30 - Children White - Blue Mondays 6pm - Family Class (children can train with their designated adult) 7pm - Family Class (children can train with their designated adult)

We regret to inform our members that the latest government announcement of a 2nd national lockdown will see all leisure activities, and therefore our karate clubs, once again close for a short while from Thursday 5th November. It has been lovely to see our members training again and enjoying themselves. It’s a real shame to be put in lockdown for a second time after adopting all social distance and safety guidelines (and not being able to do any proper karate!). We felt like our clubs were some of the safest places to be. Back to online training we go! The association Facebook group (SSK: Online Training) has a stock of short syllabus based training videos which we will be adding to as lockdown goes on. Please click on the SSK online training badge below for a direct link to the page. We have also put together a timetable of zoom classes as shown below. These are open to any members of any association clubs! Please email Steve or Chris for for the zoom meeting information.

Earlier this week, Sensei Chris Robinson travelled to the Great Sankey Karate Club to present Steve Nelson with a well-deserved 7th dan on behalf of the SSK committee. This unfortunately had to be a small, socially distanced event due to the current covid-19 pandemic, but it was more than enough spotlight to make Steve feel awkward!

Great Sankey Karate Club will be moving back into the Great Sankey & Penketh area!! From Thursday 3rd September the club will be located at Penketh Youth Club, Honiton Hall, Honiton Way, Penketh, WA5 2EY. Please note a slight time change for our Sunday classes. Classes will remain 50 minutes long, with 5-10 minutes cleaning time in between, until further notice. Monday Classes *NEW* Family class: 6:00-6:50pm Thursday Classes Children: White – Blue 6:00pm-6:50pm and Purple+ 7:00-7:50pm Teens & Adults: All grades 8:00pm-8:50pm, All grades 9:00pm-9:50pm Sunday Classes Children: Blue+ 8:45am-9:35am, White – Green 11:30am-12:20pm Teens & Adults: All grades 9:40am-10:30am, All grades 10:35am-11:25am Constant contact is being maintained with Great Sankey Leisure Centre but it does look unlikely that they will be able to accommodate us in 2020. They are currently using the sports hall and studios to spread out their gym equipment. Urmston Karate Club has settled in well to its new home of Hartford Community Centre and classes will remain the same times and with the same Covid-19 prevention methods in place. Chorley Shukokai Karate Club will continue at Buckshaw Community Village Hall with 9-10am and 10-11am classes as it has done throughout August. Classes will start back at Heskin Village Hall from Friday 4th September at 6-7pm and also Monday 7th September at 6-7pm and 7-8pm. Please note the change of day from Wednesday to Monday nights whilst we wait for the usual Wednesday venue to become available. JenDan Karate Club (Marple) will re-open on Monday 7th September at 6:30-7:30pm and Friday 11th September 6-7pm at the usual venue of Brabyns Recreation Centre. Derbyshires Shukokai Karate Club The Runcorn club will continue as normal at Castlefields Community Centre with the Thursday class at 5:00pm-6:00pm. The Widnes club will continue at St John Fisher RC Church Hall with classes on Tuesday 5:30-6:30pm and Saturdays 11-12pm.

On 7th of March, we held our first Pinan Application Course for all members of SSK.

On the 11th of December, the selected SSK squad travelled to Cluj Napoca, Romania for the annual European Champions cup. As a team, this is usually our favourite international trip of the year and this year did not disappoint with the team bringing home 3 Gold and 2 Bronze medals.

On the 22nd October, the selected SSK squad travelled to Odense, Denmark to compete in the 2019 WUKF European Championships. After a Wednesday full of registrations, coaching and referee meetings the competition got underway on Thursday with team kumite and cadets open kata!