Dear Students, Parents and Caregivers,
2024 has certainly been a big year for GKR Karate with some remarkable milestones achieved and plenty to celebrate. For starters, this year represented our club’s 40th anniversary! We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings in 1984 and I am sincerely grateful to everyone who has contributed to the club’s success and growth over these years.
World Cup 2024
Aside from our 40th Anniversary, we also hosted our biggest ever World Cup in Sydney. It was amazing to watch more than 1400 students competing in the true spirit of karate-do over the 3-day event, and with 4000+ spectators in full voice over the weekend, the atmosphere was truly electric.
GKR Stories
The launch of our ‘GKR Stories’ platform has provided the opportunity for us to share some inspiring stories from within our karate community. From overcoming adversity, achieving personal goals, having the courage to leave unsafe situations and more, we are appreciative of everyone who has already shared their story and look forward to sharing more GKR Stories in 2025. You can view our GKR stories by clicking here.
Stop Domestic and Family Violence Campaign
This year also saw us initiate a partnership with 3 charities and debut our ‘Stop Domestic and Family Violence – Purple Belt Campaign’ raising much needed funds and awareness for an issue that affects countless Australians. The support received for this campaign has helped us donate more than:
$72,000 to RizeUp Australia
$19,000 to Shine New Zealand
£6,000 to Refuge United Kingdom
On behalf of everyone involved, I would like to thank you for your support. You can read about our Purple Belt Campaign and associated charities by clicking here.
Online Academy
If you haven’t already activated your 1-month free trial for the Online Academy, now is the time to do so. With a comprehensive library of tailored Karate and Pilates classes the Online Academy is the perfect supplement to your training – especially if you are going away and not able to attend classes in-person over the holiday period. Click here to start your one month free access (unless you’ve done so already).
December/January Class Timetables
Whilst our last regular public classes for 2024 will be on Friday 20th December, it is likely that we will still be running a reduced class timetable in your area over the Christmas/New Year period. Please speak with your Branch Instructor in December about this reduced class timetable. If you’re not going away over this period, we encourage you to keep up your karate routine during this time to maintain the training momentum you have built. Our regular public class timetables will resume in 2025 from Monday 6th January.
Training Fees
Your direct debit training fee rates are based on an annual fee divided by 52 equal weekly payments (or 26 or 12 depending on your payment frequency). As the formal Christmas break period forms part of this 52 week calculation, please note that your normal payments will continue during this time. Again, we encourage students to not only take advantage of our reduced Christmas/New Year timetable, but to also attend as many extra classes as they can during the January school holiday period.
THANK YOU!
I’d like to express my gratitude to all the students who have maintained a consistent approach to their karate training throughout 2024, as well as thank our dedicated branch and senior instructors. The incredible work they do each week is essential to making our wide range of locations and training days possible across the country. Their commitment to delivering high-quality classes this year has, as always, been exceptional.
Merry Christmas
On behalf of the entire senior instructor group, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you again in the New Year!
Best wishes,
Kancho Robert Sullivan
Founder & Chief Instructor
