September 2013 marked the 50 years milestone of
non-stop Karate Do practice for the Chief
Instructor of South Africa, Sensei Bakkies
Laubscher.
To commemorate this milestone, an International
three day Gasshuku with his teacher and mentor
for 47 of those years, Sensei Morio Higaonna, will
be held in his hometown of Stellenbosch on 1, 2
and 3 May 2014 – kicking off with a Welcome
Party on 30th April 2014. The Gasshuku will include separate training sessions for members of all
grades including juniors of all ages, similar to the
2010 'Ubuntu' event. This will be an opportunity
for all IOGKF members to experience the best tuition in Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate by the current
top teachers worldwide. Make sure you do not
miss this opportunity!
His career briefly: Sensei Bakkies started off in the Kyokushin style, end of 1963, then changed
to Shotokan (JKA) mid 1964 and became a Black Belt in July1965, at the time, possibly the
youngest senior (adult) Black Belt worldwide in JKA. To put this in perspective, in the same
year he won the Cape Province Grand Champion title (best in Kata and Fighting) in the open
senior division - there were no weight categories!
At the end of 1966 he changed to Goju Ryu when it was introduced in South Africa and has followed his teacher and mentor, Higaonna Morio Sensei ever since. He is currently Higaonna Sensei's most senior student worldwide and has taught Goju Ryu in 25 countries to date!
He considers himself blessed in the sense that he always had exceptional teachers throughout his
career in all three disciplines, for example, Sensei’s Kase and Shirai in JKA, with of course the
ultimate being Sensei Higaonna Morio - his personal mentor and teacher for the past 47 years.
His philosophy remains that it is not the style of Karate, but the Teacher that will ensure
progress.