After the summer break, I’m here again, this time trying to gather as much info as possible about the Karate1 Frankfurt Open 2012, part of the WKF Premiere League. The location of the event is the August-Schärttner-Halle, in Hanau. This is an important test for the athletes, before the imminent WKF World Karate Championships, to be held in Paris on 21-25 November.

If you don’t remember what Karate1 is, check my previous post about the Dutch Open 2012!

This time the challenge will be very hard: many champions are going to test their preparation on the road to the World Championships, and some of them are facing their rivals after two years: do you remember Luca Valdesi vs. Antonio Diaz in Belgrade 2010? Well, Lucio Maurino and Vincenzo Figuccio (ITA) are in the list too!

The female kata category will be hard-fought too. There are some of the most relevant names in the world: Nguyen Hoang Ngan (VNM), Sara Battaglia (ITA), Sandy Scordo (FRA), Maria Dimitrova (DOM), Viviana Bottaro (ITA), Rimi Kajikawa (JAP) and many others.

And what about kumite? Names such as Jonathan Horne (DEU), Ciro Massa (ITA), William Rolle (FRA), Rene Smaal (NED), Diego Vandeschrick (BEL), Timothy Petersen (NLD), Salvatore Loria (ITA) and Tiffany Fanjat (FRA), Kristina Mah (AUS), Greta Vitelli (ITA) are enough for you?

Check the full draws of the competition and the timetable.

As usual I’ll do my best to cover the event and collect videos, photos and info during and after the competition! All the material will be published both on my social accounts (see the buttons on the right) and below in this post, so stay tuned and get ready for a great show!

Updates:

• videos playlist;
• official results;
• medals by nations;
• draw records;
• poolwinners records;
• repechages records;

Videos playlist

Finals are bold. Videos courtesy of KARATEbyJesse.com.

Featured videos in order:

1. Intro;
2. Italian male Kata Team (Figuccio, Maurino, Valdesi) – Gankaku;
3. [VIEW 1] Antonio Diaz (Suparimpei) vs Luca Valdesi (Gankaku);
4. [VIEW 1] Rimi Kajikawa (Chatan Yara Kusanku) vs. Hoang Ngan Nguyen (Suparimpei);
5. Germany 1 male Kata Team (Genau, Jüttner, Urke) – Unsu;
6. Antonio Diaz – Seienchin;
7. Luca Valdesi – Empi;
8. Luca Valdesi – Kanku Dai;
9. Luca Valdesi – Gojushiho Sho;
10. Antonio Diaz – Kururunfa;
11. Luca Valdesi – Sochin;
12. Luca Valdesi – Unsu;
13. Antonio Diaz – Chatan Yara Kusanku;
14. [VIEW 2] Rimi Kajikawa – Chatan Yara Kusanku;
15. [VIEW 2] Hoang Ngan Nguyen – Suparimpei;
16. [VIEW 2] Antonio Diaz – Suparimpei;
17. [VIEW 2] Luca Valdesi – Gankaku;
18. Vietnam female Kata team (Do Thi Thu, Nguyen, Nguyen) – Paiku;
19. Germany 1 female Kata team (Bleul, Heinrich, Wachter) – Unsu;
20. Kumite female -68 – Fanjat vs. Vizcaino;
21. Kumite female -50 – Aquilina vs. Thouy;
22. Kumite male -60 – Kalnins vs. Rendon;
23. Kumite female +68 – Martinovc vs. Nortan;
24. Kumite male +84 – Sheppard vs. Benaissa;
25. Kumite male -84 – Vandeschrick vs. Petersen;
26. Kumite male -75 – Smaal vs. Bitsch;
27. Kumite female -61 – Agier vs. Mah;
28. Kumite male -67 – Cossou vs. Madera;
29. Kumite female -55 – Bitsch vs. Ignace;

When Prof. Pierluigi Aschieri (coach of the Italian Karate team) invited me to participate to an international conference titled Game, Drama, Ritual in Martial Arts and Combat Sports, honestly I didn’t know what to expect from this event.

Drama? – I asked myself – What has Drama to deal with our work? What is the relation between Ritual and biomechanical sports motion analysis?

But the 1st IMACSSS (International Martial Arts and Combat Sports Scientific Society) conference completely surprised me: held in Genoa (or Genova, as we say here in Italy), on 8-10 June 2012, it embraced a wide range of cultural areas:

• Philosophical conceptions, general theories, terminology and systematics in Martial arts and Combat Sports (MA&CS);
• Pedagogy and didactic methodology in MA&CS;
• Kinesiological and physiological aspects of MA&CS;
• Technical and tactical issues in MA&CS;
• Psychological, artistic and spiritual dimensions of MA&CS;
• Historical and socio-cultural aspects of MA&CS.

With participants from all over the world, this conference was a great opportunity not only to show the results of our work, but also to start worthwhile discussions with researchers from different scientific fields.

The presentation I gave (check the slides below) summarizes a year and a half of research (in just 10 minutes), made in collaboration with Prof. Ettore Pennestrì, Prof. Pierluigi Aschieri and Prof. Pier Paolo Valentini. I apologize for the audio quality, but the wonderful Ducal Palace of Genoa was not designed according to the principles of acoustics.

During the reproduction of the presentation, you can click on the videos I projected to open them on Youtube and see the athletes of the Italian Karate team in action during the tests. You will find the same links to the videos on the slides below. If you want to see more videos recorded during the mocap sessions, check this playlist.

Virtual Sensei Lite™ is our FREE software for sports motion analysis based on Microsoft Kinect sensor. Before the introduction of this combination of hardware and software, the only alternatives for sports motion analysis were expensive and cumbersome mocap equipments or complex pieces of software based on traditional camcorders and slow algorithms for motion detection.

Not for everyone.

Virtual Sensei Lite combines the ease of use of the Kinect sensor with a FREE software which calculates some well known (and universally recognized) kinematic and kinetic parameters, like limbs velocities and body kinetic energy.

I’m not saying that Kinect tracking capabilities are comparable to those of more expensive professional equipments. I’m saying (but it is already well known) that this device offers exceptional possibilities considering its price (currently around 100 $) and, moreover, it is easy and fast to use (when coupled with the right software, of course).

I believe we have the merit of bringing biomechanical sports motion analysis into sports clubs and homes. I imagine VSLite as a useful instrument, actually used by coaches and athletes. Each revision of Virtual Sensei Lite is an humble tentative of improving the user experience. That’s why your questions and suggestions are always welcome.

This latest release fixes some bugs and refines many areas of the program.

Zoom and pan in plots now work

Finally i managed to fix that detestable bug on Virtual Sensei Lite plots: now zoom and pan tools work! Moreover, you can scale the plots using the combination pan tool + right click.

Watch the video (preferably in full screen and in HD) to see these tools in action:

One-time free activation procedure

Calibration with psi-pose restored

I decided to restore the previous calibration method, based on the psi-pose. This procedure is faster than the auto-calibration (1 vs 10 s) and, moreover, you don’t have to crop the initial 10 s of recording (because not accurate). Therefore, I removed the related warning message on tracking startup.

Configuration file

I extended the use of the configuration file (already present in the previous release): now it stores some settings that are still available when you close the program.

Code improvements

I completely rewrote many parts of the software: this led to a diffuse improvement in execution speed and to an increased code maintainability. For instance, the crop tool is faster and more responsive when dragging the mouse on the plots to select the desired time span.

Next steps

I received many emails with people having tracking problems: I know, Kinect has currently some tracking issue, particularly with complex motions. Since I had the opportunity to use Virtual Sensei Lite just before a Karate competition, testing a whole category of athletes before the match, I managed to understand the ideal tracking procedure for some common techniques. Therefore, expect a tracking guide soon, with many hints on how to place yourself with respect to the Kinect for each technique.

Go get Virtual Sensei Lite

Since Virtual Sensei Lite relies on some required libraries, you need to install or update them. In the second case, I suggest you to uninstall the old versions, install the new ones and restart your pc before running VSLite.

• If this is your first installation of Virtual Sensei Lite™, check the installation guide.
• If you are updating Virtual Sensei Lite™, read the update section.

I hope you will enjoy this new release: if you find bugs or have suggestions, please contact me. To receive the latest updates, subscribe to the newsletter, or follow Virtual Sensei on Facebook / Twitter / Google+.

The 47th European Senior Karate Championships 2012 took place in Adeje, southwestern part of the island of Tenerife (Spain), on 10-13th May.

Here you can find results, photos and videos of the event.

Updates (latest on top)

• Playlist from YouTube;
• Photo gallery (photos courtesy of: MirageMusil.eu, Real Federación Española de Karate, Giuseppe Maurino, Rene Smaal, Xavier Servolle);
• Medals table;
• Classification up to 3rd place;
• Full results and trees;

Playlist

Suggestion: watch the videos in full-screen and in HD.

1. Intro;
2. Male team Kata – Italy – Kata EMPI;
3. Male team Kata – Italy – Kata KANKU DAI;
4. Male team Kata – Italy – Kata UNSU;
5. Male team Kata – Final – Italy – Kata GANKAKU + bunkai;
6. Male team Kata – Final – Spain – Kata SUPARIMPEI;
7. Male team Kata – Final – Spain – Bunkai SUPARIMPEI;
8. Male Kata – Luca Valdesi [ITA] – Kata KANKU DAI;
9. Male Kata – Fernando San Jose Bastante [ESP] – Kata SEIPAI;
10. Male Kata – Minh Dack [FRA] – Kata SEIENCHIN;
11. Male Kata – Fernando San Jose Bastante [ESP] – Kata SEIENCHIN;
12. Male Kata – Luca Valdesi [ITA] – Kata EMPI;
13. Male Kata – Fernando San Jose Bastante [ESP] – Kata ANNAN;
14. Male Kata – Mehmet Yakan [TUR] – Kata ANNAN;
15. Male Kata – Luca Valdesi [ITA] – Kata GOJUSHIHO SHO;
16. Male Kata – Fernando San Jose Bastante [ESP] – Kata CHATANYARA KUSHANKU;
17. Male Kata – Mehmet Yakan [TUR] – Kata PAIKU;
18. Male Kata – Luca Valdesi [ITA] – Kata JION;
19. Male Kata final – Fernando San Jose Bastante [ESP] – Kata SUPARIMPEI;
20. Male Kata final – Luca Valdesi [ITA] – Kata UNSU;
21. Male Kata bronze final – Minh Dack [FRA] (KURURUNFA) vs Mehmet Yakan [TUR] (MATSUMURA BASSAI);
22. Male Kata bronze final – Matej Urik [SVK] (ANNAN) vs Jonathan Mottram [ENG] (KANKU SHO)
23. Female Kata – Yaiza Martin Abello [ESP] – Kata SEIENCHIN;
24. Female Kata – Sandy Scordo [FRA] – Kata KANKU DAI;
25. Female Kata – Sara Battaglia [ITA] – Kata KANKU DAI;
26. Female Kata – Yaiza Martin Abello [ESP] – Kata ANNAN;
27. Female Kata – Yaiza Martin Abello [ESP] – Kata UNSHU;
28. Female Kata final – Yaiza Martin Abello [ESP] – Kata CHATANYARA KUSHANKU;
29. Female Kata final – Sandy Scordo [FRA] – Kata UNSU;
30. Female team Kata – Italy – Kata CHATANYARA KUSHANKU;
31. Female team Kata – Italy (UNSHU) vs Croatia (KANKU SHO);
32. Femal team Kata – Final – France (UNSU) vs Spain (ANNAN);
33. Female team Kata – Bronze Final – Russia (GOJUSHIHO SHO) vs Italy (ANNAN);
34. Matias Gomez [ESP] vs Kalvis Kalnins [LAT] – Final -60 kg.

Gallery – European Karate Championships, Tenerife 2012

The Italian Senior Male Kumite Championships 2012, held in Ostia (Rome) on 14 April, were another good occasion to use my new HD camcorder.

Many athletes from the Italian Kumite Team participated to this event: Luigi Busà, Michele Giuliani, Nello Maestri, Mauro Scognamiglio, Salvatore Serino. Other relevant athletes like Stefano Maniscalco, Salvatore Loria, Gianluca Iovine and Ciro Massa were busy with other international competitions (Bosphorus Cup – Istanbul – and International Tournament Villa De Madrid).

The following playlist contains all the videos I managed to record: 7 of them are finals.

Below you can find the list of the recorded fights in chronological order and the ranks up to the 3rd place for each weight category.

Since I missed some athletes’ names, if you know them I will appreciate a comment below or on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Want to receive the latest updates? Subscribe to the newsletter!

Playlist – Italian Senior Kumite Championships 2012

Suggestion: watch the videos in full-screen and in HD.

List of the recorded Kumite, in chronological order

1. 60 kg – - vs Antonio Vastola
2. 65 kg – Michele Giuliani vs -
3. 70 kg – Mauro Scognamiglio vs Federico Pizzo
4. 60 kg – Angelo Crescenzo vs Antonino Borzì
5. 76 kg – Luigi Busà vs -
6. 60 kg – Domenico Battigaglia vs Antonio Vastola
7. 65 kg – Michele Giuliani vs –
8. 65 kg – - vs Salvatore Serino
9. 70 kg – Mauro Scognamiglio vs -
10. 65 kg – - vs Michele Giuliani
11. 65 kg – Salvatore Serino vs – Cristian Altamura
12. 65 kg – Gianluca De Vivo vs Michele Giuliani
13. 65 kg – Salvatore Serino vs Alessandro Costantino
14. 76 kg – - vs Luigi Busà
15. 65 kg – Michael Scansetti vs Michele Giuliani
16. 76 kg – Luigi Busà vs – Andrea Penna
17. 70 kg – - vs Mauro Scognamiglio
18. 70 kg – Mauro Scognamiglio vs Alberto Corselli
19. 83 kg – Nello Maestri vs Filippo Oretti
20. 83 kg – Flavio Zuppante vs Nello Maestri
21. Semifinal 83 kg – Fioravante Valentino vs Nello Maestri
22. Final 3rd 83 kg – Nello Maestri vs Claudio Carrubba
23. Final 60 kg – Antonio Vastola vs Luca Maresca
24. Final 65 kg Salvatore Serino vs Gianluca De Vivo
25. Final 70 kg – Mauro Scognamiglio vs Giuseppe Cartelli
26. Final 76 kg Luigi Busà vs Emanuele Sarnataro
27. Final 83 kg – Fioravante Valentino vs Fabrizio Morini
28. Final 90 kg – Marco Sarnataro vs William Wierdis
29. Final +90kg Francesco Puleo vs Mario Cartelli

Ranks up to the 3rd place

1. Antonio Vastola (A.P.D. Shirai Club S. Valentino);
2. Luca Maresca (A.S.D. Wellness Zone);
3. Angelo Crescenzo (A.P.D. Shirai Club S. Valentino) and Giuseppe Strano (A.S. Universal Center Napoli).

1. Salvatore Serino (C.S. Esercito Roma);
2. Gianluca De Vivo (A.P.D. Shirai Club S. Valentino);
3. Michele Giuliani (G.S. Fiamme Gialle Roma) and Cristian Altamura (A.S.D. Champion Center).

1. Mauro Scognamiglio (G.S.Forestale);
2. Giuseppe Cartelli (A.S.D. Rembukan Villasmundo);
3. Manuele Iacobucci (G.S. Fiamme Oro Roma) and Daniele Pelliccia (OAM Yamaguchi Tavernelle).

1. Luigi Busà (G.S. Forestale);
2. Emanuele Sarnataro (A.S.D. Champion Center);
3. Andrea Penna (A.S.D. Il Poliedro) and Daniel Mari (G.S. Fiamme Oro Roma).

1. Valentino Fioravante (A.S. Universal Center Napoli);
2. Fabrizio Morini (A.S.D. Karate Nakayama);
3. Nello Maestri (C.S. Esercito Roma) and Andrea Carli (G.S. Vigili del Fuoco “G. Salza”).

1. William Wierdis (A.S.D. Champion Center);
2. Marco Sarnataro (A.S.D. Champion Center);
3. Salvatore Conte (A.S. Universal Center Napoli) and Saverio Pesola (A.S.D. Kyohan Simmi).

1. Francesco Puleo (S.S.D.A.R.L. Kodokan Firenze);
2. Mario Cartelli (A.S.D. Rembukan Villasmundo);
3. Fabrizio Bulla (A.S.D. Azzurro Sporting Club Roma) and Adriano Longobardi (A.P.D. Shirai Club S. Valentino).

The FIJLKAM Italian Senior Kata Championships held in Loano (SV), Italy, on 25 March 2012 were a great opportunity to see many top level Italian Karate athletes in action.

And guess what! We had an HD camcorder with us! Are you ready to enjoy this event?

We prepared a dense playlist with many videos from both the male and female categories. Elite athletes like Sara Battaglia, Luca Brancaleon, Viviana Bottaro, Michela Pezzetti, Alfredo Tocco and the young champions Mattia Busato, Michaela Di Desiderio and Alessandro Iodice challenged each other in a competition to the last kata!

And do you know about that Italian rule which imposes to execute a freeform kata (after a regular kata) in the semi-final and final matches? Well, we filmed them too, so that you can enjoy those amazing acrobatic techniques.

Take a look at the following list with the katas in chronological order, see the final ranks and watch the Italian champions during the contest, in HD!

Playlist of the FIJLKAM Italian Senior Kata Championships 2012

Suggestion: watch the videos in full-screen and in HD.

List of the recorded Kata, in chronological order:

1. Kata BASSAI DAI by Luca Brancaleon
2. Kata JION by Alfredo Tocco
3. Kata JION by Alessandro Iodice
4. Kata GOJU SHIHO-SHO by Alfredo Tocco
5. Kata KANKU SHO by Alessandro Iodice
6. Kata SUPARIMPEI by Luca Brancaleon
7. Kata KANKU SHO by Mattia Busato
8. Kata MATSUMURA BASSAI by Luca Brancaleon
9. Kata UNSU by Alfredo Tocco
10. Kata ANNAN by Luca Brancaleon
11. Kata GANKAKU by Mattia Busato
12. Kata KURURUNFA by Luca Brancaleon
13. FREEFORM Kata LEON by Luca Brancaleon
14. FREEFORM Kata LUALTO by Alfredo Tocco
15. Kata KANKU-DAI by Sara Battaglia
16. Kata UNSHU by Michela Pezzetti
17. Kata NIPAIPO by Michaela Di Desiderio
18. Kata ANNAN by Sara Battaglia
19. Kata CHATANYARA KUSHANKU by Michela Pezzetti
20. Kata UNSHU by Viviana Bottaro
21. Kata ANNAN by Viviana Bottaro
22. Kata TOMARI BASSAI by Viviana Bottaro
23. Kata UNSU by Sara Battaglia
24. FREEFORM Kata FENICE by Viviana Bottaro
25. Kata UNSU by Mattia Busato [Final]
26. Kata UNSU by Alessandro Iodice [Final]
27. FREEFORM Kata CAVOUR by Mattia Busato [Final]
28. FREEFORM Kata NEMBO by Alessandro Iodice [Final]
29. Kata CHATANYARA KUSHANKU by Viviana Bottaro [Final]
30. Kata CHATANYARA KUSHANKU by Sara Battaglia [Final]
31. FREEFORM Kata ENERGIA by Sara Battaglia [Final]

Ranks up to the 3rd place

Female:

1. Viviana Bottaro (A.S.D. C.S.K.A. Genova);
2. Sara Battaglia (G.S. Fiamme Oro Roma);
3. Michaela Di Desiderio (A.S.D. Fit For You – Sez. Karate Roma) and Alessandra Cremona (A.S.D. Centro Studi Karate Shotokan Catania).

Male:

1. Mattia Busato (A.S.D. Karate Castelfranco Veneto);
2. Alessandro Iodice (A.S.D. Athlon Maurino Portico di Caserta);
3. Luca Brancaleon (C.S. Esercito Roma) and Alfredo Tocco (G.S. Fiamme Oro Roma).

Did you like our Italian Senior Kata Championships 2012 playlist? Let us know, leave a comment below! And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news!

For our awesome followers and for all the karate-lovers, we collected all the videos and info about the WKF Karate1 Premier League Dutch Open, held in Dordrecht (Netherlands) on 10-11 March 2012.

We will try to keep this post up-to-date (also with your help!) adding video highlights, results and other info about this competition, as we did for the European Karate Championships 2011.

What is the Karate 1 Premier League?

Updates:

• kata individual female seniors (playlist – 9 videos);
• draw records;
• medals by nation;
• kumite Individual male Seniors -67 – Final;
• photos of the medal ceremony: day1, day 2;
• official results.

Kata Individual female Seniors (playlist – 9 videos)

Video courtesy of KARATEbyJesse.com.

Featured videos in order:

1. Rika Usami – Bassai Dai;
2. Rika Usami – Tomari Bassai;
3. Rimi Kajikawa – Nipaipo;
4. Rimi Kajikawa – Suparimpei;
5. Kazuyo Inoue – Suparimpei;
6. Rika Usami – Chatan Yara Kushanku;
7. Rimi Kajikawa – Chatan Yara Kushanku;
8. Rika Usami – Kosokun Dai;
9. Rimi Kajikawa – Tomari Bassai.

Kumite Individual male Seniors -67 – Final

Marvin Garin (France) vs Geoffrey Berens (Netherlands)

We have just released another update of Virtual Sensei Lite.

This time we focused on software usability: we are particularly proud of the check for updates function, that will avoid the tedious procedure of manually downloading the setup file from our website. It automatically searches for a newer version at startup (if you are connected to the Internet), but you can always check manually from the Help menu.

This should be the last time you have to fill the download form!

Another thing we focused on is to make sure the user knows that the first ~10 s of recording are used for auto-calibration: in this phase the joints coordinates are not reliable.

While we hope this behavior will be improved soon, in the meantime we placed a message dialog at recording startup (you can disable it however). Remember, wait ~10 s before performing actual techniques. You can always crop away the useless part of the mocap file.

We have also improved the exceptions management, showing not only the error message to the user, but also a suggestion, to help him solving the problem autonomously. However we are always happy to receive your feedback!

Finally, did you see the new setup, with VSLite logo? It’s cool, isn’t it? What? You didn’t download it? Hurry up, your new kinetic energy meter is waiting for you! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ or to subscribe to our newsletter for latest news!

So, you thought we would have been satisfied with the first release? You thought 423 downloads from all over the world in 3 months (without spending a $ in ads) would have been enough for us? Curious, you should know that Karate and martial arts mean perfection… and yes, Virtual Sensei Lite™ is still far from perfection!

Virtual Sensei Lite­™ v.0.2.0 is here: this update has a lot of new features and some bugfixes (see the changelog), not to mention the remarkable improvements in athlete’s motion tracking and data processing!

Now you can also orient your Kinect sensor up and down using the internal tilt motor: stop searching everywhere for thin object to put beneath the Kinect base, to obtain the right angle of shot!

Do you remember the skeleton avatar floating in the dark space? Well, now he can walk on a brand new wooden floor, thanks to the floor detection capability! And you can make it semi-transparent, to see the scene from beneath.

Did I mention the auto-calibration? Psi-pose in not required any more! Just enter the scene and move freely: the software will immediately detect you.

IMPORTANT: the first 10-15 s are required to adjust the skeleton to your body proportions: therefore, joints coordinates are less reliable in this period. Wait this time before performing serious techniques. You will be able to eliminate the first part of the mocap file with the crop instrument. See the guide and the tutorials for further info.

NOTICE: you have to update some required modules. See the update help for more info.

What else? Oh, it is still free!

Download Virtual Sensei Lite™ v.0.2.0 and Discover your kinetic energy™, everywhere!

Many Karate lovers probably know the blog KARATEbyJesse.com. It features interesting articles mainly about things related to Karate, Kobudo, Okinawa (or Japan in general), kata, bunkai and a lot of other topics [...] which are in one way or other related to Karate.

Its Youtube channel contains dozens of cool videos recorded during the most relevant WKF competitions (champions like Luca Valdesi, Antonio Diaz, Rika Usami, Rafael Aghayev and many others are often present) or in occasion of seminars and events with eminent Karate Masters (Tsuguo Sakumoto, Morio Higaonna and others).

This website polarizes a community of thousands of martial artists and is entirely powered by Jesse Enkamp, self-entitled Karate Nerd™, a young member of the Swedish National Karate team with a 360° passion for martial arts knowledge.

All Karate lovers should know Lucio Maurino, several times European and World Champion (both individual and team kata specialties, the latter with his team mates Luca Valdesi and Vincenzo Figuccio). What makes Sensei Maurino special are not only his well-known Karate skills, but also his extreme competence in sports science (he has an academic degree in Motor Science) and his exceptional kindness.

Well, this time the Virtual Sensei team had the opportunity to connect these two awesome people, an élite Karate athlete and one of the best Karate blogger, with the aim of making an exclusive interview, ranging from Karate technique to biomechanics, from competition psychology to food science, not to mention many anecdotes about Maurino’s personal experience.

For this kind of introspective event, which location could be better than the new traditional-style dojo designed by Lucio Maurino himself, in collaboration with Sensei Danilo Manodoro (4° dan Aikido AIKIKAI), and placed near Caserta, Italy? The following gallery (an exclusive for our followers) speaks itself: this dojo, called Associazione Armonia is the paradise many martial artists dream about.

So, don’t lose time, check the photos here and take a look at KARATEbyJesse’s interview with Lucio Maurino:

• Exclusive Interview: Lucio Maurino – The World Champion Karate Doctor (pt. 1);
• Exclusive Interview: Lucio Maurino – The World Champion Karate Doctor (pt. 2);
• Exclusive Interview: Lucio Maurino – The World Champion Karate Doctor (pt. 3);
• Exclusive Interview: Lucio Maurino – The World Champion Karate Doctor (pt. 4).

P.S. An update of Virtual Sensei Lite, our free software for 3D sports motion analysis based on Microsoft Kinect sensor, is coming soon – stay tuned!