Tatami Dojo

White belt to black, in one hall

Shotokan karate and judo in Bellville. Nine-year-olds and forty-year-olds train on the same mat, five nights a week.

Book a free first class

What we teach

Traditional grading

Ten kyu grades to shodan, examined twice a year by a panel from outside the club.

Kata and form

Heian shodan through to the sentei kata, drilled slowly and corrected out loud.

Junior academy

Six to twelve in their own class, on their own syllabus, with their own belt line.

Kumite, supervised

Controlled contact, mouthguards compulsory, and nobody spars in their first month.

The timetable

We train five nights a week and Saturday mornings, term time. Come and watch any session before you sign anything. For the first month you do not need a gi — long pants, a clean shirt and short nails will do.

Week at the dojo

  • Monday — 17:30 Junior academy, white to orange (Sensei Zaid) · 18:45 Karate, all grades (Sensei Marius)
  • Tuesday — 17:30 Junior judo (Sensei Thabo) · 18:45 Judo, standing and ground (Sensei Thabo)
  • Wednesday — 17:30 Junior academy, green and above (Sensei Zaid) · 18:45 Kata and bunkai (Sensei Marius)
  • Thursday — 17:30 Junior judo (Sensei Thabo) · 18:45 Judo randori, orange and up (Sensei Thabo)
  • Friday — 18:00 Kumite, supervised (Sensei Nadia) · 19:15 Open mat, seniors only, no instruction
  • Saturday — 08:00 Beginners hour, adults (Sensei Nadia) · 09:15 Family class, six years and up (Sensei Marius)
  • Sunday — 09:00 Grading practice, in the six weeks before June and November only (Sensei Marius)
  • Closed — public holidays, and from 12 December to 12 January.

Adult membership

R450 a month, month to month. Train as many of the five nights as you like — karate, judo or both — and the Saturday beginners hour is included.

No joining fee and no contract. Give us a month's notice and stop whenever you like. Grading is R250 and it is the only extra we ask for.

A gi runs about R650 when you are ready for one. Borrow one of ours until then. Enrol at the bottom of this page — the first class costs nothing.

Junior academy

R320 a month for six to twelve year olds, two afternoons a week, karate or judo. A second child is R240.

Juniors work through their own ten-belt syllabus, and we send a written report home after every grading whether they passed or not.

Parents are welcome to sit at the back of the hall for the whole hour. Bring them to watch a Monday first — the trial class is free.

Who teaches

Marius Coetzee
Marius CoetzeeChief instructor · Karate, 5th dan

Opened the dojo above the hardware shop in 2004 and has taken the Monday and Wednesday adult classes every week since.

Nadia Petersen
Nadia PetersenKarate, 3rd dan · Kumite

Fought for Western Province for nine seasons. She runs Friday sparring, where the rule is that nobody goes harder than their partner.

Thabo Mokoena
Thabo MokoenaJudo, 3rd dan

Started judo at a club in Gugulethu at seven years old and teaches the Tuesday and Thursday mat — grips first, throws later.

Zaid Adams
Zaid AdamsKarate, 1st dan · Junior academy

Graded here as a nine-year-old, came back at twenty-two, and now takes the six-to-twelves who are exactly where he started.

How we teach it

Everyone trains in the same room. A forty-year-old starting from nothing lines up next to a teenager on brown belt, and what separates them is the syllabus, not the class. From their second grading onward seniors correct juniors — that is part of what they are examined on, not a favour they are doing us. We grade in June and November in front of a panel from outside the club, and people do fail. Nothing here is bought. There is no contract, no joining fee and no annual sign-up: pay by the month, give us a month's notice, and stop when life says so.

Enrol

Tatami Dojo 118 Voortrekker Road, Bellville 7530 — upstairs, above Bellstar Hardware. Park in the lot behind the building. WhatsApp 082 741 3096 dojo@tatami.co.za Terms follow the Western Cape school calendar. Closed on public holidays and from 12 December to 12 January. The first class is free. Arrive ten minutes early in long pants and a clean shirt — we will lend you the rest.