Flyering Kick

Tonight was our monthly theme night in Islington, and the theme was Karate Kid (the original, not the stupid remake)

It was also supposed to be time trial night, but those selfish people at The Emirates Stadium ruined it by hosting a "soccer match", so we have postponed it until next week.

We welcomed first timer to GoodGym, Raquel, who was along to try and inject some good back into the world after recent events (see "things we're not allowed to debate at Islington "for info).

With everybody present, we jogged up to the top of Highbury Fields where we were met by Will, who had seen us departing and just managed to catch us in time. A warrior's spirit.

Now, with the football on, there was a good chance we would bump into some hooligans, and with it being Karate Kid evening as well, we decided to practise some self defence. First off we practised "Crane technique" and everybody balanced themselves superbly. Next, a few punches: good stuff; next some front kicks: not too bad; now for some roundhouse kicks: oh dear, taking a few lessons twenty years ago didn't quite prepare Simon to become a sensei, and now people were looking, so we got embarassed and stopped.

Fans of the films will know that Mr Miyagi is expert at taking on several opponents at once. So we decided to see how we'd fare and split into two teams. In each team one person was appointed "Miyagi". Miyagi stood in the middle of a circle of cones, and the rest of the team had to run around without being karate chopped (or tagged if you want to play the friendly version) by him. The penalty for being chopped was a penalty lap. A couple of goes of that and we were well warmed up and headed off to our distribution point (Simon's car parked in Sobell Leaisure Centre because of parking restrictions everywhere else)

It was very busy, and although we didn't bump into any hooligans, we did have to take a minor detour.

Once at the car we split into four teams and each headed off in a different direction to complete our task, which was delivering leaflets for The Old Fire Station. The Old Fire Station is a community centre in Mayton Street who does loads of good in the area by putting on a variety of great activities throughout the week. They're also putting on a couple of free local historic walks (plus tea and cake!) in late May and June and this is what we were promoting this evening. See photos for details.

We were careful not to get bitten by any dogs and did a great job spreading the word.

All finished it was time for the Theme Night Quiz, which we got stuck into while we enjoyed our biscuits. Can you do better than us? Probably, because we were rubbish. Here are the questions:

• Who is the "Bad boy of karate?" (Karate Kid Part III)

Wrong answers: Johnny (that was part I)

• What is Mr Miyagi's hometown?

Wrong answers: Nagasaki, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka

• Which actress played Ali in the first movie

Two teams got this correct!

• Is the 2010 remake rubbish?

Everybody answered this correctly!

• What is Mr Miyagi's first name?

Wrong answers: "Bob", "Mr", "He has no first name"

Here's a summary of how the teams did:

Team Kreese "An enemy deserves no mercy"

Danica, Caitlin, Ryan

One correct answer. Rubbish! Give me sixty push ups. ON YOUR KNUCKLES!

Team LaRusso "Hey, can you break a log like that?"

Raquel, Gina and Simon

Pathetic. How are you meant to win a tournament with those answers?

Team Miyagi "Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything"

Joanna, Ben, Alice and Jasmin

Two correct answers. Not exactly fly-catching-with-chopstick material.

Team Lawrence "I'll decide when he's had enough, man"

Patrick, Maria, Will and Lucy

Two correct answers. Team Lawrence, you're a freeze pop.

The prize, to be shared among the winning teams, was a box of Mikado, which are sort of Japanese, like karate. Simon kept them for safekeeping in his bag then completely forgot about them, so next week is Mikado week. Plus a special box of Mikado for this week's winners for sending them home empty-handed.

We headed back to Highbury Fields where it was time to get a bit of speed in the legs with another Karate Kid activity. This time we split into teams of three, and each member of the team took a turn acting as "Daniel". Daniel got a five second head start before being chased by the rest of the team (The Cobra Kais) and getting kicked a lot. Five seconds was too much, so we reduced it to three, then two. Finally Danica got caught. Coincidence? Nobody beat her up, which is nice.

Out of puff, and knowing we'd done our bit of good, we jogged down the hill for a nice stretch where Simon realised he'd also forgotten the most important part of the evening: THE DEBATE. Quick, think! What is the best Martial Art? Answers:

• Joanna: Kempo (which she practises herself)

• Lucy: Capoeira

• Ben: Mixed Martial Arts

• Gina: Kempo

• Caitlin: Krag Magal

• Ryan: Judo

• Danica: Judo

• Raquel: Capoeira

• Simon: Karate

I reckon Ben wins, cos all of those are included in Mixed Martial Arts. Good answer, Ben.

So we said our goodbyes and were just about to leave when somebody asked if there'd be any photos up. Oh yeah, Simon forgot to take any. We managed a quick group photo (minus those who had already left - sorry) and one of us practising crane technique, but then everybody got really angry about the forgetfulness and a massive brawl got underway.

Simon took a quick photo of this then scarpered because he realised he'd forgotten to extend his parking ticket.

Time Trial next week, although I'll probably forget :-s

Well done, everybody. You're the best! (spoiler alert, but you've had 31 years to watch it, so meh)

Sensai Si