Karate practicioners from across the United States and Canada will gather at NIU for three days of intense training and practice during the 1990 Shokotan Karate of America Midwest Winter Special Training program.

As guests of the NIU Shokotan Karate Club, Shokotan Karate of America members from New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Quebec will join karateists from the Universities of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory.

During Nov. 30 and Dec. 1-2, participants will train at the NIU Office of Campus Recreation.

There will be nine practice sessions, each more than two hours long. The training spans a 48-hour period beginning Friday and ending Sunday.

According to Bill Kreda, faculty adviser to the NIU Shokotan Karate Club, Shokotan Karate of America is one of the oldest and most traditional karate organizations in America.

It was founded in 1955 by Tsutomu Ohshima, one of the last pupils of the father of modern day karate, Master Gichin Funakosi.

“Special training has come down to the present from martial artists of the past who sought a way to put their mental and physical powers to a test by calling upon their innermost strengths,” Kreda said.

“Participants put themselves into hardship and push themselves to their physical limits,” he said.

Special training sessions are held around the country throughout the year, with the Midwest Summer Special Training taking place at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

NIU has been the site of the Midwest Winter Special Training since 1986.

Anyone interested in the sessions or Shokotan Karate can call Kreda at 753-9436. Sessions are open to spectators at no charge.