Karate and tennis on Nuns’ Island: what the dojo adds beside the court

01The short answer

02A complete programme, in the same hour

What an hour at the dojo contains is written down. In the WKO Shinkyokushinkai first-year textbook, an examination covers kihon, ido geiko, kata, conditioning (knuckle push-ups, jumping squats), flexibility and kumite. Six subjects, presented and graded together: conditioning and flexibility are not what you do on the side to last on court, they are part of the curriculum on the same footing as technique. That is the sense in which karate is complete — and why it stands on its own as a second activity, with no extra training to add.

The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities gives each described activity a MET value — a multiple of the energy spent at rest. Singles tennis is at 8.0, tennis at a moderate effort at 6.8; karate at a moderate pace is at 10.3, and a beginner’s slower practice at 5.3. These values describe an activity as it was observed, not your class or your game: a beginners’ class is closer to karate’s 5.3 at a slower pace than to 10.3. Among the activities compared on this page, karate’s value is the highest — Kyokushin body conditioning describes what, during the hour, accounts for it.

03What the dojo adds for a tennis player

The hour, first. An hour of tennis has to be earned: a court, a partner of similar level, a booking that lands right. An hour of karate is there before you are — the group, the instructor, the fixed hour, five days a week. You come alone and train with others, which settles the partner question once and for all.

Progress, next. Tennis measures by score and ranking; karate measures by what you can do. Ten kyu lead to the black belt, each with its stances, techniques and kata to present — Kyokushin karate belts gives the order. A player used to progressing alone, against themselves, finds the same mechanism in another form: a list of things to be able to do, and nobody but yourself to fill it.

Symmetry, last. A racket is held in one hand; at the dojo, basic techniques are practised left and right, and the kata run through both sides. That is not a promise about your backhand: it is what the body does during the hour, and it is something other than what it does on court.

04When the outdoor courts close

If you play outdoors, your season has an end, and that is the simplest moment to try something else: the dojo is indoors, at the same hours all year. A player who starts in the autumn has the whole winter ahead, and is back on court in spring with a second activity already settled into the week — one does not push out the other. If you play indoors year-round, the question becomes one of room: two classes a week is a rhythm a working adult can keep, and one is already a start.

05For a junior: the second sport

If it is your child who plays, the argument changes nature. The American Academy of Pediatrics writes, in its 2016 clinical report on sports specialization, that participating in multiple sports, at least until puberty, decreases the chances of injuries, stress and burnout in young athletes. Sport for Life, the Canadian long-term development body, puts it another way: early specialization makes no sense if the aim is healthy, lifelong participation rather than the podium. Karate is a second sport about as far from tennis as one can get: barefoot, with no racket and no ball, in a group formed by age and by level, with a progression the child carries on their own. Kyokushin for kids answers parents’ questions before the trial.

06Your tennis keeps its coach

Reading the ball, the timing of the stroke, the racket swing and the footwork specific to the court are learned on court, and this page does not promise you a faster serve. Karate does not need that promise: it brings a technical catalogue, a way of training in a group and, in kumite, a partner who genuinely tries to stop you doing what you want to do — What is Kyokushin kumite? says how that work is introduced and graded.

07On Nuns’ Island, in practice

The dojo is at 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010, on Nuns’ Island (Verdun), and also serves LaSalle, Pointe-Saint-Charles and the Sud-Ouest. Children train from age 4 to 13, adults from 14, five days a week: the schedule gives the groups and times, the pricing page the monthly rates.

The first class is a free trial, and there is nothing to buy beforehand: comfortable clothes and a bottle of water are enough — what to bring to your first class has the list.