Congratulations to Sensei Mariah Blunt for her strong results at the recent Canadian National Karate Championships held in Gatineau, Quebec on January 19 and 20.  Blunt Sensei finished second overall in a very challenging kumite division.  Congratulations also go out to Sempai Brooklyn Buckie for her strong showing – she finished 5^th in the same tough kumite division in her first senior National Championships.   Well done to both! As well, special thanks to Rose Buckie for her dedication and hard work as manager of the senior national team!

We are well into the New Year – our holiday break already seems like a long time ago – but now it’s time to get back to work!  Every January we are inundated with messages about tidying up, organizing or simplifying.  And while those are most often talking about your personal space, they can also be applied to what we do every day in karate.  If, when we are practicing techniques, we take a moment to tidy up a stance by removing extra movements, the results are much better.  During training, if we take the time to organize or categorize movements, the results can be surprising.  For example, last week we worked on head kicks – but we started the training with sweeps.  While they are two different techniques and create two different reactions, we use the same movement to perform both of them.  Mastering the one movement enables us to have two more tools in our kumite arsenal.  Finally, the idea of simplifying is very useful when fatigue sets in.  When you remove extra movements, tighten your muscles and take a second to reset your form, you’ll be able to draw that little bit of extra energy you used on wasted movement.  So – now if someone asks, you can absolutely say you did some January tidying!

Announcements

•  CLASS CANCELLATIONS:  February 15, 2019 for the Family Day long weekend

Mastering techniques takes hard work, developing tactics takes knowledge. 

Enjoy Your Training!

Gary Sabean

Head Instructor