We had a busy start to April with a number of our dojo members travelling to Las Vegas to participate in the North American Cup and the US Open Tournaments.  Everyone represented our dojo well – with very good efforts and very good results.  In general, Canadian athletes showed very well, taking top places in a number of categories.  Here are the full results for the North American Cup and for the US Open. 

An important habit to get into after a tournament is to take some time to evaluate your effort.  I often hear younger participants (and some older ones!) express disappointment when they don’t win.  This past week, as we were talking about the tournaments and taking pictures of the contingent that went to Las Vegas, a few people asked if they should step out of the picture because they didn’t win a medal.  The answer to that is always no!  We have to remember that in every aspect of our training, whether that is at a regular class on a Tuesday night, a kumite class on a Friday night or when we are doing final preparations before an event, we train to compete – not to win, but to compete. 

Another thing to remember as we refocus our kumite training is to allow ourselves to become very good at one thing.  We can be proficient at lots of things, but picking one thing to really concentrate on and make your speciality is important.

Announcements

• Upcoming class cancellations:  Friday, May 15; Thursday, May 28 and Friday June 12
• Don’t forget – the deadline to order club clothing is this Friday, April 17.  Use the attached form to complete your order.  All orders must be accompanied by payment – a cheque payable to Sabean Karate Academy.  Mrs. Blunt has kindly agreed to show the clothing before each class – please arrive a little early to try on the sample sizes.
• Sensei Marc Ward is running an Officials Training Session on Sunday, April 19.  Please see the Karate Alberta website for further information.
• The Calgary Open Shotokan Cup is being held at Western Canada High School Saturday, April 25th from 8:00AM to 5:00PM.  This tournament is open to all styles and belt levels.  The tournament package can be downloaded here.   Please let Sensei Sabean know and email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you wish to attend.
• Please stay tuned for more information about upcoming training sessions with Soke Sensei. 

"Victory is in having done your best. If you've done your best, you've won."

Bill Bowerman

Enjoy your training!

Sensei Gary Sabean

Head Instructor