Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good holiday break and is ready to get back to training.  

As we finished out our classes in December, I was reviewing an important factor that is often missing from our training – intensity.  Both Plumacher and Brose Sensei, in their additional kumite sessions with us, noted it.  We can try to justify the lack of intensity by saying we are just practising and will save the zeal for the competition, or that we aren’t feeling 100% or that we are conserving energy in some areas of training to use it in another.  It’s easy to tell ourselves that.  But the important thing to remember – and this is crucial as we start a new year and everyone is considering goals and resolutions and things they want to accomplish – is that if we don’t approach all aspects of our training with focus and intensity, then it will be impossible to ‘turn it on’ during a competition.  In fact, training with intensity is the only way to achieve our goals whether they are related to competition, self defense, self discipline or personal growth.

With this in mind, our focus in January will be on fitness and on helping our three dojo members selected to the provincial team (Sempai Mariah, Diego and Ethan) get ready for the Canadian National Karate Championships at the end of the month.  At our next three Friday night classes, Plumacher Sensei will guest instruct and as well, we will have numerous competitors from other dojos joining us as they prepare for the championships. This is a great opportunity to train with an international and WKF world champion – his classes are geared to both experienced and novice kumite athletes.

Announcements

• Plumacher Sensei is scheduled to instruct in our Friday night classes on January 8, 15 and 22.  Please remember that there is a $10 fee for each of these sessions, payable in cash to Sempai Mariah Blunt.   

“You don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for.” Unknown

Enjoy your training!

Gary Sabean

Head Instructor