Congratulations to our dojo members recently returning from the Canadian National Karate Championships in Quebec City.  The provincial team did well, with its best medal count ever (21)!  Special congratulations to Sempai Mariah who medalled in three of her four competition categories, taking home the gold in the U21 division and opening up opportunities to compete on the world stage later in 2017! 

Karate Canada has archived many of the matches – if you are interested in seeing them, go to  http://sportscanada.tv/karatecanada/ and, under the Recent Events tab, you will see options to view archived matches.

As I mentioned, everyone benefits from helping our provincial team members prepare for competition.  But it doesn’t stop once the competition is done – their results and the feedback they receive is a good indicator of what we should work on next in the dojo.  At Nationals this year we saw a number of missed opportunities for body kicks.  So, over the coming weeks, our Friday night classes will be all about kicks – when to use them, how to set them up and how to deliver them effectively.  For those unused to throwing kicks, I strongly recommend adding some additional stretching to your fitness routines.  For our weekday classes, we will turn more of our attention to kihons and katas.  Our aim here is prepare for upcoming gradings, as well as a visit from Soke Sensei, scheduled for late May. 

Soke Sensei Visit and Soke Cup

Soke Sensei has scheduled a visit to western Canada in late May – with the dates to be determined.  Currently it is proposed that he will visit Calgary, Canmore and Edmonton in the week after the May long weekend (after May 22).  Please stay tuned for confirmation of those dates. 

The Soke Cup has been rescheduled for this year – again to be held in Kumamoto, Japan from August 11^th to 14^th, 2017. If you have any questions about it and/or are interested in attending, please contact me. 

Announcements

• Class Cancellations:   No classes on Thursday, March 23 and during the entire week of March 27 for spring break.  There are classes on Friday, March 24!
• Classes resume after spring break on Tuesday, April 4
• Two upcoming Casinos need our help:
• Karate Alberta on May 7 and 8: http://www.karateab.org/2017-casino-volunteers-needed/
• ICKF (International Chito-Ryu Karate & Fitness) on September 22 and 23: contact Andre Buret at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

“Failure is not an option.  It’s a step.”

Enjoy your training!

Gary Sabean

Head Instructor