Lots of Training

Quite often in the summer, people take a well-deserved vacation from karate training. After all, the winters are so long here that one should take advantage of the good weather to be outdoors. Especially for youngsters, being active in other sports like soccer is healthy and builds stamina that can only help in your karate training. But some people keep training in karate all summer. This year, a dedicated group trained right until the beginning of August.

Get the Dojo Ready

With a busy summer planned at Phoenix Dojo, we had to work like crazy through May and early June to get it ready. The project this year was to insulate and finish the interior of the dojo so it would be more comfortable for training in the cooler and hotter weather. On May 15, a group of strong backs and spirits showed up to help carry in the insulation and lumber. It was a long, hard day with one two wheelbarrow breakdowns and a leaky raft but still everything was packed in.

Following that weekend, Ingram Sensei worked with a couple of carpenter friends to get the insulation installed and to start the ceiling panels. Then he and his wife Helene got some of the pine panelling on the walls. By mid-June, it was at least usable.

ShotoCanada Summer Camp

On June 5-6, Ingram Sensei attended the annual ShotoCanada Summer Camp held at the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver. The guest instructor this year was Sensei Ilija Jorga, ninth dan in the Fudokan karate organization. Jorga Sensei was taught in the JKA tradition of karate and includes Kase Sensei of France as one of his main influences. The Technical Committee of ShotoCanada decided that we would join Fudokan as associate members. What this means for our club is that we now have access to international instructors, seminars and tournaments, including the Fudokan World Championships in Turkey in 2011. While we may not have any world class competitors yet, it is certainly something to aspire to.

Iaido

Mid-June saw iaido sensei Ken Maneker come for his annual ten day visit. This is a very intense training time where Maneker Sensei tries to stuff a year's worth of training into us in ten days. Most of the time is spent with Ingram Sensei at the Phoenix Dojo where they train seven to nine hours per day. This year, there was a grading for the "mudans" Nick Hayden and Zach Giczi. They did very well and were promoted to ikyu. Maneker Sensei was very pleased. Much of the time, however, was spent preparing the dan grades for the upcoming seminar and grading in July.

Two years ago, our home dojo in Vancouver, Shin Ken Kai, joined the Dai Nihon Iaido Renmei, one of the governing bodies for iaido in Japan. We had spent a couple of years on our own since leaving the All Japan Kendo Federation. Unfortunately for us, the gradings we did after leaving the AJKF were not counted, so many of us had to retest for our ranks. At the end of July, Ingram Sensei and Sempai Mervin Harper travelled to Vancouver for the seminar and test. It was our first opportunity to meet the senior members of the DNIR including Kuze Sensei who is now Maneker Sensei's instructor in the Hoki Ryu style of iaido. As none of the visitors spoke English, it was a trying time for Maneker Sensei who had to do all the translating. Despite the language barrier, we managed to understand what was required. Sempai Mervin was successful at his nidan grading and Ingram Sensei received the honor of being jumped a rank to yondan.

ShotoCanada Instructors Come to the Yukon

While most of our advanced training events and meetings of the senior ranks in ShotoCanada happen in the South, this year, club instructors from BC travelled north to meet and train in the Yukon. On July 16, we picked up seven club instructors at the airport and drove them straight out to the Phoenix Dojo. This was the first time people slept in the new dojo though we had a couple of sleepovers in the old one. It was a very productive weekend of talks and training and getting to know each other. The instructors enjoyed the event very much. We were joined by our own Judy Boyko who particularly enjoyed the arnis class with Sensei Chuck Julson. On Sunday afternoon, it was back to town and on the plane.

We all agreed it would be great to do this again, but maybe not every year. Thanks to Helene for the great logistical support. You cannot do these events without the drivers, cooks and organizers.

B&B Sleepover

On August 28th, we had a sleepover and training session at the Phoenix Dojo. Everyone gathered around 4 pm, got settled in and got a fire started. Girls slept in the Studio and the boys were in the dojo. The teens spent Happy Hour around the fire making nachos, which was quite a feat, and messy. After a fine chicken dinner put together by Helene, it was back to the fire to enjoy the schmores brought by Sempai Merv. Whooo hoo! It was tough hustling the younger people off to bed at 10.

We were in the dojo shortly after 9 the next morning. The idea of the weekend was to give people an introduction to running a class whether it was giving a warm up or teaching a skill. Even those who had never done it before did very well and we had a number of entertaining and instructive drills. We all found out how important planning and rehearsal are.

After a whole day of training, we packed up about 3 pm and everyone headed out to the road to catch their rides home.

Well done everyone!