The last of the duffle bags arrived on Wednesday! We’ll be handing them out in class next Tuesday. They look GOOD!

It was great to see everyone out again! We are officially up to 99 active members for this session! Now… let’s get EVERYONE out to the tournament!

We can’t say enough about how great the tournaments are! Yes, it seems like a scary thing at first but once you’re there and doing it you will really enjoy yourself. Doing your kata in front of 5 judges you don’t know and then doing kumite against an opponent you’ve never seen before can seem like an intimidating experience. However, all of the judges (higher ranking black belts) are there to help make us all better karateka. It is their primary goal to keep us safe and improve our skills. If there is a competitor in kumite who is being overly aggresive, the judges will tell them to back off. When we get a score for our kata we can use it as a bench mark for the next tournament and try to beat OURSELVES at the next event. And one of the most fun aspects of any tournament is meeting other people who share a similar interest to us. We have all been in the position of the rookie tournament participant… not sure where to go; not sure to whom to bow; and trying like crazy to remember even the first move of our chosen kata! We’re telling you now that you have nothing to worry about. Just try to be relaxed and whatever happens… happens.

We’ll be working on tournament prep over the next few weeks in order to get everyone in tournament shape. We REALLY would like to see most, if not all, of us register in the tournament. DON’T WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Even if this is your first year just jump in to the deep end and go for it!

We will be adding an ONLINE REGISTRATION FORM this year. When it is ready, we’ll post the link here on the blog.

See you at the dojo!