Fabulous Guest Instructor

We had Sensei Nicole Greenstreet down to our club last night (Wed Oct 15) to teach. She is the owner of the karate club in Sharbot Lake. Mark and I have gone to her club lots of times to train and to teach and we always have an awesome time. She has amazing students who absolutely love her. Their enthusiasm is very inspirational and we always leave feeling refreshed.

This time, however, she came to us. She did an introductory grappling class for the kids where the focus was on learning to move into various positions smoothly. Her interpretation and method of teaching was amazing. The kids loved the class and were able to follow the instructions well. She ended the hour with belt grappling. This is where you start on your knees facing your partner and the goal is to remove your partner's belt and tie it around their leg before they are able to do the same to you. This was hilarious to watch and judging by the huge smiles and loud laughter from the kids, it was equally enjoyed by them as well.

Sensei Niki brought a couple of her students with her, Daniel and Kyle. They were lots of fun and made for very good ukes. They were able to stay for our adult class after which was great. It was really cool training next to Sensei Niki on the floor again. It's been way too long!

All in all, a great night with great friends and awesome karate. That's what it's all about!

Family Atmosphere

Karate is an extremely big part of what we do and who we are. For us to be able to share that with our families is very important. Because to them, it's hard to understand our passion towards the martial arts. All they see, at first, is a collection of people who wear funny clothes, speak in a foreign language, shout strange noises and come out of class looking totally beat down and exhausted - but with a big smile on our faces. By involving our families in as much of our karate life as we can, we can show them that we are all regular people who are simply interested in the role that martial arts can play in our lives. But also, that we are out there to make good friends and have fun.

Last Saturday night we had our first PDMA Ball Hockey night. This was our first attempt at bringing our families into our karate life and getting to know everyone better. I've heard people refer to their karate club as their second family, but this doesn't happen over night. It happens because people take the time to get to know one and other and to realize the special gifts that each person has to offer - off of the training mat.

We had a great turnout for our first night. We had mothers and fathers and all ages of kids playing and everyone laughed so hard their cheeks were hurting (at least this warmed us cheerleaders up a little - it was pretty cold). The role of goalie was shared numerous times between all the kids, although nobody could stop the ball like Sempai Gail. The kids looked enormous in all the equipment and they sometimes managed to stop the ball by simply standing there. As Colton remarked after one of his remarkable saves, "Did I stop it?" As people rotated off to take a break and came back on playing for the other team, the hardest part of the night was remembering who was playing for which team. And trying to figure out how mosquitos could possibly survive when we were so cold.

Karate does not need to separate us from our families. By training together or simply playing together, we spend time building relationships and having fun. And these are the memories that will last the longest.

Our next Ball Hockey night is planned for October 18th. Everyone is welcome as we chase the ball, make amazing saves and get to know the wonderful people we train beside on the floor even better.