Family Night 2009

Wow! Last night was our first Family Night at PDMA. This was a night for us to invite in all of our friends and family so that they can see a small portion of what we've learned. We had over 25 students put on demonstrations (some put on more than one!). We had a great selection of kata, self defense, board breaking, all with great technique and purpose. It was especially nice to see we weren't lacking in the humour department with some of the demonstrations being extremely funny while also showing amazing karate skills. This just proves once again what a fantastic group we have, the energy is so positive.
It's hard to pick out a couple to talk about as everyone did so well. Sensei Tom's 6-board break was definitely a highlight of the night, however. Sempai Gail and Sempai Tyler (mother and son team) performed a super fight scene after hurling insults at each other that had us cringing. Terrible that a fight over proper technique in their kata could escalate to that! :)
Dave and Ben (father and son team) performed katas using swords and then kalis. This had more than a few people gasping in awe. It was incredibly well done. We loved the humour that they incorporated into the second part. The Little Warriors even braved the crowd showing off their skills in technique, pad work, sparring and kata. They finished their performance with board breaking.
The last performance will not be easily forgotten as Sensei Bruce showed that at Fourth Degree Black Belt, it was time to put his skills to the test. Coming out of the dressing room, with the soundtrack to Rocky playing, he warmed up for the test amid cheers from the crowd. A huge bag, which was easily 6 feet tall, was then placed over him. In his attempt to fight his way out of a paper bag, there were many tries to break the bag, cheers of encouragement from the crowd and a thorough wet-down of the bag by Sensei Mark (a wet paper bag might be easier) . He did emerge victorious from the bag, blood stained and worn out, but was revived quickly when the music started up again. An amazing performance that had us laughing so hard our cheeks were hurting.
A big "thank you" goes to everyone for coming out to Family Night and to our students who showed courage by getting up in front of so many people and for performing as well as you did. We appreciate the effort you put into your performances and we are already looking forward to next year's Family Night!

Just humming along...

Everything at PDMA has been just humming along nicely. We had quite a few people grade in February (Congratulations to Samantha, Andy, Chris, Dana, Silas, Dave, Kalil and Melissa in our regular class and congratulations to Lincoln, Davidson, Angus, Aydan, Lilli, Annaka, Julianne, Blake, Baraka and Dylan in our Little Warriors Class). Everyone did extremely well - all of the hard work and preparation paid off!
Coming up in March is our Family Night. A chance to show your stuff to family and friends! This will be a night to remember as everyone has something special planned. This is our chance to take what we learn in class and really start to play around. There will be an interesting presentation from the PDMA Demo Team (involving a frog), some board breaking demonstrations and an interesting challenge for Sensei Bruce. Don't miss it!
We are hard at work on preparations for our tournament in April as well. Saturday April 18th is the date, it will be held at St. John's Elementary School. We are having divisions in kata, team kata, sparring, grappling and self defense. Don't forget about the Red Man! If you are looking for something to do between your divisions, go pound out some aggression on the Red Man. (Sorry Andy!)
Spring is always a very busy time for karate. Let's all have some fun and enjoy this wonderful art that brings us together with amazing people!