5th North American and International Black Belt Conference
Banff, AB
October 6 - 8, 2006
Central Canada Kyokushin Karate

 

Valeriy Kukovskiy, formerly of the Ukraine (now living in Ontario, Canada)
attended the North American Black Belt Conference
 representing Central Canada Kyokushin.

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This past weekend in Banff was another great weekend of training.  We were fortunate to have respected and knowledgeable instructors in Shihan Lowe, Shihan Isobe, Shihan Gorai and Shihan Stuart Corrigal who provided us with so much information and many insights.  The attendees came from all over the world. 

The training was varied and included kihon, happo no kuzushi, goshin jitsu, ido geiko, and kata.  A special gtreath was Shihan Gorai showing us the three bo kata.  The third kata will definitely be a challenge to learn, as there are many unfamiliar moves in it.  

Unfortunately, Kancho was unable to attend, so instead of a meeting with him, we were entertained by Shihan Isobe, an expressive storyteller (itfs fortunate that Shihan Gorai is so adept in translating expressively as well!).  

A trek up Tunnel Mountain was scheduled for early Sunday morning, but fortunately Shihan Stuart decided to reschedule it to Saturday afternoon (the weather was warm and sunny on Saturday, but frigid and dark on Sunday).  There were a couple of times that I doubted whether I could make it to the top, but I kept remembering what Shihan Isobe reminded us of the day before – we must overcome ourselves.  At the top, the training was enjoyable and the view was spectacular! 

The weekend was well worth the time and the expense.  Itfs obvious that a huge amount of work had been done to make this such an enjoyable weekend for everyone.  For me, the best part of the weekend was renewing old acquaintances and making new ones.  Anyone who did not attend missed a great opportunity!

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2006 North American Black Belt Conference

As is the case with most hobbies/pass times/sports interests, you tend to go through peaks and valleys in your level of commitment and interest. You run and run 3 or 4 times a week for weeks on end to train for a race - when the race is over your interest in running wanes until the next goal comes along. Maybe you read voraciously, finishing a novel a week for months in a row until one day you suddenly realize that youfve been reading the same book for the last 6 months and you arenft even sure the last time you picked it up.  

Martial arts training is no different. At one time or another in my life Ifve trained in Shotokan, Uechi Ryu, Taekwondo, Wadokai and since Jan. 2003, Kyokushin; all with varying levels of commitment and most with unplanned extended breaks in regular participation.  From my own personal experience, I know how difficult it is to stay focused and committed to regular training - I can only imagine the difficulties and valleys faced over the years by the likes of Shihan Lowe, Shihan Isobe, Shihan Stuart and the others who arenft just training a few hours a week and attending the occasional summer or winter camp but who are running their own dojos and have committed a significant portion of their lives to the continued learning, training and teaching of Kyokushin. 

Yes it was great to learn Bo Kata from Shihan Gorai and Happo No Kawashi from Shihan Lowe, but to me the real benefit from the weekend was in seeing 100+ Kyokushin and their continued level of commitment, focus and dedication even after many, many years of training.  It is events like these that help one to renew focus and dedication and the desire to better oneself. Now if we could only host this event in Banff every yearc 

Brendan Bell

4th Kyu

Banff Dojo

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What a great weekend we had in Banff

The training was varied with kihon, Ido Geiko, happo no kuzushi, goshin jitsu and three new Bo katas.

All this was very capably shown to us by Shihan Lowe (Hawaii), Shihan Isobe (Brazil), Shihan Gorai (New York) and Shihan Stuart Corrigal. 

I recall Shihan Isobe stressing that we should practice kihon (along with correct posture) every day, as this is the foundation that everything else is built upon. He said g3 years to perfect your punches, 3 years to perfect your blocks and 3 years to perfect your kicks.h and this reminded me of a quote of Sosaifs g1,000 days of training a beginner, 10,000 days of training an experth. I have a long way to go. Focus and train hard. 

All in all it was a very informative weekend and I look forward to the next conference. 

Osu! 

Dwight Sdrogefske (Newton)

Click here for an additional report by Sempai Terry from Surrey Dojo

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