Haoyin's Report is HERE
Reported by Sensei Brad
From June 26th
to May 3 2005, I had the very unique opportunity to travel to Japan
to attend and officiate in a series of high-caliber tournaments in
Tokyo. The events I attended included:
5th Womenfs World
Karate Championships
2005 International Childrenfs Karate Championships
2005 International Senior Karate Championships
2005 International Kata Championships
3rd World Menfs Weight Category Championships
This was my first
experience officiating in Japan, and provided me with an invaluable
experience in that regard. In addition to officiating and coaching,
I spent a large amount of time observing and making notes on the
proceedings of international tournaments, particularly at the
childrenfs level, to bring home ideas to apply to local and Canadian
events. The impressive skill and self-discipline of these children
really hit home for me the level of dedication to the martial arts
that exists in Japan, perhaps similar on some level to Canadiansf
devotion to hockey.
This awesome series of
events wrapped up with a Sayonara party attended by many of the
leading figures of the Kyokushin world today. I spent the evening
meeting representatives from other countries, chatting with the
worldfs top fighters, and enjoying the company of Shihan Lowe of
Hawaii, his daughter Barbara, and the Canadian Team.
On the day after the
party, Shihan Corrigal and I attended a training clinic led by
Kancho Matsui, Shihan Lowe of Hawaii, Shihan Isobe of Brazil, and 7th
World Open Champion, Francisco Filho. The training was amazing, to
say the least.
This was a fantastic
trip for me, and a profound learning experience. The fighters on our
team did a great job of representing our country, and I truly
enjoyed coaching them, with Sensei Tats Nakamura of Vancouver. Our
showing in this tournament reminded me of our countryfs massive
potential to truly compete with the worldfs best.
Thank you to Shihan
Stuart Corrigal and the IKOK-C for this opportunity.
Brad Gillespie
