Fall 2009 Seminar with Sensei Steve Ubl

This last weekend we had the honor to train under 7th dan Sensei Steve Ubl at the JKA Northwest region seminar. I cannot stress enough how thankful we are to be part of a JKA school which has the privilege of exposure to world class instructors such as Mr. Ubl. Though it is impossible to absorb everything from trainings such as these, I did walk away with some key points that I felt were important:

• Always going into target with techniques. We tend to let our power go back with punch and kick techniques which is not effective.
• Relax and don’t be tense. The fluidity with natural movement was strongly emphasized as well as the natural posture involving our pelvis and spine. We wouldn’t walk normally with our pelvis tucked too far up or head to far back.
• Techniques within techniques were also discussed. Don’t create openings when you move and both sides of the body are always working into the next move. With kata, we tend to compromise ourselves sometimes in order to do over dramaticized actions.

I think everyone took away something different from this experience based on where their karate is at and this is just my humble view of the training. In my personal opinion Sensei Ubl is a great practitioner of living breathing karate through much study. Just watching his fluid movement and kime produced without compromising himself is truly amazing. It is inspirational and something to strive for in our growth.

Check out the photo gallery pics added

- Allan

Congrats to Brian for passing his 3rd Kyu exam

The san kyu exam is a milestone for anyone that has experienced this. Last Tuesday Brian took the 3rd kyu exam and passed! He demonstrated great karate spirit and achieved his goal.

Congrats Brian!! Now you have to study the brown belt katas and learn which one is right for you

Special thanks to Helen and Suzi for running the dojo yard sale

The dojo yard sale did well thanks to the efforts of Helen and Suzi!

We appreciate all the hours of work you put in collecting, organizing, and running the sale.

Good Job Belt testers July 2009

Good job to those whom tested. Your spirit and training reflected well in the testing:

Mario and Allan 1st Kyu
Evan: 3rd Kyu
Suzi and Scott: 5th Kyu

4th off July Ice Cream And Dessert Social

When: 7:30 P.M., July 4th
where: Dojo

Bend Karate Club
502 NE Revere Ave

Bring your favorite ice cream and or dessert for a fun social gathering and watch the fireworks from the dojo.

-> Download the flyer here

Suggestions:

- Root Beer Float
- Ice cream cake
- Popsicles
- Ice cream cones
- Cake & other pastries
- Any dessert
- Drinks