HIS Karate-Do

I’m not sure why, but Spring seems to be a popular time to hold karate tournaments. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve received invites to two local Shotokan tournaments, one scheduled for late April, the other for late May. If any of you has ever been to a karate tournament; large or small, there is an sense of excitement and anticipation that is evident throughout the place, now matter the venue. It’s a chance for serious competitors to place their reputations on the line and find out whether their techniques are as good as they’d like to believe. It is the ultimate representation of the sports aspect inherent in so many of modern martial arts in America. And, whether the awards come in the form of trophies, medals or certificates, most every competitor’s main goal is to perform well for themselves, their schools, and their styles. Although karate tournaments tend to look alike and the local ones are usually held in gymnasiums or recreation centers. Meanwhile, the large national/international tournaments one sees on the mainland tend to be held in huge convention centers or carpeted hotel ballrooms with many hundreds of competitors and thousands of attendees. Last weekend, Sensei [...]

Recently, I had an inquiry from my nephew’s wife as to whether I thought their little daughter could start training in karate-do. I was told that, “She likes to punch and kick and looks pretty good…plus, she’s always watching Kung Fu Panda on DVD.” Her question boiled down to what was the minimum age a child could start training in karate-do. This is probably one of the most commonly asked questions that parents ask with regards to their children and karate-do. Generally, we don’t accept students until they’re at least 5 years old. In the case of the HIS Karate ministry, we also invite the parents to train with their children – so that they can understand what the training’s about and to help keep an extra eye on their little one. Over the years, I’ve found that: each child is unique in their ability to absorb the art, some 5 year-olds can learn and perform as well as any adult, most kids attention span begin to wane after 45 minutes of practice, girls seem to have a little better focus/coordination than boys, and that the kids seem to do better if a parent is training alongside them. Here’s a [...]

Well, first of all, what a great time we had at our annual holiday party – even if we did hold it in February of the following year, heh heh. I’m glad that so many of you could make it to Krazy Karaoke for good food, good desserts, good music, good singing, and most importantly, great fellowship. I do want to especially thank: Sensei Trish for leading the fun with her amusing and pertinent games/prizes, Sempai Ken for donating money (he insisted!) to add to the club funds used for prizes/gifts (I think everyone went home with something), Kohai Donna’s dad (Jimmy) for reserving this prime room and time for us at KK, and thanks to the Dumlao/Fukuda sisters for manning the hard-to-figure-out (for your hapless Sensei) karaoke electronic equipment. Thanks to everyone’s efforts and expertise, the party went really smoothly. It was really great to meet and interact with family members of the students, wear regular clothes:) and relax together. I was also happy that even our son, Matt (Trisha’s big brother) made the effort to drop by and join us. In case you’re wondering; yes, he also used to train in the lineup just like each of you, [...]