Onegaishimasu Sensei Nakamura,

Would like to take this time to "Thank you" for your invitation to IOGKF Canada Friendship Tournament.  Also appreciate support, and great hospitality from you, and your staff. The refereeing/judging training ws very good, and have a better understanding of the Irikumi refereeing/judging process.  The tournament was a great in my opinion.  Your staff did a excellent job of setting up and keeping competition rings running smoothly during the entire tournament.  Learned a lot just thru observation and also appreciate the given opportunity take part in tournament judging.  I left Canada with totally different and understanding outlook of IOGKF tournament process compared to local tournament.

Job well done!!  Domo arigato.

Sensei Leal
TMAC, Texas, USA

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Onegaishimasu,

Once again as always a first class, no a WORLD CLASS,, job on putting on the Friendship Tournament!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kudos to your staff and your students and all the dojos and students of Canada.

This time I really watched the faces of those in the audience. I guess teaching many children at our dojo I tend to watch the parents closely, I always love to see the shear pleasure and joy parents feel for their children when they are doing karate.

From the time they walk in - looking kind of confused and lost. To when they watch the opening ceremony and the demonstration where they get the first feeling of "Wow, my child is a part of this?" To the nervousness of getting ready to enter the ring.

It is fun to watch some of the parents "doing the kata" while their child is performing. As they will their kids to get through the kata. The best part though is watching the smile and pride so evident on their face as their child gets their medal. Plenty of photos and videos taken only outnumbered by the pride felt. I still love the reaction of the very young kids when they get their medal. They still seem so surprised to get one that I have to laugh.. Ah, the innocence is so pure.

I also witnessed the empowering effect of the tournament. The kids walk off a little taller and with a little bit better posture. I was also touched by a few of the kids that were clearly disappointed. I remember clearly watching one girl work hard to hold back the tears as she got her medal and the girl next to her giving her a hug and encouraging words. She walked over the best she could to her mother. As she sat there with shoulders slumped, I am sure the mother had some very encouraging words because after a few minutes her body language and face said "I'll be okay.".

At the end of the day much was learn by the kids and the parents and the adult students. But I now end up reflecting on how much I learned.

Even after many years in karate I still continue to learn more and more.

Thank you for sharing this very special experience with us,

Sam Larioza

Ohana Karate

Michigan, USA

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The tournament, held this past Saturday, was filled with interesting demonstrations at all belt levels. From the ceremonial drumming to sparring there was constant activity taking place. All the participants seemed focused and eager to perform. Friendship and support between the competitors, as well as the judges, was clearly evident and a joy to watch.

Member of IGMA Whitby, Ontario, Canada

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Sensei Nakamura,

You, your students and all of the volunteers are to be commended on a fabulously organized and seamless tournament.  To have a record number of participants, two kata/iri kumi categories and a group picture and still be out as early as we were proves just how well organized everything was.  The venue was great, plenty of room to practice if you had an event coming up, and the cafeteria was a great idea.  It is great for our dojo just to come to an event like this, where we are so far separated geographically and just pick up where we left off with the rest of the IOGKF Canada family.  We all had a great time competing, cheering, training, and catching up with old friends.  Also having the black belt division first was a great format change.  It alowed me to enjoy the judging I did and watch the kids without those "competition butterflies".  Finally, its great to see the true spirit of karate alive and well in the juniors I watched compete.

Domo Arigato Gozaimashita,

Kevin Jamieson, Shubukan, Calgary

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Thanks again for running another Friendship Tournament!!! Our family definitely looks forward to it!!! This is such a great opportunity to be able to measure you progress from last year in a constructive manner!! I know that we always appreciate all the feedback that we receive from the various Sensei at the event!!! Thank you for all your hard work on organizing this event each year!!!! We look forward to participating in the 2012 Friendship Tournament!!!

Domo Arigato!!! The Lyttle Family- IGMA Whitby, Ontario, Canada

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This was our first experience attending a tournament and I must say that it was a fantastic experience. Our daughter Alyssa absolutely loved everything about it.

We fully enjoyed the atmosphere and the camaraderie of all the participants. We were treated with the upmost respect by not only our teammates from our Dojo, but from all the other participants from Dojo’s across the country.

As parents, it was fun to see our daughter interact with other kids as a team and understand the importance of teamwork and respect.

We are very lucky to have Alyssa as part of the Whitby Ishi Gogyou Dojo. The leadership that she receives every class has made her more confident in herself and taught her to be respectful of others. It has also taught her that, with hard work and practice, she can achieve anything she puts her mind too.

Thank you so much for the experience and we all look forward to the next tournament.

Joe, member of IGMA, Whitby, Ontario

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Heya.

Although it was well enough organized, it took a while to get it going.
It is so nice to see this tournament grow every year with more and more kids competing, but this means that these events need to start in a timely fashion.
Also, although, not the fault of he organizers the incident involving Sensei Tyrone was awful. This was hardly a moment that brings to mind the ideals of a friendship tournament. The black belts who compete need to be reminded that the kids are looking to them at how to compete. And injuring someone as bad as Tyrone was is not sending them a great message. As my son reaches the age of sparring next year I worry that this is an example for him and the other kids who will be competing against him.

I still look forward to the next competition but hope, as always that this is a learning experience

Kris, IGMA, Whitby, Ontario

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As Shelby said, 'Getting a metal is better then losing!' (even though she placed last she was excited to get a metal for participating). For her first tournament she had a lot of fun.
IGMA student

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"This was our first experience with a tournament and the kids had a great time. It was great for us all to see Sensei Nakamura and all the black belts. It gives the students a chance to see where they are headed and what to expect. It was interesting to see students of all levels competing and displaying their skills. Our son and daughter are both looking forward to practising the next kata and participating in the next tournament!"

Dhonsi family, IGMA, Whitby, Ontario

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In a word - Fantastic! My son and I attended, for the first time, and had a wonderful experience. The opening of ceremonial drumming was impressive. The public address highlighting the importance of respectful competition and the aims of martial arts confirmed our parental choice in karate for our son as an important life discipline. Furthermore, the competitors, judges, volunteers and especially the numerous sensei displayed exemplary skill and commitment to excellence. I extend my gratitude to Ishi Gogyou for your exceptional preparation and personal touch towards our "little" student. He is extremely proud of his accomplishments and so are we.

Howard and Susan Kempton, IGMA, Whitby, Ontario

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This was my first ever karate tournament that I have been to.  I was very impressed how well behaved the kids were and how orderly the events were executed.  With over 200 participants this could have been chaos.

Florian
Member from Ishigogyu Martial Arts, Ontario

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In my opinion the term "Friendship"  says it all.  Today brought back the fact that we all came together to compete but not necessarily against each other but against ourselves.  I personally and with my 3 children learned more about our capabilities our strengths and what we definitely need to spend more time strengthening.  We all enjoyed spending time with those we already knew and those we took the time to become friends with.  The essence of the tournament!!!
I am very so very proud of everyone from our dojo who competed and I hope all came out of it with their own personnel goals of how to become better and more confident.  I know I have!!!!!

Thank-you all three of you for your time - dedication and faith in all of us!!!!!
 
Member from Ishigogyu Martial Arts, Ontario

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