I’ll start with the best news first!  My son Donald is now a Shodan.  After almost eight years of hard training, that he started when he was just a little boy, he took his Shodan test last Saturday and earned his black belt.

He spent the last six months, training in Karate class four days a week and lifting weights at least three days a week.  He looked different than ever before at his exam with a drive and focus that I never seen from him before.  I don’t think I could be any prouder of him than I am now!

I also took my exam last weekend and cleared my keri which makes me a full 1st Kyu.  I gave everything I had at my exam but I guess I still have some more things to improve before I catch up to my son.  I trained like an animal and had days where I still trained even though I could hardly walk some mornings but I know in the end, it will all be worth it.  Now I plan on training even harder over the next six months.

Either way, I am glad exams are over and now I hope to keep this blog up to date going forward again.  Also, did I mention how proud I am of my son?

Sorry about not having any class updates since Tuesday.  I caught some type of stomach virus and wasn’t able to take class on Thursday.

With that said, no better time than to the present to talk about this years Kick for Cures that my club is sponsoring.  This event helps sick or needy Karate students and their families along with many different charities.  Below is the post that I put on my website with a little more details about Kick for Cures.

If you are a student in the ISKC, please think about doing this event and if you cannot make it to the event, you can always sponsor someone else who is going.  Even if you sponsor someone with something as small as one dollar total, it goes a long way in helping those who really need it.

On October 25th my club, the ISKC, is sponsoring an event to help sick and needy families called Kick for Cures. The way it works, is we go to one of four locations and do 1000 kicks and punches. People sponsor us, either with a per kick donation or a flat amount.

I know that money is tight for everyone and my being out of work for over two years hasn’t left a lot of extra money for me to donate but I am giving as much as I can afford. If you sponsor a single $1.00 that would help these people in need and I am sure it would be greatly appreciated by them.

If you would like to sponsor me you can do so online at: Kick for Cures at events.org.

Below is more information about where your donation goes.

Where does the money go?

The money is allocated to 3 funds and 10 Charities that provide support and cure research:

+ Make A Wish
+ Cystic Fibrosis
+ Augie’s Quest
+ American Brain Tumor Association
+ Michael J. Fox Foundation
+ ISKC’s stricken families in need
+ Jennifer Malloy Scholarship Fund
+ Relay for Life
+ Autism Speaks
+ Bear Necessities

If you are in my club, I would like to personally ask you to come out and do this event and show your support not only for our club itself but for our instructors that share and teach us so many good things.

Information about the locations and times of the Kick for Cures event can be found at: Kick for Cures Info.

If you can show up to the event or donate, I would like to thank you in advance for doing so. Again, any little bit helps and even a $1.00 would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Doug

Today was the American Shotokan Karate Championship held by my club, the ISKC, at Harper college.  It was a good tournament overall and my wife and son came home with five medals between the two of them.

My son took 2nd place in kumite, 3rd place in kata and 4th place in kihon.  He did really well and with some more hard work and a little polish, he should be able improve his kata and hopefully his placings.  I am very proud of him and he has really improved since the last tournament in May.

My wife and I competed in the senior advanced division today.  This was inteteresting for both us since this is the first time we went up against black belts.  My wife did very well and took 2nd place in both kata and kihon and I ended up taking home nothing, like usual.

What I did get today was a lot of good experience as a referee.  This is the 5th tournament where I have refereed and even though I still get butterflies in my stomach, I felt more at ease than ever before.  I know I still have a lot to learn but with each tournament, I feel more confident in my abilities.

It was good Karate day overall.

Today was the annual Jennifer Malloy Karate Tournament.

This event is always a good tournament since many competitors show up from all over the country.  This year, the tournament hosted the US team trials for kumite.   Many of the best kumite athletes in the country were present and competing today.  Since I was a judge for our own competitors, I did not get to see much of the trials but I heard that it was excellent.

My wife, son and I also entered the kata and kihon competitions in our respective age and skill groups.  My son and I didn’t win but received a lot of experience.  My wife ended up taking home Second place in both kata and kihon this time.

It was a good tournament overall.

Well, I am a bit disappointed in myself.  I didn’t do as well at my test as I wanted to and received my results today.  I ended up clearing my keri from the last test and am now a full second kyu.  I really felt that I put everything I had into training and preparation for this test but it seems that my examiners saw something different.

After thinking about it for sometime tonight, I feel that I put myself ahead of where I should be.  For the last few months, since I have been training five times each week, I felt that I was getting better and better and once I received the “Most Improved” award at our Karate banquet, I thought I was doing really well but because of that, I seemed to let my head get ahead of my body somewhere.  I trained extremely hard for this test and because of the last few awesome classes that I had, I felt that I was ready for my Shodan in my mind.

Somewhere, I guess I let me head get the best of me and even though I put everything I had out on the floor at my test, it was certainly not enough to fulfill my fantasy.

Because of this, I feel that I need what I want to call remedial Karate.  I need to be like Rocky III and get back to basics.  All of that “Eye of the Tiger” type stuff.  Somewhere between green belt and now, I seem to have missed something in my basics that others have found and I plan on going back to my roots, so to speak, and find what is missing in my Karate.

On a very positive note, my wife, went up a full rank is now a first Kyu keri.  I am very happy that both her and my son, who is now also a second Kyu, did very well on their tests.  The trained hard and tested well and really deserved it.

Awesome class…

Even though I was disappointed in my results, I had an awesome class.  For odd reason, every move I did felt good and I think it is because the pressure of testing is over.

We started out doing some basics for those in the group that still needed to test.  When doing those, my power, spirit and stances felt better than ever.  My movements flowed from one to the next with more speed than before.  I was next to my son in class and was able to finished all of my movements nine out of ten times before him.  I felt so connected with my strikes that it brought my spirit up more then before.

Kicking up there for a change…

Sensei Brien had us get a partner for some drills.  The first drill was a simple shuffle in with reverse punch and shuffle out to get our timing.  For the next drill out partner could block and I was able to score on my partner all 10 times while she scored on me maybe twice.

The next drill shocked me.  Sensei had us shuffle up and front leg roundkick our partner.  I was able to kick my wife at shoulder level with my right leg and somewhere under rib level with my left.  I was never able to kick this high with such consistency so hopefully something good is happening with this body of mine.

Kata from the core…

Sensei Brien had us do a drill that I haven’t done in some time.  He told us to pick a kata and it slowly while focusing on squeezing our core during each movement.  I ended up doing Heian Shodan a couple times and then Bassai Dai.  It really makes the kata feel different when the core is activated so intensely.

Today was exam day for both my wife and I.

We got the exam very early so that we would have time to warm up and work relax.  We did some basics, all of the kata’s from Heian Shodan to Bassai Dai and one-step.

The test started about an hour late but it moved really fast.  There was little or no rest between the eight or ten different movements and combination’s.  I felt pretty good up until about the second from the last movement where I was running on almost no oxygen.  I was able to push through and finish all of them with was I thought was good power and a lot of spirit.

Next came the Japanese test.  Sensei said a movement in Japanese and we had to do it.  I had kizame zuki (jab) and uchi uke (outward block).  Some of you might think that uchi uke is inward block but in our club, it is outward block.

We went out for kata next and my Bassai Dai felt really good.  I did the kata in my own world and didn’t notice anyone around me.  I had good focus and I my moves felt automatic.

We finished up the test with one-step sparring.  The same four moves that we often do in class.  Front punch to head and stomach along with front snap kick and side thrust kick.

After that, we had the control test.  I had a lot of power but because of my hips, I was unable to push off my back leg and Sensei DiPasquale gave a me lesson on how my hips and back should engage.  Up until that point, I felt that I did really well but I am not sure what will come from my control test issues.

Today was our Kick for Cures event and it was a great success.  By the time we were finished, our club had already raised near $75,000.

For the first time, since I have been doing this event, it felt easy.  I would normally be ready to drop after an hour of kicks, punches and blocks but I felt so good, I ended up staying and doing another 1000 moves along with my wife and son.

It was a great event with a lot of great people and all for a good cause.

If anyone would still like to donate, you can do so at the Kick for Cures website,  There is still time until the end of this month.  Yo

On November 16th my club, the ISKC, is sponsoring an event to help sick and needy families called Kick for Cures.  The way it works, is we go to one of four locations and do 1000 kicks and punches.  People sponsor us, either with a per kick donation or just a flat amount.

If you would like to sponsor me you can do so online at:  Kick for Cures at events.org.

Below is more information about where your donation goes.

Where does the money go?

• The money is allocated to 3 funds
  • 10 Charities that provide support and cure research – 30%
    • Make A Wish Foundation Illinois Chapter
    • American Brain Tumor Association
    • American Cancer Society – Relay for Life – Amanda Riley’s Memorial Team
    • Bear Necessities – Pediatric Cancer Foundation
    • Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
    • Alzheimer’s Association
    • Michael J Fox Foundation (Parkinson’s Disease)
    • Augie’s Quest (ALS)
    • Autism Speaks
    • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
  • Families in Need – 30%
    • ISKC families impacted by catastrophic disease or disaster. Confidential recipients but the list is growing each year.
    • Nick’s Pavilion – Support for one of our students who has a rare metabolic disorder and is often in a wheel chair. This project is to build a first floor handicap accessible addition so Nick can be more self sufficient and lead an independent life. Nickspavilion.com needs to raise an additional $20,000 to do the project.
  • Jennifer Malloy Scholarship Fund – 40%
    • Provides the support for our college scholarship program in memory of Jennifer Malloy. The fund was started with a donation from Jennifer’s family after her death.

If you are in my club, I would like to personally ask you to come out and do this event and show your support not only for our club itself but for our instructors that share and teach us so many good things.

Information about the locations and times of the Kick for Cures event can be found at: Kick for Cures Info

If you can show up to the event or donate, I would like to thank you in advance for doing so.

Thanks again.

Today was my Karate examination. I tested for 2nd Kyu and even though I will not know my results until Tuesday, I had the best exam ever.

This was the first time that I was able to do my own Karate. As soon as I stepped out on the floor, everything felt right. I did every movement the best that I could, without the normal nervous pressure that I usually feel at my exams. I went out there and just did “it” for the first time for my eight test in four years. The feeling today was different than any other exam because my mind was not about what could happen or what happened in the past, it was about the moment. Nothing else mattered except what I was doing at that moment in time.

Sensie Cieplik said that once you let it go and just do it, your Karate will be good. I am not sure what my examiners felt but I could not have done any better than I did tonight. My movements felt extremely strong, stronger than ever before and my punches and kicks were connected. I knew that if someone was to walk in front of me, they would not be walking after I hit them. The room almost went dark and I didn’t notice anyone around me for almost the entire test. I was also very happy that I didn’t gas out like I have at exams before. The training, the new diet and dropping 25 pounds of fat over the last five months seems to have made a big difference.

I had Sensei Cieplik as one of my examiners and he was right in front of me while I did all of my kihon. I focused on two crossing lines on the wall just above and behind him. I didn’t want to focus on my examiners and looking at that part of the wall really kept my mind on the task at hand.

I also felt that Pass, keri or fail, I did my absolute best Karate for that moment in time and I will be happy with the result. Going into the exam with this attitude changed me in such a positive way that I am going to try and use the same focus in my training.

Over the last few months, Sensei Noia, Sensei Cieplik, Sensei Plocharczyk and Sensei Gatch have been complementing me on certain movements. There was even one class when Sensei Noia and Sensei Plocharczyk said that I threw the best front punch during Jion that they ever saw me throw. Tonight I went into each movement trying to capture that same mindset and I feel that I succeeded.

I was also very excited and honored having Sensei Cieplik as one of my examiners. I was happy that I was able to show him, at my exam, that I am doing things that he has shared with me over the past two years of taking his class.

I also feel that not worrying about getting that next rank has helped. I still have my goal of getting my black belt one day but when I do, I want to make sure that I truly deserve it where as before I was more worried just about getting it.

I was watching some old video tapes from my past tournaments a couple weeks ago and I am so happy that I can see how I have improved over the last four years. Just seeing and feeling better than before is reward enough and I believe that this marks a turning point in my Karate going forward.

I guess I should also mention that I can hardly walk now because my hips and hamstrings feel like they were rolled over by a bus from squeezing the floor so hard but that’s a small price to pay for how I feel mentally.

Win, loose or draw, this is certainly the exam where I did my best and my own Karate.

We had our state Karate championships today.

My wife and I decided to try our hand against some of the youngsters and entered the 18-34 year old division. It was fun going up against some of the younger crowd and my wife ended up with second place medals in both kata and kihon. I ended with no medals but got a lot of great advice from many of the judges. Needless to say, I have some stuff to work on.

My son also entered both the kata and kihon events and even though he didn’t medal, his kata looked good. This was his first tournament as a brown belt and in the advanced division. The competition certainly is much tougher at that level but I am sure once he gets a little more time under his new belt, he will be bringing home the medals again.

It was a great day overall.