Madison Seabrook Tournament Competition

Today my youngest daughter, Madison (age 6), competed in her first ever martial arts tournament. The Crispin Shiai was held in Georgetown, Ontario, and Madison had approximately 10-20 competitors in each of her divisions. Madison won 1st place in the self-defense technique division, and performed the American Kenpo techniques 'Delayed Sword," 'Five Swords,' and 'Obscure Wing' on me. Wow, does she hit hard!

Madison also won 3rd place in sparring, by winning 2 out of 3 of her fights, and landed some really hard roundhouse kicks and punches to the body. Madison also won
5th place in her forms and weapons divisions. I was really proud of her, and it was great to see so much of her hard work come out in the demonstration of her skills. I have attached a picture of her with all of her trophies.

Great Time in Bradford, PA, for CKF Seminars

Last Saturday, May 21st, myself and seven of my students attended the Bradford, PA, CKF seminars hosted by Michael Miller. The seminars were taught by CKF President, Sean P. Kelley.

Mr. Kelley's first seminar was called "Speak with a Knife." In this seminar, we learned a 6-count knife drill, and learned how to change the pattern of the count through spontaneity and counting by our partner. We also reviewed the American Kenpo self-defense technique, "Glancing Lance" and Mr. Kelley showed how the traditional (and often current) way this technique is taught is faulty. We thus learned a more practical and innovative way to make this technique work.

In the second seminar, Mr. Kelley taught an awesome kickboxing session, where we did lots of partner work utilizing the hands and the feet.

The day finished with an open sparring session which was loads of fun (and hard work). I had the opportunity once again to fight against Michael Miller and his amazing student (and MMA fighter), Matt Morris. I also fought against Beth Allen. My other students had loads of fights as well.

It was a great day, and the seminars were incredible. Michael Miller, as always, hosted another amazing CKF event.

The next CKF event in Bradford will be in September, and Mr. Kelley will be coming back for his 3rd annual CKF event in London, Ontario in November.

World Karate & Kickboxing Council (WKC) National Team Tryouts

This past weekend, Dana Broadhead, a 3rd Degree Brown Belt in American Kenpo Karate at my school, competed at the WKC Canadian Championships in Ottawa, Ontario. I am pleased to announce that Dana won 1st place in the Women’s 18+ Chinese/soft style forms division with Long Form 4, and 3rd place in the Women’s 18+ traditional weapons division with Tonfa Set 1. Dana has thus qualified for the Canadian team in both divisions, with the World Championships being held in Cadiz, Spain, October 31-November 5, 2011.

Luke’s Grade 1 Speech on Kenpo Karate

Below you find a link to a simply awesome speech given by one of my youngest students, Luke. His vocabulary and ability to memorize is incredible. I am so proud of him! ENJOY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJRkAbhqlQQ&feature=share

Amazing Vacation!!

I just got back yesterday from an amazing vacation with my family in Florida. The weather was awesome! We were gone for a full two weeks, and spent much of our time swimming and hanging out by the pool. We also spent a full day at Disney World (Magic Kingdom). I really liked Splash Mountain and Space Mountain (although, admittedly, the latter freaked me out!!).

It was awesome spending so much time with my beautiful wife, Chantel, and my lovely daughters, Morgan and Madison. I swear Chantel gets more gorgeous by the day!! My father-in-law, Glenn, also came with us, as did some very close friends of ours (the Baker’s).

Two hilarious things that I will remember about my daughters on this trip were: (1) Madison doing the Macarena for 30 cents in front of everyone at the pool; and (2) Morgan was laughing hysterically on Splash Mountain thinking that Justin was so scared on the ride for the first time!!

As this is a Kenpo blog, I should also mention that I had plenty of free time to train hard. Here is what I did over the past 2 weeks:

446 self-defense techniques (including the entire system with extensions), taught 3 private lessons, Blocking Set 1 (4X), Blocking Set 2 (4X), Kicking Set 1 (2X), Kicking Set 2 (2X), Coordination Set 1, Coordination Set 2, Finger Set 1 (4X), Finger Set 2 (2X), Striking Set 1 (2X), Striking Set 2 (2X), Stance Set 1 (3X), Stance Set 2 (3X), Staff Set, Short Form 1 (5X), Short Form 2 (3X), Short Form 3 (2X), Long Form 1 (2X), Long Form 2 (2X), Long Form 3, Long Form 4 (3X), Long Form 5, Long Form 6, Long Form 8, Book Set, Tiger and Crane (2X), Breathing Law (2X), 6 days of weight training, 380 pushups, and 380 sit-ups.