Congratulations!

Gary Goodman        Quincy dojo            6 dan
Brian Sieben        Abington dojo        3rd dan
Briana Flynn        Stoughton dojo        1 dan
Matt Ryter            Stoughton dojo        1 dan
Joseph Botsch        Quincy dojo         1 dan
Tyler O’Donnell     Quincy dojo         1 dan
Richard Owens        Quincy dojo            1 dan
Philip Tubin        Rinchuse Dojo PA    4 dan

Hi all.  We’re going over  to the Fours after class on Thursday.  There’s a couple of birthdays to be celebrated.  So come to class and then lift a pint with us afterward.

I was on an email thread the other day from Sensie Denise Valentine with a video of Chip smashing two baseball bats with a low kick.  I figured why not post a couple of his recordings here.  Top notch martial artist and instructor.

CONGRATULATIONS is in order to 15 students from our group of affiliate dojo’s in Massachusetts who received promotion this past Sunday.  On May 17 2009, ranks ranging from  Shodan to Renshi / Rokudan were awarded to well deserving candidates.  Scoring was notably on the high side for several, showing an exceptional responsibility for self training taken …a key factor in staying focused and making progress  in a lifetime endeavor.   Karate is not simply a goal of achievement .

All must be commended for A TON of hard work and self discipline.   Improvement from the March pretest was significant across the board.  Work is never done of course.  There will be much to comment on when back on the dojo floors this week.   However, it was a standard setting test, successful in many ways;   Spirit was very, very high in all present   … hard work was evident in all …concern for technique even had some long time students on edge who were truly desiring to show improvement (4 candidates for 6th Dan over 50 years old!).  The testing Board was also again overwhelmed by contributing teachers, giving rise to my thought this group has come a long way in solidifying a family approach to passing along the oral tradition of  Shohei Ryu, our many esteemed instructors at Okikukai in Okinawa and the legacy of Master Uechi.

All should be congratulated.  Thank you to all the students from every dojo involved with this particular promotion for truly making teaching easy and the group of schools look  great.   Thank you to Gary as well for capturing one of the better post-promotion photo’s in a while, and for his hard work in putting together a video about Jack Summer’s lifetime of teaching (40 years since his Shodan Test!)  that we all can’t wait to get a peak at!

-Billy G. / Quincy

Sensei Jack just passed a milestone having held his Black Belt in Uechi Karate for 40 years.  Certificate number 368,  May 4 1969.  Signed by Kanei Uechi.

Thanks to Sensei Steve for the info.

For those of you who like to use facebook I’ve just created a group to help people keep in touch.  Check it out at IOK.

The pre-test will be on Sunday March 22nd and the promotional will be on Sunday May 17th.  Your instructor will have the latest details.

We are excited and anticipate a large turnout.

A big congrats go out to all who were promoted at the Fall Promotional Test this past Sunday!   This was a great promotional.   Daniel Barber, Tania Vieira, Brendan Kelly and Glenn Kaplan, all of affiliate dojo’s  rose to the occasion in very good form.  In addition, Chip Quimby (Salem Dojo Owner) and Wayne Greenside (one of the Marshfield’s great Instructors) personified great spirit and technique.

The younger guys (teenagers) in particular showed notable perseverance and character.   And, congratulations to Tania who was promoted to Nidan.  It should be noted she not only held her own with fire and fortitude, but was one of the strongest showings of the day.

A special congratulations to both Adult Instructors Chip and Wayne.  These instructors passed their 6th Degree test with Renshi (Advanced Teacher Certification) status.  These two guys are known to work hard, and their years of studying and teaching in the Shohei / Uechi system deserve this recognition.

This was one of the better recent promotionals.  Not only were the candidates well prepared, hard working and deserving but there were also almost 20 instructors from 5 different schools present to vote and contribute on the promotions board.  Consensus is this was a very successful promotion.  All involved should be inspired.

-Billy G. / IOK

P.S.

We now look forward to the spring promotionals, where we may have as many as 12 possible candidates from IOK’s own Dojo alone.  More to come on those dates and dates for special workouts in 2009!

Keith, David and I just came back from an exciting tounament put on by Bashta’s Martial Arts called the Nutmeg State Nationals.  It was a very well run tournament with a large and highly competitive group of martial artists, particularly those in the continuous contact divisions.

Keith and I took second in our continuous contact weight divisions.  David won second in continuous, second in kata and first in weapons kata.   We would like to thank all the nice people we met there and greatly look forward to participating again next year.