Last weekend hosted some extraordinary events. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend five seminars, four of them led by some of the most significant kenpo instructors in the world- Lee Wedlake, Stephen LaBounty, Jeff Speakman, and Gilbert Velez. All students who had begun their kenpo education with Mr. Parker, and offered decades of insight and growth. A deeply educational day.
And I got to meet Marcelo Carvalho, one of the most gifted teachers I have ever met, who has agreed to come teach a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar at our school. Kenpo relies on not going to the ground, but we cannot always depend on avoiding the pavement. Mr. Carvalho's simple, exciting, and powerful lessons will come in handy for those times when situations sweep us off our feet. I look forward to his first visit.
Sunday was the tournament, and I could not have been more proud of our five warriors. Five boys who stood up, who put themselves at risk.Ricky Parish won second place in a fierce aggressive battle, and all of our fighters did themselves proud. Bravo to Manav Shah, Marcus Love and Matthew Eddy. And bravo to Alex Ninomiya, who did a beautiful job with his kata. I have utterly no doubt that all of our team- Ricky, Manav, Marcus, Matthew and Alex, are at the start of great careers. They are the people that Theodore Roosevelt spoke of -
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."
They stood up, and made us all proud to watch.
Watching the events last weekend gave me some eager plans for our future this summer. We will be introducing a ground game and getting to know a great teacher with Mr. Carvalho. And we will be hosting our own tournament. A small affair, just us and one or two other schools, a very fun day where we will have the opportunity to make use of one of the more exciting trophies around.
It will be an exciting summer.
