Yoshinkan in the Great White North Seminar
Hi Everyone,
Just returned from spending three days teaching in Toronto at the Sendokan dojo in Mississauga.
I was very excited because the seminar was billed as the Great White North seminar!! Perhaps people don’t know that the Great White North is a nickname for Canada. I was team teaching with Alister Thomson Shihan of Nova Scotia and Kevin Blok Shihan of Windsor, Ontario. It was very special as the three of us spent a lot of time together in the early eighties and it was the first the three of us were on the mats together in 35 years!!
Alister is like my older brother……..we did our sandan and yondan tests together and also did the senshusei course in Japan together…..perhaps an interesting story for a future blog?!
Kevin is the most senior non Japanese teacher in North America and was a big help to me, so all in all, I was really looking forward to the weekend.
Nic Mills sensei and all the other teachers at the Sendokan went above and beyond as usual. Big thanks to Nic ,Vera, John, Peter and everyone else. Your hard work and support was greatly appreciated by all three of us.
The seminar was very well attended with people coming from Nova Scotia, Ottawa and other places. Big thanks to Libor and Jacub who came all the way from the Czech Republic!!
Also I would like to thank our Karate brothers and sisters who are students of Patrice Williams sensei. Your energy and dedication to practice on Sunday was very inspiring!!
The soft mats hurt my feet and knees so I was hurting a bit when I got home!!
I would like to thank everyone who took the time out to attend the seminar and for everyone’s hard work and sweat….the dojo was hot!!
My only gripe would be as in every seminar……..if you are not wearing a hakama DONT teach…..you know who you are….. I yelled a few times when the noise level became very loud.
It was a great positive experience and I can’t wait to teach with Thomson sensei and Blok sensei again!! It felt like years just melted away.
My best wishes to everyone.
Osu,
Rob Mustard