West Island Karate Videos - 2009

In early December, a few of us took a road trip down to Rochester, New York, to support Sempai Kimm as she competed in her first ever, full contact, knockdown tournament.  Aptly called "Ring Wars", this knockdown competition is contested in a boxing ring with each participant fighting in only one match consisting of three 2 minute rounds.  Kimm was pitted against Anne Marie Gauthier from Rimouski, Quebec - a tough experienced fighter who coincidentally made her knockdown debut at our very own Matsushima Canadian Championships this past May.  Coached by Sensei John and Sempai Alex, Kimm put on a great show for the appreciative audience.  Click the photo above to watch a video of Sempai Kimm's first foray into full contact, knockdown fighting.  Well done Sempai!  Osu!

Sensei conducted a grading this past June for some of his younger students.  Passing the test requires commitment, perseverance and Kyokushin spirit, not only during the grading but in particular during regular training.  This is something that Sensei always tries to impress upon his students, sometimes by quoting a related (and humorous) line from one of his favourite martial arts movies.  Unfortunately this movie reference often draws quizzical looks since the movie is much older than most of his students. :-)  So as a public service to Sensei, that classic scene (as well as a song from the soundtrack) has been included in this fun video of the June grading.  Many thanks to Shawn Abbott (one of the parents and a WIK student himself) for generously sharing his great video footage and photos from which we pieced together this little peek into a typical grading at West Island Karate.  Congratulations to all the students who earned their next Kyu!  Osu!

Vincent, Annie, Nathan and Maria demonstrating Gekisai Dai at the Matsushima Canadian Championships.

Sempai Lia and Em demonstrating Seipai and Garyu at the Matsushima Canadian Championships.

Anastasia performing Taikyoku Ichi at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Robin performing Pinan Ichi at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Nicolas performing Pinan Ni at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Azeb performing Pinan Ni at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Julien performing Pinan Yon at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Andrew performing Yantsu at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Isaiah performing Gekisai Sho at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Vincent performing Gekisai Dai at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Maria performing Bo Kata Ni at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Em performing Seipai at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

Sempai Lia performing Kanku at the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.

It is becoming somewhat of a tradition for some of our adult students to compete in semi-knockdown fighting at Montreal Kanreikai Karate's annual tournament, the Yukan Ultimate Karate Championship.  Here's a video of David Boily's fight.  This was Dave's initiation into the strange and wonderful world of senior men's semi-knockdown competition.  He held his own against a relentless opponent and managed to push the match into a one minute extension after the initial round was deemed a tie.  In the end, the fight was awarded to his opponent, but Dave can be very proud of his first performance in the ring.  Great job Dave.  Osu!

In mid-April, West Island Karate was invited by the Montreal Japanese Language Center to give a demonstration of kyokushin karate for their annual Japanese Spring Festival.  Sensei John obliged by bringing a few students of various levels to demonstrate what they typically learn in class.  Assisted by Sempai Alex, Sensei took them through some kihon, idogeiko, kata, tameshiwari and kumite.  Later on, Sensei surprised everyone by teaming up with Shihan Manolo Serrano of Bujinkan Dojo Montreal to demonstrate some karate and ninjutsu self-defense techniques.  This first video features our West Island Karate team going through some kihon and ikogeiko.  See below for other videos from the demonstration.

Nicolas and Julien demonstrating Pinan Ichi at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.

Max, Stephane, Ryo, Noah and Alex demonstrating Pinan Ni at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.

Philippe, Isaiah and Em demonstrating Yantsu at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.

Em demonstrating Garyu at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.

Sempai Alex demonstrating Seienchin at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.

This video features our West Island Karate team demonstrating tameshiwari at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.  Note that although Nicolas was unable to break his board during the demonstration (it was the first time for many of the students including Nicolas), Sensei subsequently had him break that same board in front of the entire class a couple of days later...which he did successfully!  Way to go Nicolas.  Osu!

Bujinkan Dojo Montreal (the Ninjutsu school which holds some of their classes at West Island Karate's Beaconsfield location) was also invited to put on a demonstration at the Montreal Japanese Language Center's annual spring festival.  Their demonstration culminated in a surprise appearance by Sensei John who joined Shihan Manolo Serrano on stage to demonstrate both ninjutsu and karate self-defense techniques.  It was a fascinating and fun meeting of two martial arts styles and long-time practitioners of these particular styles.

West Island Karate started the 2009 tournament season by taking a sizeable team to Joliette for the first tournament of the year.  All our kids worked hard, had fun, and represented WIK in fine fashion.  What follows are some videos of our students in action beginning with Goran.  Click on the photo above to watch him perform Pinan Ichi.  Well done Goran.

Little Julien did a nice job with Pinan Ni.  Many thanks to David Boily for this video footage which he shot with his digital camera (it serves double-duty as an awesome camcorder too).  You can also check out his photo album of the Joliette tournament.

Like Julien above, Tasha also did a very nice Pinan Ni.  Osu!

Stephane did a great job with Pinan San.

Duncan showed precision and power with his Pinan Yon.  Great job Duncan!

Here's Maria doing Gekisai Sho.  Well done Maria.

This is a "mouse's-eye" view of Kimm performing Gekisai Sho (you'll see what I mean when you watch the video :-)).  She did an excellent job with it.  Osu!

Annie displayed her speed and power while performing Saiha. Awesome job Annie!

Thomas may be relatively small in stature, but he fights with a lot of heart and has excellent stamina!  Very well done Thomas!  Osu!

Because we usually bring a large team from West Island Karate to compete at tournaments, our students sometimes end up facing each other in the ring.  Here's just such a case as Tasha takes on Stephane.  They still did their best despite having to fight each other.  Thank you to David Boily for this video footage.  Osu!

Here's little Julien again - this time fighting it out in the ring!  Thanks again to David Boily for this video footage.  Osu!

Here's Annie doing a great job in one of her kumite matches at the Kanreikai Joliette tournament.

The upcoming 2009 Matsushima Canadian Championships promises to be a special one.  For the very first time, we will feature an adult full contact / knockdown competition in the evening.  In addition, Hanshi John Taylor (9th Dan) will be making the long trip from Australia to join us this year and will be giving a series of seminars the next day!  Don't miss this rare opportunity to train with Hanshi.  Click here for all the details regarding this year's tournament and Hanshi John Taylor's seminars.  Then click on the photo above to watch a fun preview of the 2009 Matsushima Canadian Championships (featuring footage of last year's tournament and music from one of Sensei's favourite martial arts movies...'nuff said :-)).  See you there!  Osu!

In January of 2009, Sensei offered a special tameshiwari class for anyone interested.  Many students from kids to adults took him up on his offer, including several of our Sempais.  Here's a short video of Sempai Tony (courtesy of Steve R. shown here mugging your humble webmaster...thanks Steve! :-)) breaking several concrete blocks with an elbow strike.  It looks like fun and it's impressive, but this definitely falls under the category of "don't try this at home kids" or you risk serious injury.  A much safer alternative is to sign up for Sensei's tameshiwari class the next time he offers one. :-)  Added bonus:  click here to see Sempai Manon's photo album of the tameshiwari class (thanks Sempai)!  Osu!