Hi Everyone,
1.) As you know, we were the host for the East Central United States Kendo Federation's Johnson Cup Kendo Tournament this past weekend. This was the first time we were chosen to host the event. I'm pleased to report that we did well. Shaun Yoshida was the winner of this year's Johnson Cup! Mark placed third. This is a first for our club. We never had a first place finisher in this tournament. As far as I can remember, the highest we have achieved in the past was a third place finish. This year the great performances continued. Justas placed second and Rey placed third in the Mudansha division. Justas of course is a junior, and he was competing in his first adult competition. He won a youth tournament earlier this year, but to do so well in an adult tournament is fantastic. Rey was competing in his first ever Kendo tournament, and made a strong showing. One of the highlights of the tournament was when Jimmy and Justas were called up to fight a tie breaker. They were tied through the regulation time period, then they went into overtime with no time limit. After about 12 minutes into overtime, someone at the scorer's table found that there had been a mistake. Jimmy and Justas did not have to fight in a tie breaker. It was high drama anyhow because nothing could go forward until they were done, so they had everyone in the gym watching their match. Finally, we had two teams entered for team competition. NKY placed third in teams division. Shaun, Mark and myself made up the "A" team, Rey, Jimmy and Justas were on the NKY "B" team. Our results at the Johnson Cup was a great wrap up of the year. We had success on the tournament floor and with promotions of our members for rank promotions. It has been a good year!
2.) After the tournament we went to the party where I passed out award certificates. Kosuke and Takaya Yagimoto won Best Newcomers, Ami Yagimoto won Best Effort, Seira Ikarashi won Best Footwork, Flo won Best Spirit, Jimmy won Best Epic Battle (for the long match with Justas at the tournament), Chris won Guest Instructor of the Year, Justas's mother and father won Parents of the Year, Mark won Instructor of the Year.
3.) Class will be cancelled at the Step 'N Out Dance Studio in Covington this Sunday December 26. The next class after this will be at Corryville Wednesday evening on December 29th.
4.) Work continues at our new main location, The TEA House Martial Arts and Learning Center located at 8182 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati 45255. Last night furniture and flooring were moved in. Contractors should be finished with cleaning the floors, so next week the doors should be open. I'll have a schedule in the email for you within a couple days. We are planning to maintain classes Sunday mornings at Step 'n Out Dance Studio and Wednesday Evenings at the Corryville Recreation Center as well as a schedule for the new location. If you have spare time over the next two weeks, please stop by to lend a hand. There is plenty of mopping and sweeping that needs to be done.
Here is a funny story from moving things stored at my house for new place. I rented a U-Haul truck to move things I had stored in my garage, living room, hallways, and basement. Students of Master C.M. Brown of Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky Hwa Rang Do martial arts drove out with his students to help load the truck. Little did I know, one of the neighbors didn’t like the idea of “someone and somebodys” showing up in my driveway after dark with a 14ft truck. After about 10 minutes of loading, the first two police cars showed up. As the officers got out of their cars, I just happened to be playing with a lightsaber. One of the officers approached the house, and the other one stayed with his car and started laughing,”Watch out, he has a lightsaber!” Anyway, things were under control by the time the third police car rolled up. I can’t promise this much excitement all the time, but please stop by when you get a chance and help with preparing The TEA House.
From the Northern Kentucky Kendo Club, everyone have a terrrriffic holiday!
Jim
