Tournament Checklist!

In order to make certain that your CKI Tournament experience is as smooth and positive as possible, please make sure to bring:

• Uniform Pants, Kempokan T-shirt, preferably tucked in, & Belt.  THESE ARE REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE!
• Entry Tickets that you picked up at the school (Additional Spectator Tickets will be available at the door)
• Directions to Sportsworld (available at www.sportsworld.cc)
• Whatever you will be wearing on your feet (not required, but you should practice a little bit at the place in order to get a feel for the floor in whatever you’ll be wearing)
• Sparring Gear, if you are competing in the Sparring event.  YOU MUST BRING YOUR OWN:

1. Helmet
2. Gloves
3. Protective Cup
4. Mouthguard (Optional)
5. Shin Pads (Optional)

• Your Weapon, if you are competing in the Weapons event
• Your parents, who are incredibly proud of you, no matter what happens at the Tournament, and who will congratulate you even louder than everyone else!
• A GREAT ATTITUDE!

I strongly recommend that everyone show up at the very least 30 minutes prior to your event’s scheduled start time in order to allow time to get parked and find your way inside.  Check in will happen at your ring, and schedules with Ring assignments will be available at the door, so there will be no need to go to the Head Table.  Good luck to everyone and I look forward to seeing you all there!

Sincerely,

Sensei Ben

Vacation coming up. What to do, What to do?

Why not get the kids out of your hair and sign them up for a Karate Camp Day on Monday, April 18th!

Camps are open to any actively training students in belt programs under the age of 14.

As always, the camp will run from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and campers are invited to participate in a wide range of activities, including extra karate classes, sparring, advanced forms, performance, and weapons training.  In addition, campers also experience other fun and exciting activities, such as origami, fight scene choreography, playing go, and other possibilities.  The specifics will be decided depending on the students enrolled.  Almost all participants at past camps have had such a great time that they have wanted to participate again and again!

In order to participate, a non-refundable full payment of $60 is required to secure your space.  You may make this via the appropriate PayPal link below or by the usual methods at the school.  If you have any questions, or to reserve a spot, please contact me at the school at (860) 665-7553 or bthomas@thekempokan.com.

To make a deposit by PayPal click here.

Tournament Preparation Classes

At the front counter, I’ve posted a sign up sheet for some extra Tournament Practice Sessions scheduled for next Saturday, March 12th.  Each session is 15 minutes long to give you some pointers on how you personally can show off your best movement.  I like to give tips on what the judges look for and the things that have the biggest impact when you are performing, and the sessions are designed to give you enough to be able to go work on them on your own.  By the time you arrive at the Tournament, my goal is that you feel like you have every piece of your routine down cold.

To make the best and most efficient possible use of your time, here are some guidelines to follow when preparing for the Tournament:

• Know what events you are entering and what you will be doing in each one prior to your session.  If you can’t remember what events you are registered for, ask me.  If you want to make any changes, don’t worry, it’s not too late!  For the Forms, Open Forms, and Weapons events, you should know which form you will be presenting.  For the Combinations event, you should have your three best goshin or jujutsu movements pre-selected so you can focus on refining them during your time.  If possible, it can also be very helpful to know which movement is your best and which of the three you feel least confident with.
• For each private practice session you schedule, focus on only one event.  Don’t try to cram too much into a short time.
• Each 15-minute private session is $20.  Please make sure to write down the correct time, since you will be charged for any missed session, or session canceled with less than 24 hours notice.
• Write down as much as you can remember of what you learn during your session so you can refer to it later while you are practicing on your own.  I will note the biggest things to work on at the conclusion of your session.  It’s your job to practice them since I can’t do it for you!
• Practice your routine, including opening presentation, as often as possible in the days leading up to the event so you feel completely confident with what you are doing before you go.  Do it at home in front of the mirror or your family.  If possible, imagine the crowd cheering for you!

Good luck and I look forward to helping you achieve your best!

Register for the Tournament this Weekend!

In case you haven’t already done so, make sure to register for the Tournament this weekend! Registration Fee increases by $40 on March 1st, so don’t put it off any longer! You can register and get more information here, as well as scroll through other recent blog posts to get the details.

Morning Yoga – New Session

It is that time again.  The next 10-week morning yoga session at the Kempokan is scheduled to begin next Wednesday, February 16, 2011.  For those of you who are worried about the school breaks, if there is agreement among the participants, classes will be suspended during that time.  As usual, classes meet on Wednesday mornings, 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.  The fee for the 10-week session is $95.  The drop-in rate is $12.50.  If you prefer, payments may be made through the Kempokan, but please speak with Ben first when choosing this option.   Please contact the instructor, Elsie, if you intend on participating: (860) 965-1981, emyoga.namaste@gmail.com, www.emyogawellness.com.

The evening yoga session is still in progress on Tuesday evenings, 7:15-8:00 p.m.  If you would like to participate, simply drop-in.

Tournament Rules Overview

Listed below is a general overview of policies and procedures regarding the upcoming Tournament.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Policy Overview

• There are currently 5 level divisions:  Beginner (white Yellow orange), Intermediate (purple, blue, Blue stripe), advanced (green, green stripe, and brown), Jr. Black, and Black Belt.
• There are currently 4 age divisions: 4-6, 7-11, 12-16 and 17 & up.  Jr. Black & Black Belt have different divisions.

How to compete at the Tournament

How to compete in:

Combinations

Step 1. Choose 3 Goshin, Kempo, or Jujutsu techniques that you feel most comfortable with and display your best skills.

Step 2. Memorize which order you will be performing them in (I recommend putting your best one last).

Step 3. Think about how to position yourself so that the judges will be able to see your best movements.

CKI Tournament

As a school, we will be participating in the Connecticut Kempo Invitational Tournament on Sunday, March 27th, and the following is an overview of what to expect.  I know that not everyone will be able to participate, however I have found over the years as a teacher that the process of training for an event like this is a great tool for building confidence and self-esteem, as well as a better understanding of martial movement.  Not everyone that competes will win first place.  Some will be fortunate enough to walk away with place trophies, but the primary goal is for all participants to experience the sense of accomplishment that comes from knowing that they did their best under pressure.

About the Tournament

2011 marks the tenth year of this tournament, and I was one of the original creators and worked as a director before stepping down several years ago.  Each year, the event has had hundreds of competitors, and has run very smoothly (and on time, unlike most Tournaments).  Although it is a large event, the organizers do their very best to ensure the quality of each competitors experience, especially regarding consistency of judging.  The judges are trained in the way they score the competition as well as their manner of presentation.  The registration process itself is set up to make certain that the judges and coordinators will have all of the information they need to run the event as efficiently as possible.  Although any judge is certainly human and capable of errors, I can assure you that they are fair and impartial in all of their scoring.  I have been an instructor or close colleague of just about every one of the judges at some point in my career, and I have a lot of respect for all of them.

What You Need to Know

Reminder: FREE seminar!

This is a reminder to register for the CKI Tournament BEFORE this Saturday so you can take advantage of a free seminar on how to perform your best at the event.  Details are here!

If the snow is driving your kids crazy…

Why not get them out of your hair and sign them up for a Karate Camp Day on Monday, February 21st!

Camps are open to any actively training students in belt programs under the age of 14.

As always, the camp will run from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and campers are invited to participate in a wide range of activities, including extra karate classes, sparring, advanced forms, performance, and weapons training.  We will also have some time to focus on preparing for this year’s CKI tournament as well.  In addition, campers also experience other fun and exciting activities, such as origami, fight scene choreography, playing go, and other possibilities.  The specifics will be decided depending on the students enrolled.  Almost all participants at past camps have had such a great time that they have wanted to participate again and again!

In order to participate, a non-refundable full payment of $60 is required to secure your space.  You may make this via the appropriate PayPal link below or by the usual methods at the school.  If you have any questions, or to reserve a spot, please contact me at the school at (860) 665-7553 or bthomas@thekempokan.com.

To make a deposit by PayPal click here.