UPCOMING EVENTS!

It's been too long since I put anything new up on the blogsite! A couple of important upcoming dates:
July 4th, Holiday (Comeaux Center closed) No class
August 7 Belt Test 11:30 a.m. Heyman Park
October 22 Youth Tournament, Ponchatoula, La.


With many students traveling on vacations or busy with additional activities this summer, the upcoming belt test on August 7 may not be recommended for everybody. I will be talking with individual students about that as the date gets closer. If your karate student is recommended to test, if you will be available on August 7, and if you would like them to test, training as much as possible until that date will be important!

Even though the youth tournament is several months away, I encourage you to start looking at your calendars to see if you will be available on that Saturday. We have had students compete at this tournament in the past and as our youth class continues to grow and we have more and more intermediate ranks, I will be encouraging more tournament participation. I would especially love to put some teams together in addition to the individual events! More info to follow...

UPCOMING EVENTS!

Spring is a busy and exciting time to be a karate student! Here is a listing of upcoming events:

All South Tournament: April 2, New Orleans. This is an annual tournament with both youth and adult divisions. Any full colored belt (yellow or above) is eligible to participate. White belts may be eligible with instructor's permission. I have registration forms available!

Belt Test: April 16, New Iberia. Students ages 7 and older may be eligible to participate in this belt test, while students 7 and younger will have a junior belt test at our dojo the following week (exact date to be announced). If the student plans to test or participate in the tournament, please attend every class possible between now and the event!

You can use the labels listing in the right hand bar to find other blog posts related to belt testing.

Summer Camp: June 3-5, New Orleans. An annual training camp that attracts members of our organization from all over the country and internationally. Attending the full camp is probably too much to ask of the youth members, but if you're going to be in New Orleans that weekend and have some time, attending even one of the camp sessions would be worth fitting into the schedule. This year's guest camp instructor will be Kobayashi Kunio from JKA Headquarters in Tokyo.

New Class Times

After a year and 1/2, our Youth karate class has grown to the point of modifying the class schedule. This will allow a specific focus for each level of student while maintaining interaction and overlap between all ranks. This new schedule will begin February 2 (Wednesday).

Beginning level students (white, yellow and orange belts - including all striped or Junior belts) will continue to have class from 5:30-6:15.

Intermediate and Advanced ranks (green belts and above) will start class at 6:00, joining the beginners class in progress. After the beginners are dismissed at 6:15, the intermediate and advanced ranks will continue until 6:45.

Adult class will begin at 6:30, joining the intermediate-advanced youth in progress.

Intermediate-advanced youth are welcome to stay for the duration of the adult class, until 7:30. There will be a bow out at 6:45 for those who will be leaving.

This rolling schedule will allow each level of student to benefit from a focus on their particular needs while expanding training opportunities with higher ranking members; the intermediate-advanced level youth will train with black belts for a portion of their class time.

Intermediate and advanced students are always encouraged to train on Fridays (at 5:30) with the adult class (beginning level youth will be invited on an individual basis).

I am excited about the growth of this youth class to this point. We have some talented and dedicated students and families. It has been such a great experience to watch them grow as people and as karateka. I can't wait to see where they'll be at the end of this year.

Lessons Learned

Working with this group of youth karate students presents endless opportunities for life lessons of my own. In the last two weeks, I have certainly learned a few things from some of the youngest members of the youth karate class. We have been preparing for our junior belt test for some time, especially since the more advanced students completed their most recent belt test. On a recent Wednesday, I told our youngest student, along with her parents, that we would be holding our junior belt test on the following Wednesday. This five year old was very excited about the possibility of getting her 'yellow belt' (which is a 'junior' yellow belt with a white stripe).

As it turned out, none of the other students who would be testing came to the next couple of classes, and I really wanted to work with them before we held the test. On the promised day, my youngest student came to class stating that she would be getting her yellow belt. I explained that it wouldn't be today, but that we would wait a few more classes until everybody had a chance to practice. She gave me a look and a tone of voice that left no mistake that I had broken a sacred covenant. She was more than disappointed and I paid for it the entire class period. While she typically has pretty good attention for a five year old and attempts everything asked of her, her demeanor changed this class. She let me know that I had let her down, that I had broken my promise, that she had come in ready to fulfill a high expectation and I shot her down. She didn't put in quite the same effort during that class, and gave me a look that left no doubt that I was being punished for my insincerity. Lesson learned: live up to your word and don't let some students down because others don't make it to class. Thank you, SG!

post script: we held the junior belt test tonight, and SG looked like a ninja! She has learned the sequence of moves expected of her in all three training elements (kata, kihon and kumite) and did them with confidence in front of instructors she doesn't really know. That Junior Yellow Belt is going to look good on her. I hoped I've gained back a bit of her trust in the process.

Belt Test 12.4.10

Click on the photo to go to our Picasa Web album with photos from our very successful belt test this past weekend. Everybody worked very hard leading into this test and it showed. Congratulations to Payton, Eleni, Christianna and William who are now officially 6th kyu (green belt) and to Jack who has graduated into the full kyu ranks with his 8th kyu ranking (yellow belt).

Youth Tournament

Congratulations to Eleni, Christianna and William who represented the Lafayette Karate Kids at the All South Youth Tournament in Ponchatoula on October 23. This was the first tournament the Club has had youth competitors. Even though they may have been nervous, they all held their composure, remembered their katas, and sparred very well!

Eleni Lemoine: 2nd Place Kata, 1st Place Kumite (sparring) 12, 13, 14 year old Beginners
Christianna Lemoine: 1st Place Kata, 9, 10, 11 year old Beginners
William Lemoine: competed in the 9, 10, 11 year old Beginner division as well. He won his first sparring match!

Thanks to the entire Kids class who helped train for tournament competition!

Registration

I've been getting a lot of phone calls about starting new students. Thanks to our current families and students who spread the word! The next group of beginners will start on Monday, December 6. This will allow us to focus on the upcoming National Tournament and the next belt test for the current students.

Simply come to the Comeaux Rec Center at about 5:10 on that Monday. We'll get the registration form completed and size a Gi (uniform).

Dues information and registration fees can be found in the side bar to the right!