Highlights from 2007 Kempo Oka, November 3

Dirk, Matt, and I competed in Guy Saint-Pierre's first tournament, the Kempo Oka on November 3. Guy and his students have been attending our tournament for years and, although we would have liked to been at the Pro-Style in-house on Saturday, we made commitments to attend his tournament months ago.

Everyone did well, with Matt placing 2nd in kata and winning his fighting division. This time he didn't have to face the ogre. The ogre also competed but lost his first fight. It turns out he is quite a nice guy - he just looks like an ogre when he fights. I hope he never reads this blog!

Matt won his 3 fights handily, beating Michel Gagnon from Sunfuki 5-2 in the final. Michel was in excellent form, having defeating the ogre earlier. Matt and Michel (a member of the 2007 WKA Canada team) have a healthy rivalry going and are sure to meet each other a few more times leading up to the WKA tryouts next May.

Dirk got third in kata and second in weapons (moving the entire ring mat a few feet on some powerful stances/strikes!). He actually got two second place trophies (after he broke the glass part of his first one).

I got second in kata with Arakaki Unsu - the 1st time I competed with a kata that didn't have a side kick in 3 years! I also won the +40 black belt fighting. The kickboxing classes are really helping as this was the first time that I scored all my points with my hands :) In weapons, I took after James (from Karate Sport Action a couple of years ago) and broke my bo, hitting Dirk. As Imran would say "my gunz are too big and I'm just too strong".

I'll post pictures from the video later. Unfortunately, only my fights are on the video - Dirk and I were busy judging when Matt was competing.

Results:

• Matt - 2nd kata, 1st fighting
• Dirk - 3rd kata, 2nd weapons
• Norm - 2nd kata, 1st fighting

Sunfuki Challenge Rive-Nord 2008, January 20

Eric Vidricaire, who runs one of the Sunfuki schools, is hosting his first tournament on Sunday 20 January 2008. Like the other Sunfuki tournaments (Laval Open in September and Cobra in April), this one should be well run and is close enough for a day trip (in Rosemere, just north of Montreal).

This should be a great tournament for coloured belt juniors as there are many kata, weapons, and sparring divisions (beginner, intermediate, and advanced for 6-, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-17). There are the usual divisions for junior black belts (separate boys and girls) , adult coloured belts, and adult black belts (separate men and women, 18-29 and 30+ for traditional kata).

In the past, Eric and Sunfuki have been very supportive of our tournament and moved his original tournament date to avoid conflicting with Adrenaline Rush.

http://www.karatesunfuki.com/
Eric Vidricaire, (450) 419-6839, evidricaire@hotmail.com

Academie Ste-Therese (Rosemere campus)
1 Chemin des ÉcoliersRosemère, QC

http://maps.google.ca/maps?daddr=1+Chemin+des+%C3%89coliers,+Rosem%C3%A8re,+QC&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=101+schneider+road,+ottawa,+on&f=d&sll=45.648683,-73.775618&sspn=0.00642,0.01605&ie=UTF8&ll=45.650288,-73.783836&spn=0.051359,0.128403&z=13&om=1&pw=2

Pre-Registration: $40 for 2 events, $10 each additional, before 11 January 2008
Registration: 9:00 am - $40 for 1 event, $10 each additional
Eliminations: 10:00 am
Spectators: $10 (free for 6 and under)