Monthly Newsletter

 Sept/Oct  2006

18th Annual MWKF Tournament, October 28th:  This year the combined clubs of Battle Creek and Grand Rapids has set the bar very high. We brought home 12 medals. The van on the way home swayed with the weight of the medals we had onboard. The fact that Jordan from GR and Travis won two medals just made it sway worse.......here is how we ended up:

Senior Youth: Travis Hill (BC) - Gold Medal, Chris Brooks (GR) - made it to the quarterfinals.

Mudansha: Jordan Holmgren (GR) - Silver Medal, Stephen Chaffin & Fernando Lopez (BC) - made it to the quarterfinals.

Junior Youth Team: Emma Klar (GR), Matt Hurst (GR), Chris Brooks(GR) - Bronze Medal

Senior Youth Team: Travis Hill (BC) was on the Moline Team - Bronze Medal

Sandan and Up: Kotaro Yoshida (BC) - Silver Medal, Yutaro Matsuura (BC& GR) made it to the quarterfinals 

Adult Team: Yutaro Matsuura, Jordan Holmgren, Stephen Chaffin, Thom Jorgensen (GR), Kotaro Yoshida- Bronze Medal

   We had 5 people in the van travel to Niles, Illinois for the tournament. Travis, Stephen, Matsuura, myself and Jordan Holmgren from the GR club traveled together. We experienced way less problems with the road construction then we did in August going to summer camp. Also traveling separately were Fernando, Vladimir, Chris, Matt, and Emily. We still had our problems figuring out which way to go on Milwaukee avenue once we got off the Eden Expressway. We made it in plenty of time for the annual board meeting. That is very important to us as I must preside over the dang thing as President and Matsuura is trying to make sure the GR club progresses along in its 3 year odyssey in becoming a full-fledged dojo in the MWKF. The meeting was fruitful and we got a lot of work done for the future. There is a new Secretary, Mrs. Stephen (Yuko) Voss, and Matsuura sensei was elected VP of Education, replacing Mr. Kumaki. Late that night I had a chance to catch up with David Birdsell. We yapped into the late hours....

  There was around 180 people registered for the tournament, so they started with the Individuals-Sandan and up first to make sure they were all then free to shinpan the rest of the day until the teams started to fight. It was a long day, I delivered a quick welcome speech and people got "ready to rumble". Both Yoshida and Stephen took possession of their new BCKK vests, to keep them warm. The problem was as the day wore on, the hotter the inside of that small gymnasium got. There was a nice bento (lunch) that most of us had paid for.  

  After it was all over, the medal ceremony was sweet. As president of the MWKF I was able to participate in handing out the medals. Tagawa sensei was particularly open to the idea that he hand the medals to the Detroit people, Matsumoto handed medals to the Chicago people, and I, with great pride handed out medals to the Michigan people. There may be a long time before that moment will happen again. Someone from Michigan will have to be the president or at a very high-rank to be able to pass out medals to ourselves ever again. I must say, it was one of my most cherished moments in my kendo career. Congratulations to all the people who won a match or two their first time out. It doesn't always go that way. Especially happy for Matsuura sensei, you are all his "children" and he loves to see you win. Kudo's to Yoshida sensei for getting all the way to the final match. Imagine that...it took a Doctor to take out the College professor. At least our professor doesn't have to worry about injuring is hands at a taikai.

UPCOMING EVENTS

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