After careful consideration of the costs involved, I’ve decided not to attend the WKA world karate event in Germany this August. The requirement of staying at a designated hotel for $237 per night over an extended period of time plus the cost of flights and other expenses will make the trip just too expensive for the one event I’m qualified for. Not only is there a WKA requirement of staying at one specific hotel at an inflated price, there is the requirement to stay for a certain number of days which will turn out to be several days where I won’t be competing at all. That $237 per night will really add up for just sitting around. I’ll consider WKA again next year since I understand there is a possibility that the world event will be coming back to North America. This is all really too bad as I was going to do some promotion for a possible new martial arts website as well as our line of karate clothing to an international audience but the overall cost wouldn’t have justified the trip.
Archive for May, 2007
WKA Karate Event in Germany Too Expensive
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Decided on No Jump Kicks
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007I was thinking that I might add in a jump kick to my Chinese soft style form but given that I’ve already had ACL knee replacement surgeries on both legs, I very hesitant to take the risk. Both of my previous ACL injuries were from doing fancy (but sloppy) jump kicks.
I use to do standard flying side kicks too and it’s a good thing I have some images preserved in photos since I don’t do them anymore. One such image was actually the basis of part of the artwork on my Martial Arts for Life t-shirt designs.
I’ll just have to focus on other techniques to make up for the lack of jump kicks.
Automatically Qualified for WOMAA Next Year
Monday, May 28th, 2007I found out yesterday that as a medal winner at this year’s WOMAA event in Ireland, I’m automatically qualified for their Martial Arts World Games next year. This is nice and I would like to bring a larger Canadian team next year since we only had two of us at the Ireland event.
If you haven’t done so already, check out some of the links on the right side of this blog for some interesting stuff.
A Tough Weekend at the Canadian National Karate Team Championships
Sunday, May 20th, 2007Just got back from Gatineau where the WKA Canadian National Karate Team Championships were held. As mentioned yesterday, I didn’t make the cut in both my senior 35 plus divisions which was a bit of a shock to me but there were some good younger competitors who just turned 35 in these divisions. Surprisingly, I made it to the finals for the soft style division which is for 18 and up. I was seeded in the best position today in round 3 although it might not be a huge factor since there were only three competitors in the division. But the other two were younger and one was probably in his 20s and was a bronze medalist in last year’s World Championships in Spain. I ended up beating him and the other fellow to take the gold.
So this leaves me with a difficult dilema. If I go to this year’s World Championships in Germany, it will be for one division, the soft style division only. It’s a division for all men 18 and over (I’m already 46). Also, the WKA is making it quite difficult this year as if one wants to compete, one MUST book and stay at designated hotels. The nightly price for the hotel in Germany will be $237 Canadian. Over a week plus flights and other expenses, it will easily be $2500 for the trip which is very high for one division. Then on the other hand, I did beat last year’s bronze medalist so maybe even at my age, I might have a good chance at winning a medal at the Worlds. I’ll have a few days to think about it.
Whether I go or not, I did purchase this year’s Canadian team track suit as a memento. It will be a nice addition to my karate apparel.
At the Canadian National Karate Championships
Saturday, May 19th, 2007I’m competing at the Canadian National Karate Championships right now and what a difference it’s making for me as I’m competing against some guys who are 10 years or more younger than me. I didn’t even make the final cut in weapons. Some of the feedback I got was that my technique was great but I seemed to have lost steam near the last part of my forms. Have I been doing any conditioning for endurance? I have to admit, no. I now know that for guys my age to compete, I must do conditioning training.
For hard style forms, I made the final cut but at this point, I don’t think I will make the top three since there are some new competitors in this 35 and over division and just turned 35. Also, since I’m doing a traditional Japanese form and this is not my usual style, sometimes, I don’t know how the judges perceive the way I execute my forms.
I’m doing better in the soft style Chinese division as I’m placed first so far after two rounds. I will qualify for the Canadian team in the soft style division for sure but I’m not sure if I would go to Germany just for this one division. I might have to make up my mind quickly tomorrow if this is the only division I end up qualifying for.
I left some promo stuff for our karate clothing line on the tables.
WKA Canadian National Karate Team Trials
Thursday, May 17th, 2007The WKA Canadian national karate team trials will be held this weekend in Gatineau, Quebec (across the river from Ottawa). I am planning to attend since I’m already qualified from the Quebec provincial trials. Although at this point, I don’t know if I would go to the WKA world event in Germany later this summer, I will make a decision later. But at least by making the WKA team, I will have the option of going or not.
I will also bring to the Gatineau event, some promo material about the Free Spirit Activewear line of karate apparel.
Found a Quick Karate Joke
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007I found a quick karate joke that I will plan to use in some of my Toastmasters speeches that have some martial arts content.
“What do you call a pig who knows karate?” “Pork Chop”
A quick one liner that hopefully will get some laughs. Even the kids will like it. Speaking of kids, there’s an entire line of karate t-shirts for kids at Free Spirit Activewear.
Bruce Lee Game of Death Track Suit
Monday, May 14th, 2007For those who watched the Kill Bill movies with Ulma Thurman starring in the lead role and are not that familiar with Bruce Lee, the yellow track suit she was wearing was influenced by the Bruce Lee Game of Death track suit. Game of Death was Bruce Lee’s last released movie and was actually finished after his death. The same type of yellow track suit with the black stripes was worn by Bruce Lee in the main fight scenes in Game of Death. I should be able to dig up a picture of him wearing it. This is more evidence of the impact he had, even after all these years.
Pictures from World Martial Arts Games Posted
Saturday, May 12th, 2007The WOMAA website has started to post pictures from the recent World Martial Arts Games in Ireland. I saw a slightly different version of the shot of myself with my Team Canada teammate Lianne Bunting of BC there. I know that Lianne took quite a few shots and even video footage of my forms but I haven’t received them from her yet.
I forgot to mention that in addition to competing, I also helped out as a judge at this event. They gave out nice WOMAA golf shirts to all judges who helped out which was a nice touch. This will be a nice addition to my martial arts apparel.
Bruce Lee Famous Pictures and Photos
Friday, May 11th, 2007Some of the most famous pictures of Bruce Lee have been reproduced in nice art prints and posters. A wide variety of many of these Bruce Lee famous pictures can be seen at the bottom of the Bruce Lee article I wrote. These images certainly help remind us of the enormous influence Bruce Lee has had on so many of us in the martial arts world. I still have most of my Bruce Lee posters from high school and will gradually replace them with nicer and newer prints or posters as the old ones wear out.
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