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Sensei Vicki Harvey (1963 - 2006) - Loving wife of Shihan Paul Kerr; cherished mother of Nick & Katy Harvey - VanAlstine.

Sensei Vicki entered into rest on June 16th, 2006 in the presence of her family in Perth Ontario. We will miss her always. We will remember her forever. She inspired everyone who ever met her. Her spirit, determination, dedication, sense of humor and compassion will live on in the hearts, minds and souls of all of her students. She showed us the true path and we thank her for the time she shared with us. In her honour we will train hard, we will live right and we will respect those around us.

Te Waza
by Cooper Hatfield

A kata is part of Karate. A kata is when you do a whole bunch of moves in order. If you do your kata the exact right way you can get a new belt.

Karate is for everybody. In my class there are boys and girls. To be in my class you have to be 6 years old or higher. Little kids go in the tots class. Adults have their own class. People that are really old can still do karate.

A sensei is a teacher for karate. They teach us self defense, katas, punches and kicks. They teach us Japanese words. I can count to ten in Japanese. I can tell you how: Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, Shichi, Hachi, Ku , Juu. Sensei’s are nice. To be a sensei you have to have a black belt. To get one you have to go through these belts; white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, red, brown 1, brown 2, black stripe, black 1, black 2 and black 3. It is not easy to get a black belt. I am working on getting my green belt. My goal is to get a black belt when I am older.

I have to do testing for getting a new belt. It is called grading. Grading is a t a special time only once a month. You show everything you have learned and especially your kata. No parents are allowed at grading because they close the curtains. You don’t find out if you get your new belt at grading. ou find out at the belt ceremony. At the belt ceremony you walk up 3 steps to the sensei, close your eyes and bow your head, and put your hands out, and then the sensei will give you your belt and a certificate. It is a special ceremony.

Every Christmas you get to sign up if you want to go in the Santa Claus parade. I was in the parade this year. We all wore our uniforms. It is called a gui. I really liked it even though I got so tired I felt like falling down. Ryan and Tyler, Grammy and Grampy, and my mom saw me in the parade.

Karate is good for lots of things. Karate teaches you how to concentrate better and focus your thoughts. Karate exercise your muscles and makes you stronger. Karate helps you with self defense in case a bully comes along. (Karate is not for fighting!) I made lots of friends at karate.

It is always fun to have lots of new people try karate. My friend Max has and my cousin Jack.< You should try it too.p/>

Karate-Do - What This Book Means To Me
by Chris Wilson

Gichin Funakoshi was a great man all around. He had a mind to go on (he was persistent). He was loving and fair. So I thought reading his autobiography would be fun. It is always an experience to read or see how people go through life. In reading this book, I have a new perspective of life. This is it "It isn't so bad".

Think of life as a season, let's just say winter. It comes, goes, and comes again. But no matter how many times it comes and goes, it will always be there. Life is the same, you live and die and it will always be so. BUT, a lifetime is a long time, more than enough time to have fun. Enough time to accomplish things, make a difference in the world.

People define heroes as people that have "superpowers" and they rescue people. There's not much more in this world that could be more wrong. No, heroes are people that get up after they fall. Why? Because they choose to. No matter how many times they fall, they will get up. People like Terry Fox. He got his leg amputated and he ran 2,000 miles. People like Gichin Funakoshi. He finished his dream by creating Shotokan karate.

Reading something written by him is no less than an honour. What this book means to me is knowledge, a source. What it stands for is honour. Most of all, what this book means to me is experience: An arrow pointing to the right direction. That is what this book means to me.

Shotokan Karate
by Olivia Ferguson

Good morning boys, girls and teachers. Today I am going to talk about Shotokan Karate. Shotokan is the style of Karate that I have studied for more then 2 years. Shotokan simply means shoto's school. Shoto was the pen name for Master Gichin Funakosi, and now I will tell your who Master Funakoshi was.

Karate has been around for thousands of years, but shotokan has only been around for almost 100 years. Shotokan Karate was founded on the island of Okinawa by Grand Master Gichin Funakosi. Gichin Funakosi was born November 10th, 1868 in Okinawa. He was very sick in his early childhood. He was in poor health until he started training in 2 styles of Okinawian karate; shuri-te and naha-ti. It was these 2 styles that formed the b asis of Shotokan, which combined the best techniques of both styles.

In Okinawa, karate got banned by the government, so karate had to be taught in private classes. In 1917, he was asked to do a demonstration at the physical education exhibition on the mainland of Japan. Master Gichin Funakosi passed away in 1957, at the age of 88. So I would say that karate saved his life, and karate would not be the same if he hadn't survived his early trials.

In Shotokan there is a learning system called kyu or coloured belt. There are 10 kyu rankings, these being white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, red, and 3 levels of brown. All the kyu rankings require you to know the basic techniques for that level and the kata. Kata means forms and is a combination of most, or all, of the techniques we have learned at that ranking.

We also do different types of Kumite. Kumite is simply sparring, or a mach fight where the participants where pads and practice control, the object is to learn and train not hurt people. In Shotokan we do some weapon training at higher kyu rankings. Because the practice of karate was banned in Japan for a time, Shotokan weapons are mostly farm tools that were used as weapons too. Like a Bo staff which is just a broom handle or pitch fork handle, or the nunchakas was a tool for grinding rice, the tonfa or mill wheel handle is very similar to the baton a police officer carries. The other weapons we train with are the weapons used by the Okinawain law enforcement; they used what is called a sai or forked prong and a Katana sword.

Now I will take a minute to tell you about my Karate Dojo or club. My karate dojo is called Thousand Islands Martial Arts, in our classes we learn discipline, respect for ourselves and others, and we learn how to defend ourselves if the need ever comes. We have 5 instructors or sensie as we call them. Having many instructors gives me the chance to learn things from more then one point of view. Instructors all teach the basics the same but application of techniques in the real world changes from instructor to instructor. I feel learning from multiple instructors gives me the opportunity to learn to apply techniques in many different ways. We do many different things in class but my favorite thing to do is grappling. Grappling is learning to fight after a fight has gone to the ground. We practice and learn many submission holds to neutralize an opponent. We use arm locks, leg locks and chokes to make the opponent tap out or quit. These holds are dangerous and should never be practiced without a sensei present.

In closing, I would like to say that Karate is more then physical training and learning to defend yourself. Karate is a journey of self understanding and learning. Through the training good or bad I have learned companionship, understanding and compassion for others. I have learned to respect other people's wishes and to put them above my own desires. After all my dojo is my second family and home, there we all want the same thing. TO BE THE BEST THAT WE CAN BE!