In March, my son and I attended the Ohan Brothers Gold Cup Tournament in Laval, Quebec.

http://www.ohanbrothers.com/memorialgc.htm

My cherished memories:

- Listening to the astonished admiring sound of "Oooo" explode from the spectators on my right as I went from Yoi to the first move of Naihanchi in my performance on stage. That sudden collection of loud breathed out sound nearly popped me out of my mental concentration. I had to quickly...

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Shame on me.. double shame..

Oh well.. now that is out of my system I will start anew and blog some about karate

Working on improving everything, but focusing on bits at a time. Right now I'm thinking about sweeps, and how they work, how to get them from strange angles, where they fit in Kata, etc.

For example, I'm starting to wonder if the opening set of movements in Pinan Sono Ichi could be an inner sweep with the left leg pushing onto your opponent's...

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Osu

Now THAT was a great event! The Ohan Brothers Gold Cup Tournament 2012 held in Laval, Quebec.

I just got back from there, and here are my cherished memories:

- Fantastic, and impressive competitors ( over 200 of them from different countries, and different styles)

- Training seminar with Shihan Klaus Rex. Wow.. I just have to say WOW! That was something else as he shared a taste of what training as an Uchi Deshi under Sosai was like...

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It goes to show that being involved in my home, work, and Karate has made it difficult to sit down and type in my blog. I guess that I should consider this a good thing as it shows that I'm applying myself.

My latest efforts in Karate is to improve on the following things:

Front kick - working towards bringing my knee up higher, and keeping it there. I have found that I've developed a lazy habit of dropping the knee as I kick. I guess that it's easier on my hip that...

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Training in the heat has never been an enjoyable experience for me, and even with years of practice behind me I still find myself walking into the dojo with a sigh of resignation when I feel the damp warmness of the air that happens during the summer.

Mokuso helps me push the negative feelings aside as I calm my mind, and focus on the moment, but as soon as the sweat starts on my brow, which usually happens within minutes of the warm up, and drops into my eyes I am reminded of the...

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