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Thousand Waves offers mentoring and support to two affiliated Seido karate programs outside of Chicago, the Seido Karate club at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self-Defense Center in Austin, Texas.
In addition, we sponsor the Adapted Seido Karate (ASK) Program for Children with Disabilities, an ongoing program here in Chicago that is run in partnership with the Caring for Kids Program of the Rehabilitation Center of Chicago.
For more information on the ASK Program, visit the Outreach / Adapted Seido Karate section of this site.
Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self-Defense Center, the Austin, Texas branch of Seido Karate, is directed by Senpai Joy Williamson, 1st dan. Senpai Joy, who some years ago had assumed responsibility for her then Kyokushin karate dojo when her teacher retired, knew Jun Shihan Nancy and Kyoshi Sarah through the National Women's Martial Arts Federation (NWMAF).
In her search for new mentors and a community to connect to, Senpai Joy was drawn to Seido since Kyokushin is the root art from which Seido was born, and she hoped that the transition would not be too difficult for her students. After several trips to Chicago to study at Thousand Waves and lengthy discussion with Kaicho Nakamura, Senpai Joy was invited to affiliate her dojo with Seido Karate, which she did after earning her Seido shodan in April of 2007. Since that time, both Jun Shihan Nancy and Kyoshi Sarah have travelled to
Austin to conduct workshops and hold black belt exams, and Senpai Joy is a frequent, most welcome guest at Thousand Waves.
For more information, visit the
Austin, Texas branch of Seido karate website.
The Pittsburgh Seido Karate Club is directed by Senpai Jodi Forlizzi, 3rd dan, who trained at Thousand Waves until earning her black belt. In 2001, she moved to Pittsburgh to take a teaching position at Carnegie Mellon University and started her own dojo. Since that time, Senpai Jodi has been a diligent and dedicated long-distance student, travelling to New York to train with Seido's founder, Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, and also to
Chicago several times a year to study with Jun Shihan Nancy and Kyoshi Sarah. We consider Senpai Jodi's students to be part of our extended family, and are always grateful that they make such an effort to travel to Chicago to be part of our special events.
For more information, visit the
Pittsburgh Seido Karate Club website.