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from the July, 2011 issue of Kiai!
Just ASK: Words from the Founders
As many of you in the TW community know, our Adapted Seido Karate Program (ASK) is continuing to grow and prosper. Since it was started in 2005 by Senpai Rebecca Angevine and Senpai Max Kuroda, more than 60 children with physical disabilities have taken part in classes, learning physical and verbal self-defense strategies and building self-confidence – all while having fun. The ASK Program gives so much to the Thousand Waves community, and we thought Kiai! readers would be interested in learning about the founders' experiences within the Program.
For everyone life can be challenging, but for those differently abled, life can be even more challenging. My brother Jonathan has Down’s Syndrome. He has been fortunate to hear more encouragement than negativity in his life, which has helped him build strong self-confidence. I know as I’ve progressed down the path of Seido karate, that the encouragement I’ve received from my teachers and training partners has helped build my self-confidence. I remember being struck reading Kaicho’s autobiography, how he wanted to create a martial art that anyone can participate in and grow from. I can share this art with kids that need to hear words of encouragement and need to know they are loved beyond their families. I feel gratified by my involvement in the ASK Program and the joy of watching our students’ self-confidence grow.
– Senpai Rebecca
For me, personally, there are several reasons that ASK is important: I will always remember how surprised and pleased I was when I learned that Honbu would accept me as a student – after all, I was already about 54 years old! Since then I’ve learned that Kaicho sincerely wants karate to be available to everyone regardless of age and physical limitations. He not only discusses this in his teachings and meditation classes, but I’ve seen him show compassion to a young lad with fairly severe cerebral palsy (CP) who was trying tameshiwari with a hiji yoko (side elbow strike). With Kaicho’s coaching, the break was successful! Finally, as an epidemiologist, I have come to realize that CP, the most common of the neurodevelopmental disabilities, will not be cured, let alone prevented, in the near future. Thus for children and adults with CP it is important to maximize their participation in any suitable activities and to optimize their quality of life. So, for me, ASK represents all of these things; but most of all, it is an opportunity to help build self-confidence by instilling in our children that their physical limitations do not make them any less worth defending!
– Doctor/Senpai Max
Thank you Senpai Rebecca and Senpai Max for creating and sustaining such a meaningful extension of Thousand Waves’ work. And thank you to Senpai Denise Coleman for her thoughtful administration of ASK and to all of the volunteer corps for their time and commitment to ASK participants.