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from the October, 2015 issue of Kiai!
Fall in New Hampshire: A Conclave to Remember
By Senpai Ryan Libel
TW Director of Operations and 2nd Degree Black Belt
Near the beginning of the year, Sei Shihan Nancy and Jun Shihan Sarah made me aware of a unique training opportunity offered by Sensei Jesse Knowles, a traditional karate stylist currently based in Atlanta, and hosted by Shihan Marty Kale and the rest of the Souhegan Valley Karate Club of Brookline, New Hampshire. Sensei Jesse has been a friend of Thousand Waves for a couple of years, and has trained with us a couple of times when he has visited Chicago. As the Shihans and I discussed the possibility of my traveling to participate, I decided I was up for a martial adventure and began planning my first ever trip to New Hampshire.
Senpai Ryan demonstrates Seido Intermediate Self
Defense #1 at the Tenzan Conclave on a willing helper.
Sensei Jesse, travelling from Atlanta, met me in Boston. I flew up after training for a couple of days at Seido Honbu in New York, where I was graciously hosted by my friends and training mates Khader Khalilia and Senpai Danielle Strandburg-Peshkin at their home in Brooklyn. In addition to training at Honbu, while in New York I had the pleasure of meeting Tracy Hobson, the Executive Director of Brooklyn’s Center for Anti-Violence Education. I learned about the great, mostly grant-funded violence prevention work they do with young people and others in the greater New York area. I look forward to learning more from Tracy in the future.
From Boston, Sensei Jesse and I traveled north to Brookline, New Hampshire, home of the Souhegan Valley Karate Club, a magnanimous, community-minded organization practicing Shorin Ryu karate and other traditional martial arts. As we drove north from Boston, the famous New Hampshire fall foliage was just beginning to peek through the dense green forests of the Granite State.
Sensei Jesse and I were graciously housed by Shihan Marty Kale at his beautiful home in picturesque Brookline, NH, where he serves as head instructor for Souhegan Valley. Kale is a veteran martial artist in Shorin Ryu, Iaido, and other traditional styles. His hospitality and grace in opening his home to me – a stranger – were matched only by the warm reception of the entire Karate Club throughout the weekend. On Friday night Jesse, Marty and I got to know each other at a great local restaurant serving everything from lobster to pizza.
Soon enough it was Saturday morning and time for the Conclave. The format of the event ensures all participants have the opportunity to participate in all seminars – children and adults alike trained together in each of the seven, hour-long sessions over the course of the Saturday conference. While most attendees were friends from a close-knit network of area schools, I was there representing Seido Chicago, and two other schools from Canada also made the trip. The eclectic program included a tremendous mix of partner work – from applied self-defense, to partner work basics, to beautiful and powerful flow drills, to examining potential bunkai applications for the wide-ranging Yois found in our shared collection of martial forms. I was humbled to be included amongst the much higher-ranking instructors with decades of experience teaching in Shorin Ryu, Shotokan, Israeli Self-Defense system Kapap, and other martial styles.
Participants in the Tenzan Conclave.
The spirit of the day was one of sharing our arts in an ego-free space, and I can’t imagine any of us walked away less than thrilled with our experiences. The same rich, community-minded spirit that permeates our training at Thousand Waves and Seido Karate as a whole was on full display in New Hampshire. As we left the middle school facility where the event took place I gushed to my hosts about the tremendous group they have assembled over the years. Later, over dinner at the after party held in a dance studio over the Brookline General Store, we deepened our relationships with friends new and old as we shared stories and videos of our experiences in the arts.
As Sensei Jesse and I parted ways at the terminals of Boston’s Logan Airport Sunday morning for our respective flights back home, it was clear to both of us that this will not be our last meeting. I look forward to sharing some of what I learned in coming classes at Thousand Waves, and to taking Sensei Jesse out for dinner the next time he makes it to Chicago.