I know that, like me, you have been at once heartened and saddened by the many revelations hitting the headlines of powerful men who have abused their positions. In a world where the struggles of most victims of harassment do not occur at the hands of public figures, it gives me great solace to know that the work we do on the karate training floor at Thousand Waves and in our broader Chicago community connects people with an innate strength – a strength that empowers us all to speak truth to power, both for ourselves and on behalf of others.

Currently, 17 black belt instructors, led by Sei Shihan Nancy and Jun Shihan Sarah, teach one or more classes weekly to keep our Seido karate program humming along. About 425 adult and child karate members, about ten percent of whom train with scholarship assistance, comprise our student body. One of the most common threads we find woven throughout the rank promotion essays of our adult students is the way in which doing challenging things on the karate training floor enables us to do challenging things outside the dojo’s walls.

This year, Senpai Sam Boyer has skillfully led the Adapted Seido Karate program with Sensei Tom West, Senpai Denise Coleman, and a great group of volunteers. Our ASK program is a partnership with the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab’s Caring for Kids program. Earlier this year, Sam and I met with the head of that program – it was a great joy for me to hear her effusive praise of our work providing kids with disabilities an empowering, physically demanding activity in which they can take pride. The same benefits of hard training that our adults write about make the kids in our ASK program more resilient, too.

Our Violence Prevention/Empowerment Self-Defense Program, under the leadership of Amy Jones, has never been busier. We’ve been training new instructors to meet the demand for our powerful programs, which we continue to deliver all over the city to constituencies as broad as hospital emergency department personnel, children with special needs in the public schools, and community organizations determined to resist the marginalization of vulnerable populations. Over the past year, we’ve also established a new quarterly bystander intervention workshop to help counter heightened fears associated with instances of identity-based violence.

As we head into 2018, we’re seeking to expand our violence prevention work even further, by offering pro-bono 12-hour trainings to community organizations serving populations at heightened risk of violence. This new, strategic-plan based initiative requires a greater commitment of financial resources. We’re counting on your contributions to help us start 2018 on solid financial ground.

Thank you, again, for making everything we do possible.

With gratitude,

Ryan Libel
Executive Director

I really wanted to come to a tournament before I became a black belt, but life was just too busy. This year, I finally managed to make it, along with fifteen other people from Thousand Waves. Nine of us competed – six black belts and three color belts, and the other seven were there in various roles – volunteering, judging, moral support, etc. Let me just say that the wonderful folks who went out to get us food and water were true heroes.

The day started early. Registration opened around 7:30 am, and the first event, Black Belt Kata, began at 8:35 am. The tournament took place in a large gymnasium, so it was loud and a bit chaotic, but quite captivating. There were about ten women in my group, which seemed to be the average in the black belt kata events.  All of us were nervous, some still a bit sleepy. There was space set aside for competitors to warm up and practice, so we utilized that to the best of our ability and then went to find our assigned competition rings. One by one, the judges called us up and we performed to the best of our abilities. I think I most enjoyed watching other people’s interpretations of each kata, and it was especially interesting to see the tiny differences in the ways they are taught at various Seido dojos.

After Black Belt Kata was done, the color belts were up. We had a brown belt and yellow and advanced yellow belts in our midst, so we cheered them on. The last group was Masters Kata (those ranked 4th degree black belt and up), and we gave our support to Sensei Alan.

The competitors were given a short break, and then it was time for sparring. There were a few green and brown belt competitors, divided into rings by rank. Black belts were divided by weight class: lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight. There were some pretty crazy and exciting rounds! There was some really great sparring going on, and it was fun to watch.

Board breaking was also divided by weight class, and the competitors were challenged to break all of their boards creatively. There were some very creative breaks, from jump-spinning kicks through boards, to an individual breaking concrete blocks with his head. It was a fascinating event, even the breaks that resulted in injury. Fortunately, the few injuries were minor and no one needed to be whisked off to the hospital.

The last event of the day was one last sparring round, and the winner would receive the coveted Grand Champion trophy. The four previous winners of each weight class (lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight) were put into a ring to spar, and the one who accumulated the most points would win the trophy. What an incredible thing to do at the end of a very long day!

Those who competed in all three events were eligible for a very special award: Sogo, which means best all around. Points are awarded to those who place in the top four of each event, and then those points are added up. The one with the highest score wins Sogo.

Our team had an amazing showing! Sensei Alan Miller won Men’s Sogo, and Senpai Mattie Greenblatt won the Women’s Grand Championship for sparring, and 1st place in nidan kata. The rest of us did well in our kata events, too, including our color belts. Cely Garcia (yellow belt) and Jackie Seijo (advanced yellow belt) won 1st place, Camille Rose (brown belt) won 2nd place, Senpai Gabby Afable won 3rd place, and I won 2nd place.

It is difficult to put yourself and your art out there, but it’s also very rewarding. Next year, we’ll have to go back and do this all again. I’m going back, and I’m going to participate in events that both scare and challenge me. Team sparring, anyone?

Senpai Tabitha Olson is a staff instructor at Thousand Waves, and a first degree black belt.

Meditation is certainly not the first thing that comes to mind in anticipation of a trip to New York City. However, meditation does not always need a quiet place, and in fact it is often easier if the mind has something on which to focus, such as movement. During my week in New York, I did nothing other than karate and preparing for karate. The karate classes in which I trained were vigorous and basic, with not much thinking. This extreme focus allowed me the experience of mindfulness and peacefulness which can be benefits of meditation. 

While at Honbu, I took eighteen classes – training more in five days than I usually do in a month. In addition, I assisted in two kids’ classes per day which involved even more karate. I considered the week of karate an endurance event, and in preparation for it, I packed anti-inflammatories and arnica, and prioritized healthy food and sufficient sleep (Thanks to Senpai Kathy for housing me). I had permission from myself and everyone to observe classes and not train in all of them. Yet after the first couple days, I no longer needed the arnica or naproxen. All my usual aches and pains vanished. The many repetitions of basic techniques encouraged my muscles and my mind to relax more, and I actually felt better than usual and was able to do all the classes with full vigor.

Because my visit to Honbu occurred a couple weeks before the October tournament, I was able to enjoy the pre-tournament excitement. As at Thousand Waves, there were many in-class announcements and requests for volunteers. Some of the classes included opportunities to perform our kata full-speed and receive feedback, and the sparring classes were focused on tournament-style point-sparring. The black belts of fourth degree and up were preparing a demonstration of our sai weapon kata Ganki-Dai, so together we practiced it seemingly endlessly, and appreciated receiving corrections directly from Kaicho.

I have been to Honbu before, for special events such as tournaments, black belt clinics and rank promotions, but I always wanted to train at Honbu on a regular training day. Training so much in regular classes allowed me to experience Seido Karate at its most basic. My daily encounters with Kaicho, Nidaime, and all the people who were at Honbu that week, especially those who I encountered multiple times, gave me a deeper connection with the people of Seido.

Thousand Waves likes to be able to support its teachers to train at Honbu when possible, to enrich our teaching skills and to connect with the Honbu teachers and students. Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, the founder of Seido Karate, is still teaching at Honbu, as is his son and Seido Vice-Chairman Nidaime Akira Nakamura, who was personally trained by Kaicho. To take classes from Kaicho and Nidaime is to journey to the source of Seido Karate and to an important root of Thousand Waves culture. Sei Shihan Nancy and Jun Shihan Sarah believe that sending us to train with their teachers makes us better teachers. I feel fortunate that TW sent me to Honbu, and I feel inspired to bring Honbu’s culture of hard training and strong basics to the classes I teach at Thousand Waves.

Sensei Katherine Nichols is a staff instructor at Thousand Waves, and a fourth degree black belt.

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