• So far we’ve served 10 outside organizations with Empowerment Self-Defense workshops, from corporate gyms to the staff of an NFP social services agency, to a small grocery in Hyde Park. We also ran six workshops of our own here onsite for members of the public. In all we’ve taught about 325 individuals in our revived self-defense program!
• Our self-defense work has been bolstered by new volunteer instructors taking on the challenge of teaching – Sensei Aileen Geary and Sensei Pat Broughton have been active, and Shuseki Shihan Nancy Lanoue has also returned to teaching self-defense.
• Co-Directors Senpai Zak Shearn and Tina Seifert enabled us to run a great summer camp for kids.
• In our karate program, 118 Students promoted to a new color belt rank!
• Shuseki Shihan Nancy Lanoue earned her 7^th dan, and six other students tested for advanced black belt ranks.
• Six students tested for Adult Shodan, and five kids tested for Junior Shodan and Junior Nidan.
• Senpai Lucía Frisancho returned as our Director of Children’s Programs after earning a master’s degree abroad.
• Monthly special meditation programs, coordinated by Senpai Jeff Gore and the Council of Senior Leaders, provided members and alumni with connections to our past as well as explorations of how our practice impacts our broader lives and community.
• We’ve initiated a strategic planning process, to be completed in early 2023.

Thank you, again, for all the ways you have supported our organization. If you are able to help with a financial gift during this holiday season, we welcome your contributions at this link.

With gratitude,

Sensei Ryan
Executive Director

Senpai Ezra Danzig:
One of my favorite parts of the Thousand Waves philosophy and atmosphere is the collaborative, noncompetitive environment where we all push each other to improve, but without the sometimes-negative effects of a competitive mindset. As someone who always shied away from more traditional sports because of that competitive element, the supportive aspect of the Thousand Waves community has always been very important to me. That said, participating in the World Seido tournament this year was a fantastic experience, and felt very valuable for a couple of reasons.

The one Seido tournament I’ve competed in previously (as an adult) was the final tournament to be held pre-covid (October 2019). As a Junior Shodan at the time (a rank which didn’t have a division of its own) I competed as an adult advanced brown belt – in a belt that wasn’t mine, performing one of my more junior katas because it was the highest I was supposed to know. I was also there as one of the youngest and least experienced of a larger group of Thousand Waves members. As such, I felt very insulated from the planning and organizing, as well as from the interactions with the larger Seido community. Though it was still a fantastic experience, I think I felt more like an observer than a true participant. This year’s tournament was quite the opposite. In the absence of a larger Thousand Waves contingent, I was among the senior members in our group and one of its organizers, no longer insulated from the real-world side of it all. That proved to be an incredibly valuable and exciting experience for me.

The most impactful part of the experience was getting to interact with the larger Seido community, now as an adult and without that nagging impostor feeling I had before. Regardless of the intentionality or truth of it, there’s a mythos that is built around Honbu and training/competing in New York. Because of that, I went into the tournament with some apprehension, feeling both the responsibility to keep myself safe but also to represent Thousand Waves well (a high bar given the TW track record). In the face of that apprehension, we were greeted with an amazing degree of warmth, familiarity, and openness. To Senpai Michael, who took us under his wing and guided us through the whole tournament experience, the sincerest of thanks. A big thank you as well to Sensei Derek, Senpai Valentin, and all the other competitors who were so gracious and welcoming.

As positive an experience as the tournament was, it also reaffirmed my appreciation for Thousand Waves, both our community and its guiding philosophies. I am, of course, very thankful to our teachers here who prepared us for the tournament. I feel that, both individually and as a group, we showed up well and represented Thousand Waves strongly. That absolutely would not have been possible without the amazing support of everyone at TW helping us prepare. I look forward to competing again next year and getting to reconnect with the extended Seido family once again.

Osu!

Senpai Andrew Schuetz on Tournament Scoring:
Osu Thousand Waves!

In October 2022, I had the incredible experience and privilege of going to New York to compete in the World Seido Karate Annual Benefit Tournament alongside Senpais Zak, Willa, Ezra, Gabrielle, Quentin, and Michelle Koerbel. In my writing below, I will summarize how the tournament events were operated and scored.

In the tournament, there were three events: kata, kumite, and board breaking. If you were a junior black belt or black belt under age 17, you were eligible to compete in all three events for the teens Sogo award. If you were a black belt 17 or older, you were eligible to compete in all three events for the adult Sogo award. For Sogo, the scoring went as follows: In kata, if you got first place, you would be awarded 5 points. Second place was worth 3 points, third was worth 2, and fourth was worth 1. Anything else was worth zero points. The scoring was the same for kumite. However, in board breaking, there were no points awarded for your placement. So long as you broke all of the boards that you set up for your break, you would be awarded one point per board.

As for the individual events, they also had their own scoring systems. In kata, there were seven judges who would watch your kata. They would give you a score ranging from 6 to 10, with 6 being the lowest possible score and ten being the highest. Then, all of the scorings from the judges except for the highest one and the lowest one would be added together for your final score. The first three competitors would not be given their final score until the third competitor finished their kata. Following that, everyone would be awarded their total score immediately after their kata. In the event of a tie, other scores would be subtracted in order to determine a winner.

Kumite was scored like standard point sparring. Scoring was done by five judges, the center judge and four corner judges. If the center judge thought that they saw a point, they would pause the round and the corner judges would vote on who they thought got the point. You would need a majority of three votes to receive a point. After one minute, the round would come to a close and whoever got the most points won. If there was a tie, there would be a 30-second sudden death round. If there was still no winner, the judges would vote on who they thought won the overall match. Kumite was done in a tournament style bracket, so you would keep going until there was only one person remaining. In the adult men kumite, there were weight class divisions. However, due to the lower number of participants, all women sparrers competed in the same division and all black belt teen sparrers competed in the same division.

Board breaking was an event open only to junior black belts and black belts. Teens broke half-inch boards and adults broke full-inch boards. This year, we all set up our own breaks on concrete blocks. In the teen division, the qualifying round was breaking one board with tettsui. In the adult division, the qualifying round was breaking two boards with seiken. For techniques, you could use shuto, tettsui, or hiji to break in the teen division. In the adult division, you could use shuto or seiken. There were no points added or deducted if you used spacers.

I hope that this has provided some insight for those of you thinking of attending the next annual tournament. It was truly a wonderful experience, and I would encourage anyone interested in showing their karate in a competitive setting or who simply wants to have a fantastic time in our community to attend!

Osu! 

Senpai Willa Marie O’Donnell with Tournament Results:
Osu Thousand Waves Community!

On October 22, 2022 I attended the Annual Seido Karate Tournament in New York with Senpais Ezra, Zak and Gabrielle as well as Senpais Quentin and Andrew and Michelle Koerbel.

I’d like to share a brief overview of the events we competed in as well as how everyone placed.

Senpai Quentin and Senpai Andrew both competed separately from the rest of us as they were eligible for the tournament for young adults (ages 14-17). They competed in kata, sparring and board breaking against junior black belts and adult shodan in their age range. In kata, Senpai Quentin placed first and Senpai Andrew placed fourth. Senpai Quentin also placed first in sparring and Senpai Andrew placed third. Neither placed in board breaking but Senpai Quentin went on to tie for SOGO!

In the adult Black Belt tournament, I placed first in the Shodan kata ring and Senpai Gabrielle placed fourth. Senpais Ezra and Zak tied for third place in the Nidan kata ring. The two of them went on to tie for third place in men’s lightweight sparring. I sparred in the women’s black belt ring and was set to spar at the end of the tournament for third place, but we were running behind schedule so I ended up being awarded second place in the women’s lightweight division. Senpai Ezra also competed in men’s board breaking and placed fourth.

Michelle competed in Advanced Brown Belt kata and placed first and then went on to place second in the women’s color belt sparring.

Overall, I think we’d all agree that we had an amazing time. It was a truly incredible experience. I personally, haven’t had many chances to witness Seido Karate outside of Thousand Waves so being able to see so many other members of Seido competing with their own specific styles was eye-opening.

Despite it being a competitive environment, all I felt from the other participants was complete support. Everyone we talked to lit up when they heard we’d come from Chicago. They wanted to hear all about everyone at home and we didn’t meet a single person who didn’t seem happy and eager to support us. I especially felt that energy in the women’s sparring ring. Everyone was in such a good mood and so incredibly supportive of each other and of me. Sensei Mara (who went on to win the Grand Championship) even took it upon herself to personally coach me before my rounds.

Another person I feel deserves a special mention is Senpai Michael, who began his training at Thousand Waves. As soon as he found out that we were attending, he swooped in and took us under his wing. He had us practicing kata all together before the tournament began and never failed to be present with us throughout the day.

Kaicho and Nidaime were just as welcoming as the rest of the Seido Members. They seemed genuinely happy to see us there and were very supportive. Nidaime, in particular, was ready to answer all of our (many) questions.

Again, this experience was an amazing one and I think I speak for all of us when I say that I can’t wait to return next year to compete again!

Videos on Facebook:
If you are a member of World Seido Karate, you can join the WSK private Facebook group to see photos and videos from the tournament.

Overview Video that includes snippets of everyone: https://www.facebook.com/richard.pagan.98/videos/518740656470147/

Shorter video that opens w/Senpai Quentin sparring round & includes his break: https://www.facebook.com/jose.irizarry.560/videos/808709883701572/?idorvanity=13892582274

The Council has six primary responsibilities:

1. To support, advise and collaborate as needed with the Executive Director on karate program offerings, karate instructor development, and special martial arts workshops.
2. To provide guidance and support to Thousand Waves members in situations of conflict at Thousand Waves.
3. To review prospective candidates for black belt testing and recommend candidates to move forward, and to support black belt candidates in their preparation and testing process.
4. To build community among TW members and parents while promoting and supporting volunteerism through activities such as the annual holiday party, participation in Chicago’s Pride parade, and the Kagami Biraki breakfast.
5. To support the transmission of the values, philosophy, history and culture of the art and Thousand Waves through Kagami Biraki, programming (including special meditations), educational materials and maintenance of literary and digital archives.
6. To support communication to TW members and parents including at the annual meeting, in the Kiai newsletter and through other means.

To find out more about the Council and/or to indicate your interest in serving on the Council, email or talk to any of the current members:

Sensei Pat Broughton (broughtonp@sbcglobal.net)
Senpai Michele Curley (michelecurley@sbcglobal.net)
Senpai Mattie Greenblatt (mgreenblatt2@gmail.com)
Senpai Jeff Gore (gore.jefffrey@gmail.com)
Senpai John Cusick (jcusick@hotmail.com)
Michelle Koerbel (mkoerbel@collinsengr.com)