July 2014 Kiai!

It’s not easy raising children in the city. It is far different from the world my wife Elspeth and I grew up in. In our world, there were few boundaries, little danger, and a seemingly open canvas for exploration and growth – much of it on our own or with neighborhood friends. While it can be a challenging environment to provide to our children, we choose to raise our family in the city for the variety of gifts that it offers. In the city, children need to be more aware of their surroundings, they must be vigilant, but they cannot afford to live scared. We simply can’t offer them the same freedoms in the city we had as children growing up in suburban environments.

As children grow and yearn for more independence, there is a greater need for strong communities for them to be a part of – safe, nurturing spaces where they can learn, explore, win and lose, laugh and cry – all within well-defined boundaries. Aiden, Cameron, Elspeth and I have found a community that supports that type of growth and responsibility in the Thousand Waves dojo.

For our family, martial arts started with a recommendation from Aiden’s pre-school teacher...

TW Leads Martial Arts Demo at Greeley School

Thousand Waves students Natalie (Advanced Brown Belt in the Adult Program) and David (Advanced Blue Belt in the Youth Program) recently brought the martial arts to Greeley Elementary School in Chicago. Natalie, a teacher at the school, worked with David and five other Greeley students (Myron, Angela, Danylo, Sergio and Melissa) to create a martial arts demonstration that included both Seido Karate and Tae Kwon Do. The students, who train at four different dojos, used music to highlight meditation, kata, self-defense, and combinations. The standing-room-only crowd of approximately 250 people cheered with excitement.

Just when the audience thought it was over they were wowed by a series of exciting board breaks...

Yes, I’ve Used My Self-Defense Skills at College

By Halle Gold
Brown Belt

I’m done with my first year of college, and it feels so surreal. I just declared my education major and Chinese minor, I finished up my final papers, and I’ve already planned out my classes for next year. It’s unbelievable. However, there were a few hard times that I went through, where I felt that my time at karate had helped me use those times to my advantage so that I could grow from them. I have trained at Thousand Waves for roughly five years, and feel that I have been able to take what I have learned there and apply it in a collegiate setting.

One time where I had to apply my skills actually happened fairly recently. I have a learning disability, and because of that, I get extended time on tests. There was a Chinese test I was struggling with, and I had to go into my extended time to finish it. My teacher told me that I was just sitting there doing nothing and taking advantage of the extended time I had, which was not the case. However, she continued to say more and more to me while I just stood there and took it. I felt like I was being called slow.

How did Halle handle it? Read on...

Fitness Features

Cross-Training for Karate: Adventures in Cycling

By Senpai Annie Gregory
1st Degree Black Belt and TW Board Chair

82 miles into the ride, biking uphill on a 2-lane highway in Wisconsin in 90-degree heat, I wasn’t sure what I had gotten myself into.

Last year, when Thousand Waves conducted a membership survey, we learned that 82% of responding members participated in activities outside of karate. As those engaged in a physical practice, many of us understand the importance of incorporating cross-training into our fitness routines. Athletic trainers widely agree that mixing up our workouts and engaging in activities outside of one’s primary fitness activity is a good way to increase fitness, prevent over-use injuries, and build strength and flexibility in other muscles.

Click here to Visit On the Route Bikes, proud sponsor of Thousand Waves.

What’s With All Those Pushups?

By Tabitha Balakumar
Brown Belt

Seiken pushups. V-sits. Partner sit-ups. Birthday pushups. The list goes on. Sometimes, it seems like whoever is teaching karate is on a mission to kill you, right? You know what I’m talking about. You finish one set only to move on to another, and another. Pretty soon your muscles are burning, asking what they did to deserve such punishment. What they don’t know is that it’s for their own good! Yes, it’s that whole “you’ll thank me for this later” adage that adolescents hear from their parents. And, just like in adolescence, it’s true here, too.

Why is it that our teachers sometimes push us so hard in class? I’m sure many of us have groaned when we’re told to do set after set of pushups. What does that really do for us, anyway? Turns out, it does a lot.

What do pushups do for you? Click here to find out.

Violence Prevention Field Notes

Corporate Cafeteria Kiai

Ryan Libel and Danielle Wash give a lunch-
time presentation on self-defense at CNA.

I’ve never worked anyplace with a corporate cafeteria, but I’ve always found them oddly alluring. As a person who often eats lunch at his desk, getting away with a few colleagues to a pleasant dining room setting with a variety of economical options sounds appealing.

On June 18, insurance giant CNA – owners of the famous big red Chicago skyline building – invited me and Danielle Wash out to their corporate cafeteria to give a 45 minute lunchtime presentation on self-defense. CNA’s “media center” also happens to be in the cafeteria, and that’s where they put us – up on a dais and in front of a camera crew! Turns out that in addition to doing the program for the lunchtime crowd, the talk was also being simulcast and taped for “CNA-TV.” I was tickled to stand in front one of those red carpet type backdrops peppered with logos as I talked through Thousand Waves’ “Five Fingers of Self-Defense”.

My favorite moment came as I demonstrated my best self-defender’s YELL and effectively silenced a dining room the size of a train station! I love field work – you just never know what you’re going to get into out there. – Ryan Libel

Pride and Love of Teaching Self-Defense

On June 14, Ryan Libel and I taught a Pride Month self-defense program for a small but mighty group of women. The 90-minute workshop was sponsored by Orbitz.com, a partnership brokered by Senpai Todd Scales that is continuing to produce dividends.

I love self-defense so much – the skills we teach are at once utterly simple and profoundly complex. We’ve been exploring paradoxes at Thousand Waves this year, and self-defense is full of them. I could expound on the theory behind it for hours (just try me), but at the end of the day there’s nothing that compares to being in front of a group of students and watching them discover how much power they have. Even after 90 minutes, there’s a visible difference.

I taught self-defense at Sun Dragon (TW’s sister school in Austin, TX) for almost 10 years, and it is has been an utter pleasure to adapt to the “Thousand Waves way” and get back into the swing of regular self-defense teaching. – Amy Jones

Upcoming Events

Art With Heart – Wait, didn’t that just happen?

As I write this, the rehearsal for the Thousand Waves Art With Heart performance is going on. By the time you read this, the performance will have already occurred. But there’s another Art With Heart performance this year. On Saturday, July 19th, world-class martial artists will show their art to participants in the NWMAF 2014 PeaceWorks training camp and conference at North Central College in Naperville, IL.

Participants (including Super Saturday attendees) can attend for free. If you’re not going to be training though, you can still see the performance for the price of a $10 ticket, available online. Just click the “Online Store” tab. Confirmed performers for this year include: Master Su Zifang (Tai Chi), Sensei Jamie Zimron (Aikido), Mejishi Martial Arts (Karate and Modern Arnis), and Formanda Colibri (Capoeira). Want a taste of what you’ll see? Check out one of Master Su’s past performances here, or Formanda Colibri’s here. You don’t want to miss it! – Amy Jones

Kids decorated boards with Senpai Jordan to
raise money for the PeaceWorks camp.

Parent’s Night(s) Off

Back in April, Senpai Jordan hosted our first ever Parent’s Night Off. Kids enjoyed a pizza dinner, a karate class, and a movie, while their caregivers enjoyed... whatever they wanted to enjoy for 4 hours! By popular demand, we’ve added two more of these nights to the calendar for the year. They are coming up on Saturday, August 23 and Saturday, October 11. The fee for the evening is $40/child, or $30/child for families with more than one child in attendance. Kids get karate class credit for attending.

Recent Events

Spirit Challenge 2014: Photos & Numbers

A few happy faces of the many who completed the Super Circuit
challenge on day 4 of Spirit Challenge.

Thanks to everyone who helped make our 2014 Spirit Challenge the most successful ever! Spirit Challenge is our annual fundraiser for our adult and teen students. We organize a week of karate and physical endurance challenges that inspire us to fundraise in support of all of our not-for-profit programming, including our violence prevention, ASK and scholarship programs. Here’s a report in numbers and pictures:

128 Participants reached out to 862 donors, who have collectively given $90,000!

Our average donation size was $77.28, and those donations helped 31 individuals and teams complete the Ultimate Fundraising Challenge – each of them raised over $1,000!

A record-breaking 18 people completed all challenge events for which they were eligible, earning the distinction of SOGO, or All Around Spirit Challenge Champion! They are:

Amy Jones
Anne Gregory
Arturo Jauregui
Gabby Afable
Jane Kollmer
Jordan Garcia

Joseph Friedman
Kenji Muro
Lauren Schwendimann
Mark Hubert
Matt Birnholz
Michele Curley

Nancy Lanoue
Natalie Kendall
Patricia Broughton
Ryan Libel
Sarah Ludden
Yesica Barrera

Watch for their names to appear on the permanent plaque in our hallway! Maybe you’ll join them next year?

Donations continue to roll in, and it’s not too late for you to make a contribution and be a part of our most successful Spirit Challenge ever!

Click here to see more photos from Spirit Challenge.

Adventures in Darkness: Tom Sullivan Visits TW

Many Thousand Waves and ASK students and friends came to see an inspirational presentation by Tom Sullivan, along with his guide dog Baron.

By Jun Shihan Sarah Ludden
6th Degree Black Belt and TW Co-executive Director

In 2007, Sei Shihan Nancy and I received a gift from Tom Sullivan, a signed copy of his new memoir, Adventures in Darkness: Memoirs of an Eleven-Year-Old Blind Boy. The inscription read:

Dear Nancy and Sarah,
This book is about a little boy’s search for a world that loved him. It seems your
search has found its answer.
Love, Tom Sullivan

I never really understood this message until Tom came to Thousand Waves in May and spoke to us, entertaining and inspiring a gathering of 100 people with music, song and spoken word, a large screen providing audio and video enrichment to his presentation. We were laughing and crying listening to the stories of his life – from running away from the Perkins School for the Blind with his roommates, stealing the school rowboat and venturing into the Charles River until they were greeted by the shocked and amazed US Coast Guard, to meeting Helen Keller while in the “principal’s office” for another adventurous offense, to saving his beloved 3-year-old daughter from a near drowning in the family’s pool.

Promotions

TW Promotes Eight Junior Black Belts: Photos & Essay Excerpts

Newly promoted Junior Black Belts between Jun Shihan Sarah and Sei Shihan Nancy are Bryce Wolf, Gabrielle Wolf, Kole Deighan (2nd degree black belt) Malia Washington, KJ Hogenson, Alexis Fernando, Aiden Grant and Charles Laszuk.

On Saturday May 10, 2014, seven kids were tested for, and promoted to Junior Shodan (1st degree black belt) and one, Senpai Kole was promoted to Junior Nidan (2nd degree black belt). All have been Thousand Waves students since they were very young.

Here are some photos from their test, along with excerpts from the essays they wrote as a promotion requirement.

Black Belt Testing at Honbu: A Lesson in Appreciation

By Senpai Carmina Andreuzzi
3rd Degree Black Belt

Much of black belt testing at Honbu is with eyes closed.
Here, Senpai Carmina (front) and Senpai Aileen are
tested on their knowledge of the bo (long staff).

On June 5, 2014 eight Thousand Waves students went to New York City to be tested for their next black belt rank by Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, the founder of Seido Karate, at Honbu (World Seido Karate headquarters) along with 18 other students. Hope Robinson, Kelly Coomer, Saul Friedman and Thomas Keene all tested for 2nd degree black belt. And Aileen Geary, Bill Sacco, Jordan Garcia, and myself, Carmina Andreuzzi, tested for 3rd degree black belt. I was asked to briefly share a few personal experiences that touched me during this time in New York.

This promotion was special in that it was the first time they were holding promotions on the main training floor at Honbu since its recent renovation. For many years, Honbu had occupied both the 2nd and 3rd floor of 61 West 23rd Street, in New York. They have since relinquished the 3rd floor and moved everything into the 2nd. Many people worked very hard to help renovate Honbu by doing construction and all sorts of work, and just in the nick of time for the black belt clinic and awesome grand re-opening celebration that followed. The lobby is much bigger than I remember it being, and Honbu no longer has its cool kitchen on the 3rd floor, but even with all the exciting changes going on, the well-loved shinzen stood the test of time and remains.

I would love to tell you all how we fared at our test, but since our eyes were closed for most of it, I really have no idea. We did manage to persevere until the end and I’m sure that for all, it was both a challenging and exciting experience.

Read Senpai Carmina’s account of the Nidan/Sandan test here.

Pearls from Promotion Essays

	Senpai Aileen Geary I find more and more times when I have passed along, accidentally or purposely, some piece of Seido/Thousand Waves knowledge in a way that it has enriched others. Read More
	Senpai Jordan Garcia My own validation became enough. I was now able to set goals that tested my own limits and challenged me. Read More
	Senpai Bill Sacco I feel that real compassion is not simply feeling sorry for someone's misfortune, but rather feeling the true human connection with that person and then using one's resources to show that person how they can help themselves. Read More
	Senpai Carmina Andreuzzi One of the pleasures of teaching white belts is to see a student discover their own body and get to know a self that they may not have considered before. It reminds me to wonder, "What else could we be capable of?" Read More
	Senpai Saul Friedman Everything is wonderful or terrible. As a teenager in late adolescence, I continue to struggle to balance the demands of school, relationships, family, my martial arts training and other activities. Read More
	Senpai Thomas Keene During the middle of school lectures, I would picture a baby's stomach while they breathe and would try to recreate it while sitting. ... My tone on the trumpet has improved, karate is more physically refreshing and living is more comfortable. Read More
	Senpai Kelly Coomer I see someone who is very relieved to not have to always be the best at everything. It's impossible to be balanced if you always feel you have to be the best at everything you do. Read More
	Senpai Hope Robinson Because I kept coming back, kept working on the kata, I was able to interpret the meaning for myself, and see the story and flow. … It is MY story, even though it may be the same moves as others are doing. Read More

Congratulations to May & June 2014 Promotees

See who advanced
in rank:

Junior Color Belts
Youth & Teen Color Belts
Adult Color Belts
Junior Black Belts
Senior Black Belts