Team Blog

We are proud to include the newest members of Team Meibukan. Our new team competed in January`s Provincial Grand Prix event. Even though our team of 17 athletes was green we returned with 17 medals. This year our team members are:

Dharini Mohan
Trynece Superville
Brenna Lin
Kanujan Santhuran
Thanushan G.
Lashani Sassee
Luckshan Sassee
Shivon Dyson
Hayden Mak
Kiana Persad
Thomas Rissis
Petersen Rissis
Brittany Clark
Scott Hettsedt
Adam Mackie
Richard Fall
Sean Wong

Congratulations to all athletes. As a team we did far better than predicted. Outstanding performers were Trynece, Brittany, Thomas, Petersen, and Kiana who were double medallists. Altogether the team earned 6 golds, 5 silvers, and 6 Bronzes.

Congratulations to team coach Sean Wong will be heading to the nationals after winning Gold at all qualifying Grand Prix.

A team of 13 athletes and 1 referee from Team Meibukan competed in this season's first Karate Ontario event on Sunday, September 27th, 2009. Returning from last season was Richard Fall, Adam Roberts, Scott Hettstedt, Brittany Clark, and Kiana Wong. These athletes proudly made the podium despite a late start to training.

In addition to our seasoned athletes, we are pleased to add Adam Marcie, Steven How, Elvis Ho, Felix Cruickshank, Thomas Rissis, and Peterson Rissis to our roster of new athletes. As a bonus, team coach Sean Wong competed in the Master's division. Our small team of 13 athletes returned home with a total of 10 medals with a breakdown of 3 Golds, 2 Silvers, and 5 Bronze.

Overall, the new team did well with everyone finishing close to making podium. The rest of the team is excited to be joining this crew for the next event scheduled for January. Please visit soon for photos.

 

A crowd of 15000 happy locals attended the Milliken Children's Festival on Saturday, September 12th. It was a beautifully sunny day that saw children of all ages participated in a FREE event. The Markham Sports Council had a section for its members to show the community what they offered. Gymnastics, Karate, and Soccer were among the sports that were represented.

NOX Martial Arts Clubs attended on behalf of Team Meibukai and the Karate Association of Ontario and offer attendees the opportunity to break boards and learn about the importance of form and confidence. We also offered participants to fill out a ballot to win a FREE membership. The draw will be on September 30th. If you were unable to attend the festival and could not get a chance to fill out a ballot, you can visit dojo and for your chance.

We are giving away 8x1 week memberships, 4x1 month memberships, 2x3 month memberships, 1x6month membership, and 1 yearly membership.

Updated August 21, 2009

Team Meibukan was well represented with athletes and referees from Okinawa, Australia, and India. The team continually moved one step closer to gold with many athletes moving on to the second round. The competition however is fierce as over 1000 athletes from over 40 countries compete in this Kata only tournament.  

Team India has 10 athletes competing in all Karate events. India Meibukan superstars Punit and Shyam shined in the first round but was just shy of making to the third round. Even 44 year old Bavesh and wife Swathi controlled the competition in the second round to elevate to round 3 but couldn't earn enough flags to make it into the 4th round. Our Australian team competed in both Kobudo and Kata but were also shy of the medal rounds. All hopes were put to rest with former Okinawa Karate champion Akihiro Yagi who performed a spotless Seipai winning all seven flags from the judges and made it into the top 16 of the saturated Male Kata Division.

The event attracts many athletes including Canadian athletes Trevor Sheppard and Eduarda Silvestre. Trevor impressed many judges his Suparimpe in his court but eventually lost to the talented Okinawan competitor and was out of the medal rounds.

 

As an international event, it is a great way for many countries to meet having the common appreciation of Karate. At the Hombu, Russians, Indians, Canadians, Japanese and Okinawans all trained together enjoying and learning about each others culture and experiences. Regardless of medals earned or lost, meeting new people and establishing friendships makes us all winners.

On July 23rd, the Karate Alberta Association hosted Canada's National Karate Championships in Calgary. Hundreds of athletes from all over Canada came together to determine who will be crowned Canada's best in their chosen division. As the final verdict of Karate's future as an official Olympic sport comes near, Karate Canada has begun a campaign to build a strong co-operative organization. This year's champions will begin to benefit from this renewed focus.


NOX, the headquarters of Team Meibukai, had 2 athletes compete in 3 divisions. Andrew McAdam-Wong and Morana Zeskoski represented Markham and Ontario in Team Kata and the Female Masters Division in Kata and Kumite.


Andrew's teammates of Leivin and Leirick Chung won Gold in their division and Morana earned silver in both Kata and Kumite. Morana, who celebrated her 40th birthday last year, came out of retirement to compete against experienced and ranked athletes in her division. She competed against the very talented Eduarda Silvestre of Cambridge, Ontario who was last year's double gold medalist. Eduarda repeated her performance this year and will be competing in Okinawa's World Karate Tournament in August. Between Eduarda and Morana, they dominated the division as part of the Ontario team.

All in all Morana and Andrew's experience was one growth. Andrew, who was already last year's national champion, is learning how to juggle the busy life of a young adult. The nationals has given Morana an additional reason to improve her sparring and kata skills to a national level. Congratulations to both athletes their supreme effort and results.  

You can read more about the event in our local newspaper. 

Congratulations to Kiana Wong, our own SPECIAL K!, on her winning performance in Las Vegas. This little dynamo competed in both the Junior Karate Olympics and the US Open. These events were run by the USA-NKF, the National Governing Body for Karate in the USA. Her competition was fierce from all over the States.

Although small in stature, she has a BIG Heart and earned herself GOLD in both Kata and Kumite at the Jr. Karate Olympics. While earning dual medals is an achievement in such an prestigious event like the Jr. Olympics, the chances of repeating it again is not typical.

With a courageous spirit however, Kiana followed up in the next event which was the US Open. This event attracted athletes from all over the world. Little Kiana sized up her opponents and realized that they were being bigger than she was. It didn't matter however. With heart and tenacity she competed to earn another dual championship.

This was Kiana's first prestigious event and with such success, this might be a sign of great future in Karate. We look forward to continuing her successes as she intends on taking on the entire USA nation at the AAU National Karate Championships.

You can read more about Kiana by logging on the the Economist and Sun article.