USA WADO-RYU KARATE-DO KIDS NEWSLETTER

USA WADO-RYU KARATE-DO KIDS
NEWSLETTER
MESSAGE FROM SENSEI
Dear Students and
Parents,
I hope you are enjoying
your spring break, and
spending quality time with
your families. With our
tournament finally behind
us, I would like to first
thank everyone who supported
our event. We had
266 competitors, and
were done around 4pm.
Your dedication, hard
work and support helped
to make this year’s tournament
a success. If any
one has any photo’s or
video footage that you
would like to share, please
WHY WADO
forward them to me.
Also, if you have any comments,
suggestions or concerns
that could help to
make our tournament run
more smoothly, please let
me know. We have a list of
tournament events and
activities planned for this
year, so now is the time to
work hard on your fitness
and techniques. I look
forward to seeing you
back at the dojo.
Sensei
“Without knowledge,
skill cannot be focused.
Without skill, strength
cannot be brought to bear,
and without strength,
knowledge may not be
applied”
Don’t forget to check
us out on the web,
www.usawadoryu.com
MARCH/APRIL 2010
CALENDER OF
EVENTS
Wed, April 7th-
Kyu Test-Main Dojo
Sun, May 29th-
UCSD Tournament
San Diego
Sun, Jul TBA
Summer Camp 10-3pm
Sun, Aug TBA
OC Fair Demonstration
Sun, Sept 19th-
Soka University Open
Sun, Oct 24th-
Hollenbeck Invitational
Sun, TBA
Food Drive Tournament
Sun, Dec 5th-
Wado Junior Tournament
and Winter Pot Luck
Main Dojo
Did you know….
The name Wado-Ryu has
three parts. Wa, do and
ryu. Wa means harmony, do
means way and ryu means
style. Harmony is the acknowledgement
that yielding
is sometimes more effective
than brute
strength. When Hironori
Otsuka first registered his
school with the Dai Nippon
Butoku Kai in 1938, the
style was called Shinshu
Wado-Ryu Karate Jujutsu.
Otsuka was a licensed
Shindo Yoshin-Ryu practitioner
and a student of Yoshin-ryu
when he first met
the Okinawan karate master
Gichin Funakoshi. After
having learned from
Funikoshi and later other
Okinawan masters, Otsuka
merged Shindo Yoshin-ryu
with Okinawan karate. The
results of Otsuka’s efforts
is Wado-Ryu.
To the untrained observer,
Wado-ryu might look similar
to other styles of karate,
such as Shotokan, but a key
principle in Wado-ryu is
that of ‘tai sabaki’ This
Japanese term can be
translated as ‘bodymanagement’
and refers to
body manipulation so as to
move the defender as well
Inside this issue:
Message from Sensei 1
Why Wado 1
Calender of Events 1
Terminology 2
Photo Page 3
Birthdays/Kyu Test 4

WHY WADO Continued…...
…...as the
attacker out of
harm’s way. The
way to achieve
this is to ‘move
along’ rather than
‘move
against’ (harmony
vs physical strength).
The only way to understand and
achieve the true essence of Wadoryu
karate is to practice. However,
many of you make the mistake of
thinking that just going through the
motions of a particular technique
without thinking about the execution,
will help to improve your skill.
It won’t, just lifting your leg and
kicking it out won’t improve your
kick, just throwing your arm out
while making a fist, won’t improve
your punch. You have to think about
the beginning, middle and end as
well as what your other body parts
are doing, all at the same time. If
you are aware of your arms, hands,
hips and head while you are kicking
out your leg, you will come closer to
understanding what makes Wadoryu
different than the other styles
of Karate. Not only that, it will
make you a better karate-ka.
So next time you enter the dojo,
think about how you can improve
your skill level, by thinking about
how you execute your technique.
THE
KARATE
KID
STARRING
JADEN SMITH
Jackie chan
Coming
7/11/2010
12yr old Dre Parker could’ve been the most
popular kid in Detroit, but his mother’s career
move has landed him in China. Dre
immediately falls for his classmate Mei
Ying, but cultural differences make such a
friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre’s
feelings make an enemy of the class bully,
Cheng. With no friends in a strange land,
Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance
man Mr Han, who is secretly a master of
martial arts.
DON’T MISS THIS EXCITING
MARTIAL ARTS ADVENTURE
TERMINOLOGY (learning Japanese)
BUSHIDO-The Way of the Warrior
CHINTO-Kata named after a Chinese
sailor
CHUDAN-Middle or Middle level
DACHI-From tachi, meaning stance
DAN-One who has attained black belt
DOJO-Place for studying the Way
EMPI-Elbow
GEDAN-Low or lower level
GERI-From keri, meaning kick
HAJIME-Begin
HIDARI-Left
IPPON-One or one step
JODAN-Upper or upper level
KAMAE-From gamae, meaning posture
KATA-Prearranged sequence of techniques
KIAI-Literally ‘spirit harmony’. This is
the brief moment in executing waza
that the body, mind and spirit are in
perfect harmony, often demonstrated
by tensing the abdominal muscles,
forcing air over the vocal cords resulting
in the karate ‘shout’.
KIHON-Basic or standard
KUMITE-Fighting
KUSHANKU-Kata named after a government
official
KYU-Indicates a student who is not
ranked as a black belt
MAWATTE-Turn around
MIGI-Right
MOKUSO-Meditation
OBI-Belt
PINAN-Means peace and tranquility.
Name of the group of 5 katas: Pinan
Shodan, Pinan Nidan, Pinan Sandan,
Pinan Yondan, Pinan Godan.
REI-Bow
Page 2
USA WADO-RYU KARATE-DO KIDS

TE-KENJUTSUKAI TOURNAMENT-1st Place Jonah Montes
USA WADO-RYU CHAMPIONSHIPS
Congratulations to everyone who competed at the Wado Championships on Sunday, March 28th. It was a fun
and exciting day with competitors from all across the state attending. The number of karate-ka turned out
to be more than expected, but the competition continued on schedule, thanks to our wonderful volunteers. I
hope you all got an opportunity to watch some of the black belt divisions, as they contained some very exhilarating
fighting. For those of you competing for the first time; well done, if you did not win a medal, remember,
it is not always about the winning, it is about the valuable experience that you learn out there in the
ring, that will make you a better karate-ka in the dojo. Remember, every time you compete, you will be learning
how to move quicker, how to analyze your opponent, and how to stay calm and focused under pressure.
Good Job. Now go to the dojo and practice, practice, practice…….
Page 3

KYU TEST
RESULTS
Orange (13th)
Blaise Bartosik
Brigid Bartosik
Thara Mitha
Jonathan Goshima
Ha-young Ihm
Kathryn Oleksak
Taylor Stone
Jordan Stone
Justin Tandoc
Yellow (12th)
Jaime Cross
Christine Lee
Kenneth Lee
Blue (11th)
Brandon Acosta
Charanyan Sriram
Armmon Kianipey
Blue w/s (10th)
Ali John Salehi
Tyler Ramirez
Green w/s (8 th )
Anthony Gutierrez
Matteo Marsella
Kianu Miyashiro
Purple (7 th )
Mikael Lamayo
Vincent Nguyen
Purple w/s (6th)
Red (5th)
Patrick Porter
Red w/s (4th)
Manda Nguyen
Chiara Ghidoli
Brandon Montes
Jonah Montes
Nathan Montes
Ethan Sellona
Brown (3rd)
Tyler Genevay
Brown w/s (2nd)
Mikael Lamayo
Vincent Nguyen
Brown w/2stripes (1 st )
Alex Lutz
Rianee Dalusag
MARCH
BIRTHDAYS
Brian Burton (2 nd )
Robbie Kleppe (2 nd )
Tanner Mauro (4 th )
Nathan Robledo (4 th )
Alex Lee (6 th )
Brian Nguyen (8 th )
Alyssa Lambert (9 th )
Benjamin Walker (10 th )
Greg Chlebeck (11 th )
Shawn Guthrie (11 th )
Taylor Cochran (12 th )
Michael Davis (12 th )
Reya Medina (12 th )
Jan-Michael Sanchez
(12 th )
Dylan Vo (14 th )
Ali John Salehi (16 th )
Brian Nguyen (18 th )
Tasmin Owen (18 th )
Shannon Smith (19 th )
Marcelo Dosono (22 nd )
Joshua Hee (22 nd )
Nicolas Masi (22nd)
Emily Nguyen (22 nd )
Jax Johnson (28 th )
Christine Chen (28 th )
Ravel Dalusag (30 th )
APRIL
BIRTHDAYS
Joy Iwamoto (3 rd )
Lauren Taylor (3 rd )
Dean Balagot (6 th )
Nathan Peterson (6 th )
Mathew Tsai (8 th )
Braden Stubbert (9 th )
Yuki Watanabe (9 th )
Matthew Davis (11 th )
Leo Fjatstrom (11 th )
Kathryn Oleksak (11 th )
Sean Sng (11 th )
Jonathan Goshima (13 th )
Christy Lynch (14 th )
Arturo Torres (14 th )
Greg Montes (16 th )
Jessica Chin (18 th )
Jackson Williams (18 th )
Stuart Sherman (19 th )
Nolan Walt (19 th )
Edmond Chuck (20 th )
Nicole Logan (20 th )
Julie Nguyen (20 th )
Alex Lutz (21 st )
Brett Chalabian (23 rd )
Jessica Uchi (23 rd )
Evan Ling (24 th )
Stephanie Chun (25 th )
Derek Nguyen (26 th )
Dylan Pagaduan (27 th )
Megumi Kishimoto (29 th )
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
Technique of the Month:
Tetsui-Uchi (Hammer-Fist)
STUDENT
AWARDS
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Bryce Lutz
SPIRIT AWARD
Manda Nguyen
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Mikael Lamayo
CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE OF YOU WHO
HAVE WON A SPECIAL AWARD, YOUR
DEDICATION, HARDWORK AND
COMMITMENT HAS PAID OFF, KEEP UP THE
GOOD WORK
To perform this technique properly,
make a strong vertical fist
with the thumb side of your fist
facing up. Hit with the bottom,
fleshy part of the fist like
you’re trying to hammer on a
wall with your fist. Tetsui-Uchi
can be performed as an overhand
strike to hit to the top of
the head. Or it can be done a
number of other ways, including
striking to an attacker’s ribs,
side of head, or groin. In Pinan
Nidan, the first and fourth
moves of the kata use Hammer-
Fist to strike down on an attacker’s
forearm as he punches.
In the first move of Pinan
Nidan, be sure make a big circle
with your arm and drop your
body-weight straight into a good
Mahanmi Neko Ashi Dachi (¾facing
cat stance). Use that
weight to add power to your
Tetsui-Uchi. In the second half
of Pinan Sandan, Tetsui-Uchi is
used three times to strike an
attacker’s ribs just after you’ve
blocked his punch with your
elbow. Be sure to strike with
your hammer-fist out and
around horizontally (not straight
up) and then into your attacker’s
ribs. After hitting, you should
pull the Hammer-Fist back just
went out, like a whip. If you
think about your kata carefully,
you can also see that Tetsui-
Uchi appears several times in
Pinan Shodan, Pinan Yondan,
and Pinan Godan. Can you discover
where
Emily
Gong
I am 13 years
old and I live
in Huntington
Beach. I’m
attending Sowers Middle
School and in 8 th grade. My
favorite subject is History. In
addition, I enjoy playing tennis
and hope to be on the high
school tennis team. I started
attending karate when I was 7
years old. My goal was to become
a black belt. Although it
seemed a mere dream, now I
feel that accomplishing this
goal is within reach. Karate has
helped me become more disciplined
and responsible as well
shaped my character. I believe
that self-defense is very beneficial
in my life. Without Sensei,
I would have not come this
far. He has been a role model.