Tomizaki's Champions - Blog

On May 12th, we had our annual Mother's Day Workout.  We had 12 mom's and grandma's.  One Grandma came as far away as Ohio!  The mom's showed great spirit and trained hard.  Afterwards, many of the mom's were able to stay and workout with their grasshopper in the next class. 

Greetings Kung Fu family,

Our family has recently had some additions, some pending additions and some losses.

First, the sad news; A familiar grandfather to many of our events passed away Sunday Feb. 26, Mr. Richard S Watada (Ryan and Brenden's grandfather).  Mr. Watada had recently been awarded the United States Congressional Medal of Honor for serving in the 442nd Regiment, US ARMY during WWII.
We offer our condolences to the family.

We've had some additions; We have 3 sisters that are students - Husnaa, Zahra and Aimen (jade belts) who had a brother last month!  There were very excited.
Another student - Amber (grasshopper), also had a new brother last month.
Congratulations to both families!

And then we've got some new students baking; Stayed tuned!

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This month of November has Thanksgiving - a time to reflect on things that we are thankful for.  This month, we also lost 2 very important people in martial arts.  I am thankful, that I had the opportunity to meet them both more than once over the last few years, and had a chance to talk to them.  They are great grandmasters Ming Lum and Al Novak.

I first met great grandmaster Al Novak about 4 years ago at a little tournament in Brentwood.  My husband brought me over to introduce me and pay my respects.  He was a very kind man.  Since then, I saw him at nearly every tournament I attended, and my sifu made sure that I paid my respects.  I'm very glad I did.  Grandmaster Al Novak would tell me he remembered watching Sifu Tomizaki compete. Sifu Tomizaki has pictures of when he was competing and grandmaster Al Novak was judging him.

I first met great grandmaster Ming Lum about 3 1/2 years ago; again at a tournament.  My husband again introduced me.  Grandmaster Lum was very funny.  He said he remembered watching my husband during his competition days, and how great he was (and still is :-)  Every time I saw him over the few years, we would greet him and he would remember "Tomizaki", and give us macadamia nuts.  This past July at the Tiger Claw tournament, he told me "if anyone gives you any trouble, you call me".  He was a true godfather.

I invite you all to google both these giants of the martial arts world.  It's truly a great loss to lose them both in one month.  But, again, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to meet them both.

Wow!  What an exciting weekend.  We had 17 competitors and brought home 27 trophys!  Here's what people were saying:

Tomizaki's Champions sends 18 competitors to LA to help raise money for Lou Gehrig's disease.  See picture of the team above (left).  Go Champions! 

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Thank you all that donated to the American Red Cross - Hands for Japan.  We raised over $3000!

I'm sure you've all seen the heartbreaking pictures of the devastation in Japan.  It's just unreal to me - the earthquake, the tsunami and just when you think it couldn't get worse; snow.  Then the nuclear reactors.  These people have, in a matter of minutes, lost everything. 

We are holding a fundraiser on Saturday April 2, 2011 at 3:00 to raise money for the American Red Cross and the Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief fund.  We'll have Lion Dance, performances and finally - Master Tomizaki will attempt to break 100 boards! 

See the attached sponsorship form for more information!  Thank you for your support.  sijeh

 

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Please read the attached newsletter about the tournament.  These are just some additional thoughts.....

One of the comments I got from a guest judge was how awesome our students were well behaved and how supportive they are of each other.  I think that's great.  We do have great students and great families.  There were also very impressed with the energy that was within the school.  It made me feel good about what we do here.

One of the instructor judges said how amazing everyone did.   One of the reasons we have these tournaments is it gives a specific goal for students to work at and better themselves and their kung fu.  It really showed during the competitions.  We saw awesome kung fu.  It also lets us know how much a student can really do;  sometimes it's easy to get complacent during class - but after what we saw on Saturday, we know how much power a student can give, or how low they can really sink their stance  :-) 

Tournaments give everyone a chance go feel some butterflies and a sense of accomplishment.  It gives some purpose to the hard work they do in class, and a reward for doing it. 

I am very proud of all the competitors.  I am also very proud of the support they get from their families.

By the way, speaking of being proud of the support - we completely filled our food drive barrel and part of a box!  Thank you all for helping out the Contra Costa Food Bank.  We are still waiting to hear what the official weight was, to see if we beat our last record.  As soon as I know, I'll post it.

Thank you again to everyone that helped make the tournament a success!  - sijeh Steffani 

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We just got back from chilly Boston, where Master Tomizaki taught 4 seminars on Choy Lay Fut, sparring and san shou.  It was a busy couple of days.

Our hosts were extremely nice - Sifu Tim Hartmann and Sissi Liu, owners of Wu Dao Kung Fu and Tai Chi.  They took us out to dinner every night, and to a Brazilian dance company show at the Boston Opera House.  Master Tomizaki and I were very grateful, and enjoyed the show immensely.

The first seminar was on Choy Lay Fut Fundamental and Applications: how to apply them in sparring and self defense.  This 3 hour long seminar was very informative, the group got great training and a good work-out.  The started with kicks.  Lots of kicks.  They covered the 10 elements of Choy Lay Fut, how to apply each one and put into combinations.

The second seminar was for juniors on sparring techniques and applications.  Master Tomizaki worked on numerous kicks, punches and block combinations, which the kids got to practice in the end with sparring.  They learned very well and it was amazing to see them actually spar with the combinations they practiced.

The next day, the third seminar was 3 hours on Integrating Choy Lay Fut into sparring.  For those that were there the day before, they were able to review the 10 elements, the combinations and put them into their sparring.  The class was very enthusiastic and willing to try anything Master Tomizaki presented to them.

The forth seminar was 3 hours of Introduction to San Da (san shou).  This was very new to the students; the fighting stance and posture, the strikes, and the throws!  Again, the class was very receptive and enthusiatic - regardless of any weariness they might have felt holding their arms up, the quickness of the kicks and strikes and blocks, the falling and the throws.  Sifu Tim's floor is plywood.  For the throws, he has portable mats - about 1/2 in thickness.  They were troopers!  I'm sure there were some sore muscles. 

Each seminar ended with conditioning and questions.  Panther fist push-ups on the plywood floor was grueling.  I gave an ab workout at the end of san da seminar.  I made myself sore the next day!  My abs never get sore!  Must have felt the energy in the room and got carried away :-)

Boston was very pretty.  It was also very cold.  Down in the teens!  Thank goodness there was heating in the school.  The snow and the New England homes looked like postcards.  Didn't get any clam chowder, but hey, it's a good reason to go back!

*check out pictures in Pictures section