I have just returned from the North American Beikoku Shido-kan Association's 6th Annual National Training Seminar. I have been fortunate to attend the last four seminars and they have all been terrific! Held on the campus of Michigan State University July 25-27, it was a great time.
Kid's Program
This year the seminar introduced a Kids' Program, which was well received and was a terrific draw. Aimed at ages seven through twelve, it included a Demonstration Team, a kata competition and a number of other instruction periods.
The Kata Competition was divided into two categories by age, seven to nine and ten to twelve. All ranks that could do the kata were encouraged to participate and everyone received a participation medal. The twenty four contestants, twelve in each group, included Junior Black Belts all the way down to one competitor who had just passed her test on the kata four days earlier. All of the participants executed the kata with few problems, the biggest challenge seemed to be leaving the kata area once they had finished the kata! Taking that one step backwards after bowing out was tricky!
The Demonstration Team consisted of about twenty kids that presented a fifteen minute program at the closing Banquet. They worked together for close to eight hours through the weekend to organize and put the drills together, using the skills and capabilities of each of the kids at what ever level they were at. They were introduced in pairs and performed a quick one-on-one drill. Then they divided into three groups based on their ranking. The lowest ranks performed Kihon Kata Yodan in a ripple drill fashion. The middle ranks did Pinan Shodan followed by the bunkai. The higher ranks did Kusanku Sho in two lines facing each other, causing the audience to hold their breath as the lines moved back and forth between each other. They capped it off with a skit that advocated avoiding a fight if at all possible.
