Kosho School of Karate

Congratulations to Kosho’s first Iaido Promotion! Stefan was promoted to Ikkyu (Brown belt) at the Seidokai Jodo & Iaido seminar in Guelph, Ontario. Stefan did a great job representing himself and his dojo at another awesome seminar organized by the Seidokai group.
Kosho members Nate England and Ken Kirchmayer were also in attendance, and had a chance to work with the visiting Japanese and European instructors.
There were some big Jodo promotions as well, including Canada’s first 3 7th Dans. Also we now have 2 more 6th Dans for the US, as both Peter Boylan from Detroit and Steve Luis from LA passed the exam.

Congratulations to the “Kosho Judo Team”! Chalice, Michael, & Nate competed in the Ohio Judo Championships on May 7th. This is the first time a Kosho group has competed in a Judo Tournament (or at least the first time since the 80s? 70s?!) Everyone represented themselves well, placing in their weight divisions. Michael took 2nd place in Novice Men, Nate took 3rd in the Over 35 Men, and Chalice took 2nd in BOTH Novice Women AND Over 35 Women. Great job everyone! Thanks to Sensei Russ Scherer, Ohio Judo and USA Judo for putting on a great event!!

Congratulations to everyone (Especially the Kosho Jodo students!) who were promoted at the Midwest Kendo Federation’s Jodo Seminar in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday, December 4th.

Paul Tarvin & Evan Jones: 3rd Dan

Paul also saved the day by stepping in to partner with another test taker who lost their partner at the last minute.

Ken Kirchmayer: 2nd Dan

Kosho’s Jodo Instructor, Nate England, acted as “Tachiai” during the test, organizing test participants and making all announcements and calls throughout the 3 hour test.

Also, big thanks to Peter Boylan for organizing the event, the first big Jodo get-together in over 2 years. Huge success!

Congratulations to everyone promoted in this weekend’s test!

Andy & Drew: Ikkyu 1st Degree Brown Belt

Daniel, Thanh-Tu, & Thanh-Nha: San Kyu 3rd Degree Brown Belt

All 5 students have worked long and hard for this promotion, training for years, and in hundreds of classes. In addition, they all assist with classes helping out newer members.

This was an especially big promotion for Daniel, who has been with the school since 2015, and received his first promotion in 2016. He is quite a bit bigger than when he started! Great job Daniel!!

Congratulations to Coltyn, Soren, & Tristian who earned their Junior Yellow Belts on October 11th! All three boys have been working extremely hard since joining the dojo earlier this year, and are sure to be future black belts.

This month, we had an all-female promotion!

Sierra made Yellow Belt, just in time to return to college. Ashley and Chalice were both promoted to Green Belt. Great job ladies!

Thanks to Mike & Patrick Oliveri from the Heartland Dojo in Roanoke, IL for stopping in to train with us!

Kosho & Heartland members are sweating after an intense sparring session and heavy bag workout.

On Saturday, June 28 Shuri-Ryu Chief Instructor, Sensei Michael Awad, taught a special seminar at the dojo. Ezra Scott and Neil Stinson from Nashville were in attendance, along with a good representation Kosho’s current students, and a few faces from the past.

The training focused on ways of applying karate techniques including two-hand blocking,

A special drill for snap punches,

And various types of sparring.

Ezra Scott also demonstrated some grappling techniques.

And Sensei Awad also demonstrated some take-downs and chokes.

Richard Awad gave a lecture on karate history.

The event ended with a few promotions and awards, including:

Sensei David Hamann and Richard Awad were named Chief Instructors of Shuri Ryu Karate. This is the first time Sensei Awad has ever awarded this honor.

Gerry Sexton received Special Recognition for service to the dojo, including a Plaque.

Robert Volz promoted to 6th Dan

Gerry Sexton promoted to 4th Dan

Ezra Scott promoted to 4th Dan

Neil Stinson promoted to 2nd Dan

Nate England was named Assistant Chief Instructor of Shuri Ryu Karate

Thanks to Michael Park for stopping by the dojo this week for some great Jodo and Karate training. He also shared a few self defense techniques and joint locks from Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu. Mike is on a cross-country road trip and stopping at dojos to train at along the way.

Congratulations to Stefan and Matt who were promoted to Blue Belt, and Adrian who was promoted to Jr. Blue Belt on Thursday, June 18th! All 3 were not able to make the big review at the beginning of the month, so we held a make-up session. Everyone looked great, and they worked just as hard (and as long) as everyone from the last review.