May 2024
Snapkick
Dojo Student Newsletter
“In the midst of movement and chaos keep stillness inside of you.” ~ Deepak Chopra
Featured
Testing
All Classes: May 22, 23, 24
PLEASE ATTEND IN FULL UNIFORM AND BELT
Theme of the Month
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
This month we will continue with our Jiu Jitsu curriculum. We will teach more advanced techniques and drills in all of our classes. Jiu Jitsu promotes the concept of a smaller, weaker person that can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using leverage and proper technique. The goal is to help students feel more confident when dealing with an opponent on the ground.
Musashi’s Disciple
Author Unknown
I will tell you the story of the Samurai who came to see the legendary master Miyamoto Musashi and asked to learn the true way of the sword.
The master agreed to accept him as a student. Having become his disciple, the Samurai spent all his time, as instructed by the master, carrying and chopping wood and fetching buckets of water from a distant spring.
He did this every day for a month, two months, one year, three years. Today, any disciple would have run away after a week or even a few hours. But the Samurai went on, and in the process he formed his body.
At the end of three years he had had enough, however, and asked his master, "What kind of training are you giving me? I have not touched a sword since I got here. I spend all my time chopping wood and carrying water. When are you going to initiate me?"
"All right, all right," the master replied. "Since you desire it, I shall teach you the true technique."
He ordered him to go to the dojo and there, every day from morning to evening, the disciple had to walk around the outside edge of the tatami, step by step around the hall without ever missing a foot.
So the disciple walked around the edge of the tatami for a year. At the end of that time he said to his master, "I am a Samurai, I have a long experience of swordsmanship and I have met other masters of Kendo. Not one ever taught me as you are doing. Now, please, teach me the true way of the sword."
"Very well," said the master. "Follow me."
He led him far into the mountains to a place where a tree trunk lay across a ravine, a dizzying, deep chasm.
"There," said the master, "walk over."
The Samurai had no idea what his master meant; when he glanced down he recoiled and couldn't bring himself to cross.
All of a sudden they heard a tap-tap-tapping behind them, the sound of a blind man's stick. The blind man, paying no attention, walked past them and tapped his way firmly over the abyss, his stick in front of him.
"Aha," thought the Samurai, "I'm beginning to understand. If the blind man can walk across like that, I ought to be able to do it too."
And his master said, "For one whole year you have walked round and round the edge of the tatami, which is much narrower than that tree trunk; so you must be able to cross."
He understood, and strode to the other side.
His training was finished: for three years he had built up the strength of his body; for one year he had developed his power of concentration in one action (walking); and at the last, facing death at the edge of the abyss, he received the final training of spirit and mind.
The Moral of the Story
Some of the most important training takes place on a very subtle level. One should look at any experience for the lesson it holds.
April 2024
Snapkick
Dojo Student Newsletter
“Emotional self-control is the result of hard work, not an inherent skill.” ~ Travis Bradberry
Featured
Movie Night 4/19
Theme of the Month
This month, we will be focusing on Jiu-Jitsu. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. Jiu Jitsu promotes the concept of a smaller, weaker person that can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using leverage and proper technique.
Testing
All Classes: April 24, 25,26
PLEASE ATTEND IN FULL UNIFORM AND BELT
The Law of the Garbage Truck
Author Unknown
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us!
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, really friendly. So I asked, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!”
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.”
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage (frustration, anger, and disappointment, etc.). As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you.
Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so… love the people who treat you right & pray for the ones who don’t. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Have a wonderful, garbage-free day.
March 2024
Snapkick
Dojo Student Newsletter
“Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.” ~ Og Mandino
Featured
Chanbara Competition 3/2
Our Chanbara Competition will be held on Saturday, March 2nd of 2024 at Cupertino High School! It is by enrollment only and has a limited student availability.
Testing
All Classes: March 27, 28, 29
PLEASE ATTEND IN FULL UNIFORM AND BELT
Theme of the Month
This month, we are focusing on various types of kicks. The goal this month is to improve everyone’s kicks on all levels; speed, accuracy, power, and all around technique. We will have many new and unique kicking drills and games to keep it fun and interesting.
Cornered by an unruly gang of pine boards, Robert suddenly remembers his Karate training.
The Cookie Thief
By Valerie Cox in “A Matter of Perspective”
A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.
February 2024
Snapkick
Dojo Student Newsletter
“Two things define you: Your patience when you have nothing. And your attitude when you have everything.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Featured
Movie Night 2/16
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
(STUDENTS AGES 6+)
Entrance Fee of $35 (per person)
$50 for 2 people
2/19: Closed for Presidents Day
Testing
All Classes: February 21, 22, 23
PLEASE ATTEND IN FULL UNIFORM AND BELT
Coming soon
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chanbara competiton 3/2
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Coming soon 〰️ chanbara competiton 3/2 〰️
Theme of the Month
This month, we will continue to focus on kata forms. We will also be spending time on Chanbara, also commonly known as “padded weapons training” in preparation for the upcoming competition. Here at WVMA, our focus is to use chanbara as a safe and fun way for students to learn spatial awareness, strategy, and discipline through live, friendly competition.
January 2024
Featured Event
ZBBK Dues Are Due
West Valley Martial Arts and its students are a part of a non-profit organization called the Zen Bei Butoku Kai. Committed to carrying on O’Sensei Kim’s legacy, the ZBBK certifies our curriculum, our instructors, and our ranking system.
For all Pre-Karate students, the annual membership fee is $10.
For all other students, your annual membership fee is $20.
You can pay by cash or check, sorry no credit cards.
Please pay this amount by January 31st. Please make checks to ZBBK and note that donations to the ZBBK (Fed Non-Profit ID #72-1532938) qualify as a charitable donation and are tax deductible under section 501(c).
The Zen Bei Butoku Kai
In 1959 O'Sensei Richard Kim founded the Zen Bei Butoku Kai when he came from Japan to teach in the United States.The Zen Bei Butoku Kai is a martial arts organization dedicated to the preservation of the teachings of the late O’Sensei Richard Kim, 10th Dan and his legacy. That legacy has stretched to all ends of the earth over the years and has touched thousands. I was fortunate enough to train and travel with Master Kim for about 10 years until he passed away in 2001. His teachings of the traditional martial arts and, perhaps even more significant, the philosophy of the martial arts are second to none. O'Sensei Kim was referred to as “Karate's Guiding Light” by Black Belt magazine and was considered the “world’s authority” on traditional karate.
1/15: Martin Luther King Jr. day
Closed for the holiday
Theme of the Month
This month, we will be focusing on striking. We will be looking at variations of striking combos as well as focusing specifically on how to be a good bag holder. The goal of this month is to improve not only the physical technique of good striking, but how having a good bag holder can drastically enhance the training for both parties involved.
