by Isabel Gallant   Age 12   

                 Over this past weekend, (June 17- 19) I went through a ton.  I was so tired after each day, but I learned so much.  Over this weekend, I went to a seminar hosted by Norma Foster, Bob Nash, Toby Threadgill, and Kaki Kawano.  In this paper, I will tell you about my experience,  these wonderful people I got to work with, and a couple of other things.

                Sensei Norma Foster has been working (and trying to work with!) me for quite a while now.  She is an insanely good teacher, even if I make it tough for her.  She was helping me throughout this entire weekend, and longer, trying to straighten my punch, restrain me from doing “bicycle kick”, and many, many other things.  She is a seventh degree black belt, the highest ranking female in Canada, and she is definitely one of my role models.

                Sensei Bob Nash has been holding wonderful seminars that I absolutely love going to.  No matter how many times he tells me to “be a flower”, no matter how many times I laugh at him for telling me to be a flower, or how many times he tells me to use my elbows and knees instead of hands and feet, I know I’m going to learn so much at every single seminar he teaches, I don’t even care.

                This was Sensei Kaki Kawano’s first encounter with me and the first thing he told me was that if I didn’t use body weight and rotation, Cowan was gonna kick me and I was gonna be in a lot of pain, especially right after Sensei Norma told Cowan to attack me as hard as he can.  I was standing there watching Sensei Kawano punch and kick as fast as lightning, and here I am, 12 years old and this old guy (no offence, Sensei) could kick 10 times faster than me.  I was completely blown away when he did the splits, and I don’t think he could kick any faster.

                As with Sensei Kawano, this was Sensei Toby Threadgill’s first encounter with me.  When this guy grabbed my hand one second and I was on the ground the next, I was confused, smitten, and stunned that this man had thrown me on the ground, and I hadn’t felt a thing.  With Sensei Threadgill, we also got to use long and short blades, and I mean come on, who doesn’t want to play around with wooden swords and rubber knives?  I mean, Jason, Callan and I were having so much fun dodging and throwing knives at each other, I think I actually forgot where I was for a second!  We had such a learning experience, and I was interested the entire time.

                The seminar was great, but I knew why I was really there. Three words: Black. Belt. Test.  I was SO worried and nervous for my black belt test, I could barely eat anything. I finished a small bagel and a banana and I was told “Go get a smoothie! You didn’t eat enough!”  But I was so nervous, I knew this was all I was gonna be able to hold down!  Finally, after we started half an hour late, my nerves stared to calm down.  I was joking, I waslaughing, (I spat my mouth  guard out in the middle of sparring, thanks to Jason!)  but I was having a pretty good time. 

                Finally, after the test was over, the examiners, (Sensei Peter Stoddart, Sensei Norma Foster, Sensei Bob Nash and Sensei Kawano) decided we’d do half an hour of kata before the results!   We finished kata, and it was finally time!  I walked up to the table, sat down and… they told me all the things  I did  wrong.  They really had me going for a second, but they eventually told me the results… I had passed!  I was so ecstatic, but I had to keep my cool.  Afterward,  I ordered my satin belt from Japan and got tons of pictures!  (A couple too many, thanks to my mum’s great extent in technology!)  After it was all over, I went  home and screamed my head off.  I was so happy!  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.