Current Events

Yon-Dan Testing

 

     Senseis Rita Parke and Brent Holland were tested on Saturday March 1^st for the rank of yon-dan, fourth degree black belt, with a small crowd of friends and family there for moral support and possible designated drivers. Designated drivers? Both were expecting to get their butt kicked during the sparring segment of the test and therefore had a backup plan for driving in case of injury, but each of them managed to do a little butt kicking of their own!

     The testing began about thirty minutes later than the scheduled time of 12:30 PM but once started, it went straight through until almost five o’clock. Once the certificates were presented everyone gathered for a few photos and then headed off to Mama’s Pizza, a local favorite place to eat after functions such as this.

     They are Renshi Cunningham’s first yon-dans and as such each of them was charged with holding the torch high. It’s safe to say that they were given a challenging test and were not “just promoted.” Both Ms Parke and Mr. Holland were feeling well due to medical challenges but each of them rose to the occasion and reached way down deep to find the will to persevere.

Black Belt Testing

 

     Saturday, March 29^th was the date set aside for the second black belt testing during the month of March. March 1^st , as you may recall, was yondan testing for Senseis Rita Parke and Brent Holland. The two candidates were Rick Edinger and Nancy West. Rick and Nancy tested simultaneously under Sensei Rita Parke and Renshi Cunningham and were assisted by Liberty Brake and Heather Loy whose main duty was that of taking notes on their respective assigned candidate.

     Rick, testing for Sandan (3^rd degree black) and Nancy, testing for Shodan (1^st degree black) were examined closely and given the opportunity to ask a few questions during the testing process. The highlight, as usual, was the sparring at the end of the testing process with each of the candidates sparring the other black belts anxiously awaiting their chance to participate. Rick and Nancy were each promoted and are now beginning a new phase of their personal journey.

ECU Tournament Results!

 

CONGRATULATIONS !!

 

     The following students entered the ECU tournament this year: Liberty Brake, Miah Filkins, Nancy West, Austin Torres and Ian Carlyle. The wonderful part is that each of them won in their division. This was Ian and Austin’s first karate tournament and it was Miah and Nancy’s first tournament as black belts. Listed below are the results.

 

Liberty Brake – 3^rd Empty Hand Kata, Women’s Black Belt 18-34

Miah Filkins – 2^nd Empty Hand Kata, 3^rd Kumite, Men’s Black Belt 18-34

Nancy West – 1^st Weapons, Women’s Black Belt 34 and older

Austin Torres – 1^st Empty Hand Kata, 1^st Weapons, 1^st Kumite, Boys Green/Blue 9-11

Ian Carlyle – 1^st Weapons, 1^st Empty Hand Kata, 2^nd Kumite, Boys Green/Blue 7-8

 

     Cunningham’s Karate also had a great cheering section with many students, parents and family friends in attendance. Their role was and is an important part of the overall morale of the group. Below is a picture that was taken at the end of the day’s events. Some of the group had left prior to the picture. Thanks everyone!

East Carolina Tournament!

 

Good News!

 

     Renshi Cunningham won the Weapons/Empty Hand Kata Grand Championship for the third time in four years and was presented a very nice sword for this accomplishment. He was beaten by 1/100^th of a point in the Grand Champion match at last year’s tourney by his student Liberty Brake. He won the Weapons division with Urashi no kun kata and stated later that he felt stronger and more focused while he was executing the kata than he had ever felt. Mary Daughtridge, one of his students, told him at the end of the tournament that it seemed as if everyone stopped what they were doing and watched him when he let go his first kiai. Sensei Cunningham won the Empty Hand division with Chinto tearing something loose in his already weakened left shoulder. As a double division winner Sensei had the choice of performing either of his winning forms in the Grand Championship round and chose Chinto again because of his shoulder injury. His choice proved to be the right one resulting in his win over the other four finalists. Sadly though, he made the injury much worse the second time around and will most likely be forced to seek some much-needed medical attention.

 

    

March 15th Testing!

 

     Pictured here are a fine group of young students who set a goal and achieved it. From left to right and front to rear are: Ian Carlyle blue belt, Copeland Lachapelle yellow belt, Christopher Watson yellow belt, Ryan Gardner yellow belt, Sebastian Uran blue belt, Gabriel Ewuell orange belt and Mariana Uran blue belt. Way to go!

    

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April 26th Testing!

 

     From left to right and front to rear are: Raul Rodriquez, Jennifer Taylor, Ricardo Gomez, Dennis and Ian McClanahan, and Michael and Mary Daughtridge. All were testing for their yellow belt as you can see but Dennis was promoted to orange belt due to his previous Isshinryu experience. It’s really great to have the adults working so hard toward their next belt since their test in late April. Paul Morris is also pictured here because he was not quite ready to test with the group of adults and opted to work on his memory and performance for another week and a half. Congratulations to all!

    

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Shihan Glover Visits!

 

     Saturday, June 14^th proved to be a fun filled and informative day for all in attendance for Shihan Glover’s visit. He was accompanied by his wife, Maureen, and black belt Crystal Walker as well as his senior black belt student, Kyoshi Doug Harvey, 7^th Dan.

 

     The day began with the under 13 year olds who were warmed up in no time to some of Mr. Glover’s unique exercises and then went on to a few drills with a partner. The “kiai” drill will be remembered for quite a while by the students as well as by the parents who were watching from the viewing area. Their session ended up with students getting to spar with Shihan Glover, which took a full thirty minutes. Before they left, he autographed pictures for them of his days on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie set.

 

     The afternoon session began shortly after one o’clock with a few warm-ups to get the blood flowing and went on into some kihon (basic blocking and punching drills) with a partner. We were taught a short kata, Fu-kyu ichi with everyone getting to lead the others in it. The afternoon session ended shortly after 3:30 at which time we snapped a few group photos before heading out to eat in Rocky Mount.

 

     Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Glovers’ visit. For many, it was their first time to meet them and hopefully it won’t be their last.

 

 

New Students This Month

 

     Pictures are currently unavailable of the new students but I would like to mention them with the promise of a picture in a later update of the website. In no particular order the new students are: Hannah Rose, Carter Rose, Caleb Rose, Jorge Gomez, Kiara Worsley, Alicia Jenkins, and Steven Davis.

    Rumor has it that Kyle Daughtridge, younger brother of Michael from the adult class, will be starting in late July but that’s not official at the present time.