31st Annual West Coast Can Am Championships

The students of the Canadian Martial Arts Academy in Mission made a fantastic showing at this year’s 31st Annual West Coast Can Am Championships May 30th. Between 13 students they brought back an impressive total of 38 medals, with 21 of those being gold medals!

Premiering in 1979 as the First Annual West Coast Can-Am Championships, this tournament has developed into one of the most prestigious and longest-running annual tournaments in Canada as it enters its 31st year in 2010. Over the years, many world-famous Martial Artists from all styles such as Karate, Kung Fu, Wushu, Taekwondo, Hapkido, Tang Soo Do, Tai Chi, Jiu-Jitsu, Kenpo, have competed and performed in the Can-Am. The Can-Am has indeed become a showcase of Martial Arts

• Jasmine Lang – 2 Gold Medals, 1 Bronze
• Nathan Lang – 3 Gold Medals
• Alec Bolland – 2 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal, 1 Bronze Medal
• Aiden Siemens – 4 Gold Medals
• Jared Bolland – 4 Gold Medals
• Nolan Starr – 1 Bronze Medal
• Maelyn Greenwood – 2 Bronze Medals
• Alex Krups – 1 Silver Medal, 1 Bronze Medal
• Aidan Buchanan – 3 Silver Medals
• Kordell Thompson – 1 Gold Medal, 2 Bronze Medals
• Gwen Siemens – 5 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals
• Dillon Duncan – 1 Silver Medal, 1 Bronze Medal
• Tye Marshall – Tied for Bronze

Sensei is proud of all of the students who participated in the tournament this year and would like to congratulate each and every one of them for their incredible efforts and for having the confidence to go out there and try their best. And congratulations to Jared Bolland for winning the Under Black Belt Overall Junior Competitor award.

OOPS......WE DID IT AGAIN

Students from Canadian Martial Arts Academy, Powell River, did it again! This weekend 23 students travelled to Burnaby for the West Coast Can Am Champion- ships, held at B.C.I.T. Our students brought home 23 Gold Medals, 31 Silver Medals 21 Bronze Medals and 4 GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHIES (3 of them over 5 ft.)

POWELL RIVER CANADIAN MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY RESULTS FROM THE 31ST WEST COAST CAN AM CHAMPIONSHIPS MAY 29, 30, 2010

On May 30th, our students also competed in the 2nd Annual Devon Gardens Kids Kata Tournament to raise funds for the school. Our students brought home:3 Gold Medals, 4 Silver Medals, 3 Bronze Medals and 2 - 4th Place positions

AAU LAS VEGAS 2010

STUDENTS FROM THE CANADIAN MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY, POWELL RIVER, TRAVELLED TO LAS VEGAS FOR THE U.S. OPEN AND JR. OLYMPICS AND THE OZAWA CUP, HELD APRIL 1ST, 2ND, 3RD, AND 4TH, AT CEASAR’S PALACE. THE U.S. OPEN IS THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS EVENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND NORTH AMERICA. OVER 2500 COMPETITORS AND ATHELETES FROM OVER 40 COUNTRIES WERE AT THIS YEARS’ EVENT. STUDENTS FROM THE CANADIAN MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY, POWELL RIVER, REPRESENTED CANADA THAT WEEKEND AND BROUGHT HOME 41 MEDALS. COACH SENSEI CLAYTON NOW LIVES IN POWELL RIVER, HAS PRODUCED EIGHT (8) WORLD CHAMPIONS. AND IS A WKO WORLD KARATE CHAMPION, 2000. SENSEI CLAYTON IS VERY PROUD OF THE HARD WORK, TRAINING AND RESULTS OF HIS STUDENTS. IT HAS BEEN 5 YEARS SINCE HE LEFT INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION COACHING AND MOVED TO POWELL RIVER, AND NOW TEACHES HERE.

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THE SPONSORS WHO HELPED OUR TEAM RAISE FUNDS TO PURCHASE TEAM TRACK SUITS, AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO STRIVE TO MAKE POWELL RIVER PROUD, WITH OUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION TO TRAINING. TO SEE THE RESULTS OF THESE EVENTS, CHECK OUT THEIR WEB SITES:

USA Karate Open ANDOzawa Tournament

AND YOUR WINNERS ARE:

2010 WSKF Qualifier

The newly refurbished Edmonds Community College gym was filled with 250 competitors from 40 different dojos for Washington State Karate-do Federation’s 2010 Invitational Tournament and USA-NKF Qualifier. This event, which is reputed to be one of the best regional karate tournaments in the country, continues to draw top competitors and teams from across the USA and British Columbia. Greatly improved spectator seating, enhanced lighting, a freshly finished hardwood floor and new WSKF competition mats provided a perfect venue for the competition.

Of course any event like this requires a lot of help to get off the ground and we are very thankful to have a superb group of volunteers in registration, admissions, concessions, staging, score keeping, security, medical, and food services.

In addition, we owe tremendous debt of gratitude to the 40-officials who came out to spend their day keeping our five rings running smoothly. WKF Referees Chuck Sweigart, Julius Parniczky, Jay Farrell and Fariba Madani led the way with assistance from PKF Officials Laura Doyle, Jim Doyle, Doug Exum, Eugene Price, Matt Day, Sheryl Day, and Amie Leon. NKF Referees Jay Whaley, Kerin Schulz Womack, Bruce Sako and many other officials also worked to provide a very high-caliber tournament with proper match results.

This year teams were welcomed from various distant locations including Frank Clayton’s Canadian Martial Arts dojo that brought a big group from Powell River, BC. These folks traveled 8-hours by land and sea to attend, a trip that included two ferry crossings and many miles on the open road. Their effort was well rewarded as they returned to Powell River with numerous gold, silver and bronze medals.

Sandeep Gill’s Burnaby Karate Academy from BC also had a fine group that included Karate BC Team members who added a lot of talent to the advanced competition divisions.

Fariba Madani from Louisville, Colorado brought a team that included PKF competitor Jax Martinelli and Kamran Madani. The Colorado team walked away with a solid array of medals, plus the experience of competing in some really tough divisions.

Jax Martinelli took (2) Gold Medals and also won a $500 Gold Medal Sponsorship that he’ll be using to pay expenses for USA-Open, Junior Olympics or USA-NKF Nationals. Other winners of Gold Medal Sponsorship awards included Carlos Aviado and Timothy Martin who each earned a $500 check by winning their respective divisions.

7-year old advanced competitor Daniel Mendoza made the trip from Key Biscayne, Florida to attend and was satisfied to garner 2-Gold medals for his effort. Sensei (dad) Ernesto Mendoza believes that Daniel is bound to be atop the winner’s podium in many future championships. He heard WSKF put on a first class event and wanted to bring Daniel up for the competition opportunity. Both father and son had a great time and also plan to attend Junior Olympics in Las Vegas.

Other regional dojos that brought large competition teams were Chuck Sweigart’s WKA Lakewood dojo, Matt Day’s WKA Ballard dojo, Chieko Huse Sorano Karate School, Junko Arai’s WKA Bellevue dojo, and Tim Salerno’s School of Karate. We are grateful for these schools support and acknowledge their value in making this a great tournament.

Since its inception four years ago the WSKF has been developing an admirable reputation based on top-notch competitors, sensei, referees, and volunteers who support the organization and participate in our events. We would like to express our sincere appreciation for each and every person who came out this year and hope that everyone had a great time at the tournament. We trust people appreciate the WSKF mission and will continue working together as we build a tradition of excellence in Washington State.

If you would like to view David Munden’s photo coverage of the event, visit Munden Photography website:

Eduard Koller also provided some very nice photographs that can be viewed at his website: