MIT Shotokan Karate Club

Congratulations to the new Shotokan Club Officers!

President - Qian Xu

Treasurer - Thi Mai Anh Nguyen

Left to right: Qian (President), Anh (Treasurer) , Avril (Coach).

I hope you all enjoyed the practice and discussion yesterday! As you saw, we've had so many wonderful events and you should all be very proud to be a part of this growing club! Think back on your starting days only a few months ago for many of you, and look at how far you have come. This should help motivate you to reach even higher and improve your karate even further.

Also I hope you take the lesson from the live commenting to heart: the fastest way to improve your technique is to be able to see yourself doing it, and also know what errors to look for to fix. All of you can gain this skill, and part of becoming a black belt is not only having proper technique, but being able to identify any errors in yourself or others and know how to fix them. You will gain it with time and patience.

Lastly, I hope you all are excited for the steps moving ahead! Once Lillie's video is released we will share it with you all, and keep it mind we will be having Karate practice on the sailing pavilion on Wednesday, July 19th. Also, on Friday, July 14th will be have 'friends of Karate' practice. This practice will be tailored to all your friends who have mentioned in interest in doing karate and this is the day to get them to join. After they see you guys in the video which will be released, they will be begging to join as is.

Vazrik Senpai

This weekend, members of the MIT and Harvard Shotokan karate clubs hosted the first Harvard-MIT Shotokan Cup on Harvard University Campus. With participants from MIT, Harvard, BU, Tufts, UMass Dartmouth, Cornell, UConn, and the University of Toronto, the MIT Shotokan Club won the overall team competition.

Tech Article

The MIT Shotokan Club recently had the great honor of attending the KATI international tournament held in Tokyo Japan as members of the NECKC International Team. Vazrik, Cortni, and Avril participated, as well as Asi and Sam from Tufts. Avril and Asi were kind enough to record some great photos and video of the team members!

Congratulations to Avril Kenney and Phillip Ferguson for their excellent performance at Advanced Promotions, where both received the new rank of Shodan! In addition, congratulations to Cortni Dick for promoting to Shodan after her fantastic performance at the International Karate Tournament in Japan!

Congratulations to the new Shotokan Club Officers!

President - Cortni Dick

Treasurer - Phil Ferguson

Social Chair - Charles Freeman

Publicity Chair - Jane Cotler

Scribe - Gil Goldshlager

Special congratulations to Phil Ferguson, Patrick Stokes, and Avril Kenney for promoting to 1A Brown Belt at Advanced Promotions, following a tough four hour practice with a special guest club from Bermuda! Congratulations also to Charles Freeman for promoting to 9B Yellow Belt, Daniel Dowling for promoting to 8A Yellow Belt with 2 Orange Stripes, Sarah Edris and Qian Long for promoting to 7A Orange Belt, Aaron Ramirez for promoting to 7B Orange Belt with Blue Stripe, and finally Emily Yang and Catherine Fan for promoting to 5A Green Belt!

The MIT Shotokan Karate Club brought home first place at the Harvard Invitational Tournament on April 19th! Sadly, not everyone made it all the way to the photo at the end, but luckily they scored points for our team before they left to study for exams!

In Advanced Women's Kata, Cortni Dick ('16) won 1st place, and Avril Kenney ('11) brought home 3rd. In Advanced Women't Sparring, Cortni Dick also won 1st place. In Team Kata, Team MIT brought home second place with Emily Yang ('14), Catherine Fan ('14), and Sarah Edris ('14) performing a beautiful rendition of Heian Nidan! In Intermediate Women's Kata, Emily Yang won 1st place, Catherine Fan won 2nd place, and Sarah Edris won 3rd place. Finally, in Intermediate Women's Kumite, Catherine Fan won 1st place, Sarah Edris won 2nd place, and Emily Yang won 3rd place.

Congratulations to all of the competitors!

Congratulations to Bryan Rosaria, William Xue, Fangfang Xie, Gil Goldshlager, Qian Long, and Aaron Ramirez for promoting to 8B Yellow Belt with 2 Orange Stripes, Emily Yang, and Catherine for promoting to 6A Blue Belt, Xiaoning Zhang for promoting to 6B Blue Belt with Green Stripe, Cortni Dick and Phil Ferguson for promoting to 3A Brown Belt, and to Patrick Stokes for promoting to 2A Brown Belt!

The MIT Shotokan Karate Club had a fantastic showing at the Fall Battle for Boston Boston on Sunday October 26th, 2013. In an exciting turn of events, Gil Goldshlager ('17) won 1st place in Men's Beginner Sparring, while Phil Ferguson ('16) won 1st place in Men's Intermediate Sparring!

In Women's Advanced Sparring, Cortni Dick ('16) won 2nd place despite competing above her division. Cortni is a green belt, and defeated multiple brown and black belts to earn her ranking. Avril Kenney ('11) placed 3rd in the same event.

In Team Kata, team MIT placed 3rd, with Emily Yang ('14), Catherine Fan ('14), Gil Goldshlager, and Tasha Schoenstein ('16). Catherine Fan also placed 3rd in Women's Beginner Sparring.

The MIT Club had a great showing at the annual Summer Beach Training event at Nahant Beach! After five hours starting at 6am, the group completed 2000 kicks against a concrete wall and performed kata 50 times. Congratulations to Kilian Gersing for promoting to 9B Yellow Belt, Andre Pierre Mattei and Rafael Pierre Mattei for promoting to 6A Blue Belt, Patrick Stokes for promoting to 4A Purple Belt, Avril Kenney for promoting to 2A Brown Belt with 2 Red Stripes, and Brian Neltner for promoting to 1 Kyu Nidan!

Congratulations to Sarah Edris, Catherine Fan, Xiaoning Zheng, and Emily Yang for promoting from white belt to 8A Yellow Belt with Orange Stripe, Jane Cotler and Dan Eldar for promoting from yellow belt to 6A Blue Belt, Cortni Dick, Rachel Bowens-Rubin, and Phil Ferguson for promoting from orange belt to 5A Green Belt, and with special congratulations to Patrick Stokes who promoted from white belt all the way to 5A Green Belt at his first promotion!

Congratulations to Jane Cotler and Dan for advancing to 9B Yellow Belt, Mo for advancing to 8A Yellow Belt with 2 Orange Stripes, Cortni Dick and Rachel Bowens-Rubin for advancing to 7A Orange Belt, and to Phillip Ferguson for advancing to 7B Orange Belt with Blue Stripe!

Congratulations to Arul Sundaramoorthy for advancing to 4B Purple Belt with Brown Stripe and to Avril Kenney for advancing to 3A Brown Belt!

Congratulations to Cortni Dick, Rachel Bowens-Rubin, and Phillip Ferguson for advancing to Yellow Belt!

Summer Promotions were a great success!

Congratulations to Minshu Zhan, who advanced to Yellow Belt. Kyle Miller, Arul Sundaramoorthy, and Connie Liu advanced to Green Belt, and Avril Kenney advanced to Purple Belt! Congratulations to everyone on their new ranks!

Spring Promotions were a great success!

Mike Aponte advanced to Yellow Belt. Scott Kovach, Kyle Miller, and Arul Sundaramoorthy advanced to Orange Belt, Sarah Weir, Connie Liu, and Ting-Yun Sasha Huang advanced to Blue Belt, and Avril Kenney advanced to Green Belt. Congratulations to everyone on their new ranks!

Fall Promotions were a great success. At advanced promotions, Senpai Vazrik Chiloyan received the rank of Shodan after a great performance.

At beginner promotions, Austin Travis, Ioana Zelko, Ting Yun "Sasha" Huang, Connie Liu, and Sarah Weir advanced to Yellow Belt, Ben Scandella advanced to Orange Belt, and Avril Kenney advanced to Blue Belt. Congratulations to everyone on their new ranks!

The date for the NECKC Spring Tournament has been set for April 17th, 2011. The MIT club plays an active role in participating in and organizing this tournament. Find out more at http://www.battleforboston.com.

Congratulations to Erell Garnier for promoting to 8B Yellow Belt with two Orange Stripes, Vazrik Chiloyan for sealing his tounament promotion to 3B Brown Belt with Red Stripe, Yves Matton for double promoting to 3A Brown Belt, Carlos Salinas for promoting to 7B Orange Belt with Blue Stripe, and Mark Scott and Emily Rosser for promoting to 5A Green Belt at the Spring Promotion! Also congratulations to Mike Snella for receiving his C-Rank Instructor Certification!

The MIT Shotokan Karate Club sent Vazrik Chiloyan, Emily Rosser, Carlos Salinas, and Julian Lemus to the Spring Battle for Boston on Sunday April 18th. Senpai Brian Neltner and Senpai Piotr Fidkowski ran the tournament at Tufts, and so were unable to participate. The tournament photos can be found at http://battleforboston.com!

Vazrik Chiloyan, a purple belt, won first place in intermediate kumite against a large field of competitors, winning Gold for MIT in his event. Vazrik also won first place in intermediate kata for his performance of Bassai Dai. Grandmaster Kazumi Tabata was so impressed with Vazrik's performance that he was promoted to 3kyu Brown Belt on the spot and asked to compete in advanced kumite as well.

Emily Rosser, an orange belt, was bumped up to the intermediate kumite division at the last minute, where she made a valiant effort and managed to place second despite having less experience than her opponents. Congratulations to all who participated in the event!

Congratulations to Mike Snella for promoting to Brown Belt, Yves Matton for promoting to Purple Belt, Emily Rosser, Mark Scott, Nathan Brei, and Julian Lemus for promoting to Orange Belt, and Carlos Salinas for promoting to Yellow Belt at the Fall Promotion!

The MIT Shotokan Karate Club participated in the Battle for Boston Tournament on October 24th. The team fielded 11 excellent students, recovering from a nearly decade long period of difficulties with recruiting. (Link to Tech Article)

In the advanced division, Santolina Savannet (G), an assistant captain and instructor, won first place in Advanced Individual Kata 18-22, as well as Grand Champion in Kata with her performance of Kanku Sho ("To View the Sky Minor"), second place in Advanced Individual Kumite, and second place in Advanced Team Kumite with Piotr Fidkowski (G) and Michael Snella ('10). Brian Neltner (G), the team captain and instructor, won first place in Advanced Individual Kata 23-35 with Nijushiho ("24 steps"), second place in Weapons Forms performing Shushinokon ("Shushi's Bo Kata"), and second place in Advanced Team Kata with Santolina Savannet and Piotr Fidkowski performing Empi ("Flying Swallow").

Piotr Fidkowski, also a club instructor, came in first place in Men's Advanced Kumite 18-22, and second in the Grand Championship for Kumite. In the Boston Battle competition, he and Sam Powers ('12) came in third place overall. Piotr also managed to just edge out Brian Neltner for first place in Weapon's Kata performing Shushinokon. Michael Snella on a team with Fernando Esteverena (a substitution at the last minute for Santolina due to an injury), came in first place in the Boston Battle competition. Michael's team ended up beating the team led by Brian Neltner in advanced team kata with Vazrik Chiloyan ('11) and Sam Powers performing a strong and powerful Bassai Dai ("Storming the Castle") against Brian's team performance of Empi ("Flying Swallow"). Michael also won third place in Advanced Individual Kumite 18-22.

In the intermediate division, Vazrik Chiloyan's team, including Yves Matton (G) and Sam Powers, won first place in Team Kumite. Vazrik also won first place in Men's Kumite 18-22 and Men's Kata 18-22 with his performance of Gankaku ("Crane on a Rock"), as well as third place in Grand Champion Kumite, coming in just behind Piotr Fidkowski from MIT. Sam Powers won first place in Women's Intermediate Kumite 18-22 and third place in Kata 18-22, performing Bassai Dai. Yves Matton placed second in Kata 18-22, performing Tekki Shodan ("Iron Knight").

In the beginner division, Alexander Clayton ('13) and Emily Rosser ('12) won second and third place respectively in Individual Kata 18-22 performing Heian Nidan ("Peace and Safety Number Two"), and a team of Nathan Brei ('11), Alexander Clayton, and Julian Lemus ('13) won second place in Team Kata performing Heian Nidan.

Congratulations to Piotr Fidkowski for promoting to 1st Kyu Brown Belt, Vazrik Chiloyan for promoting to Purple Belt, and Jason Cohen for promoting to Yellow Belt with Orange Stripe!

Congratulations to Brian Neltner for promoting to Nidan!

Congratulations to Piotr Fidkowski and Santolina Savannet for earning their C-Rank Instructor Certification!

Congratulations to Santolina Savannet for promoting to Shodan!