This year turned out to be such a special one, and on behalf of the great group we´ve formed, I would like to thank everyone who did not give up and kept training either from home, in the Dojos, or outside. Difficult times brought out the best in us!!!
I would like to congratulate you on the professionalism and responsible way in which our instructors approached training during the pandemic. Guidelines and recommendations from the Health Ministry were abided by, with the main goal of looking after our students, families, and society as a whole.
The world moved too fast, and changes forced us to be more creative than ever.
We started 2020 with training sessions for our instructors, and also a great summer camp where we shared 10 training sessions throughout 3 days. We were extremely lucky to have Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto as a guest instructor, who is also a great friend and a Kyokushin referent in our continent. A week later the pandemic hit hard, but instead of defeating us we set new goals and took advantage of technology to keep training from our homes. In many cases, we even saw parents who joined and trained to accompany and encourage their children!
This group effort enabled us to have our 6th National Tournament – a virtual kata competition – which had over 50 competitors from 4 regions in all the categories, all of whom had been training non-stop even though we were in lock-down mode.
We also had the 1st Americas regional kata tournament for Brown and Black Belts, with participants from 8 countries; and with great pride, our national team achieved the podium in several categories with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.
This “new normal” also provided great new opportunities, including online training sessions with IFK and Kyokushin world-renowned instructors.
After being able to return to the training in our Dojos, and following all the health and safety guidelines and recommendations we met again and kept the updated agenda with grading tests and regional seminars.
We now end this special year being certain that in spite of everything, we remained as strong and united as always.
I take this opportunity to greet all of our instructors, friends, and family; thanking everyone for their support.
Here’s to a GREAT 2021!
Sensei Germán Carballo.
