The story of my efforts at launching Kendo in Trinidad.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Small world part 2
This weekend I spent at a beach (Balandra) with some friends of my wife. We met there a guy by the name of "Cheeks" who is a "western weapons teacher". He's into practical weaponry ... meaning real swords for real applications. I had a good chat with him and we realized that we had heard of each other from a common source. He's quite nice and we shared some ideas and many drinks. I'll visit him sometime next week and see what it's all about.
Today, Mario Kalloo the karate instructor that has me teach Kendo to his guys told me that he knows the UWI people quite well and will see what he can do to help me get in the door. We'll see where that leads...
With UWI's refusal, here's now the strategy: - establish a formal class at the Karate Dojo I'm teaching at right now - find a way to entice UWI students to join or eventually create a separate Dojo on or off the campus
Hmmm, after a lot of back and forth with enthusiastic UWI people (Sports Center) the "decision" came: no more martial arts, there's enough of them already. !!!?! The person in charge of the Sports Center wasn't very professional about this (see previous emails) but anyway, that's life.
Hi, for those to whom I have not yet introduced myself, my name is Eddy and am 3rd dan in Kendo. I recently moved to Trinidad & Tobago (I had the pleasure of marrying a Trini lady) from South California. I am originally from Montreal, Canada where I learned Kendo. I then lived 5 years in Japan and finally 3 years in California. Of course all along I've tried my best to practice Kendo as much as possible. As some of you might know, there is no Kendo being taught in Trinidad, so I wanted to do all I could to change that!
This email is to announce that this week I started giving a Kendo class in St-Augustine, Trinidad. It is a very modest effort and in its early stage. A Karate sensei here has asked me to give him and some of his students a couple of classes every week. They are a very good group and seem to be very honest and eager about learning Kendo. As soon as I can, I will formally start an official class in that same dojo. In addition, I am waiting for an answer to a proposal I made to UWI (University of West Indies) for a Kendo class.
I wanted to make sure that you all are aware of this, in case you or someone you know were interested in stopping by sometime. I hope I will get the opportunity to meet all of you soon whether in Trinidad or somewhere in the Caribbean.
Tonight I started a Kendo "class" in St-Augustine, in a small Karate dojo. The sensei there invited me to teach after his class to a few interested guys (including him). It was short (1.5 hours) but very nice to give them an overview of what Kendo is. They were very interested and had very pertinent questions. They want me to come back every Monday night to give them a class. And Saturday as well ! That's great news and a great way to launch a formal class. Time to celebrate !
