The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
November Issue 109
by Kyle Penn for The Newsy Neighbour
There’s something special about Oku Damashi. Located in
Langdon, this humble, family-oriented dojo teaches self-defence courses,
parent/child classes, and a variety of schools of martial arts. It also has a
habit of churning out incredibly talented athletes who have been earning medals
on the National and World Championship levels, creating a buzz across the globe
about the little Canadian town that is home to so many talented martial
artists. Intrigued? So was I, which is why I decided to pop in during a class
last month as the dojo’s sensei – Tammy Thankachen – was preparing her students
for the World Karate Championships, being held in Dublin, Ireland from Oct
31-Nov 4.
It was there that I had the pleasure of meeting six
extraordinary young athletes and their teacher – aka sensei – all of whom will
be representing the dojo, Langdon, and indeed Canada itself at the upcoming WKC
World Championships. Going around the group of students gathered in the middle
of the room, I was introduced to the following accomplished martial artists:
·
Tristen Lomenda, age 10, with a bronze medal for
continuous sparring from the 2015 Canadian Nationals in Ottawa.
·
Kayden Lang, age 9, with a silver medal for continuous
sparring from the 2015 Canadian Nationals.
·
Kailey Lang, age 11, with a bronze medal for point
sparring and a silver medal for continuous sparring from the 2015 Canadian
Nationals.
·
Skylar Graham, age 17, with a gold medal for
continuous sparring from the 2015 Canadian Nationals and a silver medal for
continuous sparring from the 2015 World Championships.
·
Alison Unruh, age 11, with a bronze medal for
continuous sparring from the 2015 Canadian Nationals.
·
Talisa Cowley, age 10, with a bronze medal for
traditional kata from the 2015 Canadian Nationals.
Wow – that’s a lot of hardware! All of these medals
were earned through mastery of a particular form of traditional Japanese Karate
called Goju Ryu. “It means hard soft style,” explains Sensei Thankachen.
“There’s really flowy, circular motions, and then there’s hard strikes put in.
So, nice, deep stances, and a perfection of form.” Watching these students as
the practiced and trained certainly left me in awe. The fluid movements
punctuated by swift, powerful strikes demonstrated a complete control of both
mind and body – a truly astounding level of mastery, especially when factoring
in the young age of the practitioners. It left me wondering: how was this
possible? What makes Oku Damashi so special? I asked around, and was given more
or less the same answer by everyone: “We train really hard, and we have an
awesome sensei.”
Sensei Thankachen was obviously flattered. “These guys
have so much talent, it’s just nurturing that and showing them the way, and
really pushing them and showing them that they can actually exceed what they
think they can physically do. They’re pretty cool kids, and I’m so proud of my
whole dojo. The competition team worked really, really hard.”
I spoke briefly to Graham about both her previous and
upcoming journeys to the World Championships: “I get super nervous,” she
admitted, “but I’m excited also. Last year was an amazing experience, just to
go out there, win or lose.”
The profound relationship between Sensei Thankachen
and her students was pretty special to witness. They showed a deep respect for
her at all times, and she in turn was always ready to coach, teach, and praise
their successes throughout the duration of the class. What stood out most,
however, was the obvious sense of enjoyment and satisfaction that the students
at Oku Damashi found in honing their art. Whenever I asked them if they liked
what they were doing, I was given an enthusiastic YES for an answer – even
though their current schedule has them training for 3+ hours, every single day!
Kayden Lang summed up where his passion and drive to
compete on the global stage comes from: “It’s kind of cool to go to Worlds
because Langdon isn’t known all across the world. Ireland is a famous place,
and now they’ll know about Langdon.” Just try to tell me that doesn’t make your
heart swell!
“The goal is to get them into the Olympics, so that’s
kind of the route we’re going to take,” Sensei Thankachen told me. “Every
single one of these kids, they have the potential to be gold medal champions.”
On behalf of Langdon and all of us at The Newsy
Neighbour, we wish everyone at Oku Damashi a safe and successful tournament.
You’ve done our whole town proud, and we can’t wait to hear about your
successes at the WKC World Championships this November!
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