Author: TSMA Page 158 of 200

Yoshitoshi Sato says he will never give up karate.

The grand master celebrated his 80th birthday at the Seishin Karate Ryu Honbu in Sandringham on the weekend.

He is one of the most highly ranked karate masters in the world and he has been in New Zealand since November 18 to teach youngsters one of the oldest martial arts, seishin-ryu karate.

He says the benefits are for the mind as well as the body.

“You learn discipline, health of body, friendships and social communication. It’s completely mind and body. I will never give up, only when I die in the dojo.”

In Okinawa he taught prison officers karate as a form of combative self-defence, including kata movements, small staff demonstrations, ways to use ropes to restrain prisoners and gun firing.

Prison officers who first learned karate from Mr Sato still return to train with him in Okinawa.

He says the movements used with each weapon also help the development of the body.

Teaching is a learning process itself, he says. “I enjoy teaching and watching the students to become better people.”

Mr Sato is the president of Okinawa Shorinji Ryu Seishin Kan Renmei and only takes one day off from training each month.

He holds the title of tenth dan, or degree, which was gifted to him in the will of his late master Joen Nakazato and sanctioned by the Okinawa Government in 2008.

It is a huge honour to have the grand master in New Zealand, president of New Zealand Martial Arts Institute Chris Dessa says.

Mr Dessa organised Mr Sato’s visit to New Zealand this year.

The trip was funded by Mr Dessa’s family and his students.

But the benefits are greater than the cost.

It will probably be the last chance for New Zealand students to learn from the grand master, he says.

“You have to remember he’s 80. It’s hard to believe sometimes.”

Two people with learning disabilities are celebrating after scooping black belts in taekwondo following years of hard work.

Aimee Farrant, 34, and Barnaby Dawson, 33 took part in classes at Carterton Community Centre.

They were encouraged by Chris Dunn, 33, who takes in people with learning disabilities to live with his family.

Mr Dawson, who used to live with the family, got his black belt after two years of hard work in 2011, inspiring Miss Farrant.

He said: “I feel fantastic. I am really happy.

“It was very, very hard. I couldn’t stop to have a drink. I had to carry on, even if I had a stitch in my side.

Miss Farrant, who lives with the family in Burford Road, Witney, and started training in 2009, said: “I am very proud of myself.”

Dad-of-two Mr Dunn said: “It has shown a dedication and proves they can learn new skills. It is a sense of achievement.”

He said he was moved to take others in by his brother Thomas, 30, who has complex learning disabilities.

“It’s given them both a sense of achievement and helped them feel as if they were part of the community.

“They have already inspired others with learning difficulties to take up taekwondo.”

LIEDKE, ROBERT W., SR. Robert W. Liedke, Sr., age 78, of West Haven passed away on November 9, 2013. Loving husband of Thelma Ordazzo Liedke. Father of Robert W. Liedke, Jr. and his wife Andrea Krott Liedke of Hamden and Tracy Bonosconi and her husband James of Shelton, Willie Hanna of New Haven, grandfather of Mya, Morgan, Emma and Nicholas. He was predeceased by his siblings Maryann Smith, Joan Raymond, and Edward Liedke. Robert was a truck driver for Local 443 for many years and he also had his own martial arts studio, American Institute of Martial Arts. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated in St. Paul’s Church on Thursday at 10am. Interment will be private. There will be no hours for visitation. West Haven Funeral Home at the Green in care of arrangements. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to either Connecticut Hospice, 100 Double Beach Road, Branford, CT 06405 or Connecticut Food Bank, P.O. Box 8686, New Haven, CT 06531.

When Norma Brazitis was growing up in Longmont, she would stick up for kids who were bullied in high school. This made her a lot of friends.

“I was very popular,” she joked.

She continued her interest in self-defense through adulthood, and now she teaches it to others. She is an instructor at the Longmont Wing Chun Academy, which is owned by her husband, Daniel Brazitis. The two met when Norma was Daniel’s student at the academy.

The academy and the Brazitises recently were recognized at Shaolin Temple near Dengfeng, China. The temple is associated with the early history of Wing Chun, a form of martial arts that is featured in the “Ip Man” movies. The temple recently dedicated a plaque that honors Wing Chun practitioners, including the Brazitises and their Longmont academy. Daniel traveled to China to attend the event, a moving experience.

“I’m sure it hasn’t even soaked in yet,” he said. “It makes my students proud.”

He and Norma have visited China twice. The visits help put them in touch with the traditions of Wing Chun, which they view not just as a martial art but as a way to achieve self-awareness.

“It’s part of the history of the system,” Daniel said. “It kind of completes the circle to me.”

Daniel was 15 when he took up martial arts at a school that was located at Third Avenue and Main Street in Longmont. He was looking to learn self-defense.

“I was always picked on and bullied,” he said.

The Longmont Wing Chun Academy started in 1986 as a study group in Daniel’s garage. The academy has been at its current location, 1150 Francis St., since 2005. About 500 students have taken classes at the academy, and 10 of them have reached instructor level. Daniel is a great teacher, because he explains not just what to do but why, Norma said.

The Brazitises, who married in 2004, occasionally spar each other. But, they added, they spar “nicely.”