This year’s NTS was quite an experience for all involved. It was the first year for our Bunkai Tournament, and the anticipation was high. Each dojo was encouraged to put together a bunkai for the tournament. The Holt Dojo came ready to compete with our young adult team, consisting of Devan Gurecki, Justin Kring, Curtis Drullinger, Brandon Fredbloom, and Tyler McDaniel. It was really cool to watch our team do their bunkai four times with such passion, intensity, and enjoyment of karate. They were amazing! Tom Kelley, from the Snader dojo, was overheard saying, “Okay, we can go home now!” after watching the first round of bunkai with our competitive group of youth! Needless to say, we won the tournament and our dojo family will soon see the plaque displayed somewhere in our dojo! Also noteworthy in this experience is the camaraderie of all involved and the wonderful spirit of the competition. We are all looking forward to next year’s competition…the bar has been set! 
Our youth kata tournament was exciting to watch, and appreciated by all. There were four divisions this year and the order of finish from our dojo is as follows:
Beginner Division:
1st place- Joshua Pavlik
2nd place- Joshua Weinberg
3rd place- Devin Shepherd
Good Sportsmanship awards-Madyson Campbell, Jordan Schmaltz, Dylyn Cady and Hunter Larson.
Novice Division:
Good sportsmanship awards went to Brianna Shepherd, Jaron Faulds, and Katlyn Pavlik.
Intermediate Division:
3rd place- Jamil El-Bast
Good sportsmanship awards went to Andrew Argenta, Ben Powell, and Austin Faulds
Advanced Division:
1st place- Danny McCloud
2nd place-Serena Wilson
Good sportsmanship awards went to A.J. Argenta and Cameron Nickerson.
This year represents Sensei Iha’s 31st year in Lansing and 60th year as a martial artist. He continues to inspire, encourage, and train. His gift of teaching and joy in sharing Shido kan is seen everywhere you look at our NTS and around the world at our various dojos. We had representative dojos from Okinawa, Columbia, Israel, Canada as well as all over the United States.
