On November 16, 2024, athletes from all over Ontario gathered in Markham, Ontario, Canada to “Grace/Ariel Kata Experience.” This is Ariel Torres Gutierrez fourth visit to Markham. Gutierrez is the only athletes in the Americas to earn a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. His training partner, Grace Lau also won bronze in the same Tokyo event for females contributing the countries best results at the time. As this was Lao’s first visit to Canada, she was well received by Markham’s cultural diverse community. Greeted in her own tongue by the many Cantonese speaking expats, she seemed well at ease.

Come and learn from the world’s best coach/athlete duo. Sandra Sanchez and Jesus del Moral from Spain. This sought after couple will share their knowledge at NOX Dojo this January. Limited spots are available. Register today as we are more than half full.

Starting from November, NOX Dojo will be working together with Toronto Wado Ryu on the first Wednesday of every month for combined kumite training. The purpose is to invite new opponents to help us stretch or kumite skills to new limits. This is the first stage towards expanding our kumite game.

Much thanks to our outgoing volunteers last year. Our group of parent volunteers run the team, manage fundraising, and is in charge making most of the decisions. Last year, they were able to bring in Olympic Bronze Medalist, Ariel Torres Gutierrez to run a high performance seminar. This year plans are in the works to continue our annual growth.

A big shout out to last year’s ExCom members, Kim Vu, Jessica Lao, Ann Truong, Marcel DeJesus/Jinzi Huang, and Joseph Lyn.

Members of the 2024/2025 ExCom are:

President: Stephanie Chan
Treasurer: Ann Truong
Secretary: Ann Fan
Team Manager: Jessica Lao
Event Manager: Kim Vu and Joseph Lyn

A ton loads of gratitude to Grandma June from Pho Metro - Markham for sharing some of her secret recipes with our community for the benefit of our Sport Karate team, Club Seiryu. Her cooking course raised $2125 for athletes heading to the Junior World Championships this October in Venice, Italy. Further donations from Pho Metro - Markham and NOX Dojo raised the amount to a whopping $2500.

“Nothing worthy has ever been achieved with perseverance. Endure. Always endure.”

These were one of many mottos Meitetsu O’Sensei shared in his classes. It was his way of saying don’t give up. If so and so can do it, so can you. O’Sensei passed away on June 29th, 2024. His birth certificate says January 1, 1949 but the exact date is actually unknown since Okinawa was still rebuilding after the Battle of Okinawa and WWII. As a result, the date is a clerical misnomer due to the record keeping standards of the time. Growing up in post WWII Naha, he witnessed the redevelopment of Okinawa from poverty to a thriving modern city as well as the evolution of Okinawa Karate.

Calendar

Aug 1 - Aug 6: CLOSED for Civic Long Weekend ***Updated***
Aug 7: Temporary August Schedule Begins ***Updated***
Aug 25 - Sep 1: PKF Karate Championships (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Aug 30 - Sep 3: CLOSED for Labour Day Weekend
Sep 4: Regular Fall Schedule Begins
Sep 4: New tuition rates take effect

Meredith Huang and Cassidy Truong laboured hard throughout the year not to earn a podium result. Although both having to fight their way within challenging pools, they demonstrated the true hearts of champions giving their all for the best in the nation.

Learn healthy and delicious Vietnamese dishes from Grandma June in our Fundraiser Cooking Class on August 12 at Pho Metro Markham.

Congratulations to Club Seiryu for an outstanding performance. We are heading to Brazil for the Pan Am Karate Championships. Join us in a series of camps to prepare to compete against some of the best on this side of the hemisphere.

Thank You Ward 4 Councillor, Karen Rea

Councillor Karen Rea stopped by recently to wish our sport karate team the best of luck for the upcoming Karate Canada’s National Championships in Laval, Quebec. Scheduled from July 4 to 7, competition is expected to be tough and demanding as this year’s winners will be vying for a spot on Team Canada at the World Championships. Councillor Karen was gracious to sponsor our Pizza Party in celebration of ten of our athletes who will be representing Ontario in Laval. Thank you for your continued support Councillor and we wish you the very best on your endeavours.

Congratulations to Cadence who has grown into the Cadet age group. At this age, the World Karate Federation begins to track athletes. Cadence, in her first WKF event as a Cadet won 4 matches thus making to the quarterfinals. Each of these win cumulates points as well as attendance. As a result of these wins, Cadence has broken the Top 50 spot to rank 35th in the world. With still several tournaments this year, we are crossing our fingers that she will break the Top 10. Great job Cadence. We are all proud of you.

We are wishing everyone a safe and festive Canada Weekend. NOX Dojo is CLOSED from Friday, June 28 to July 2. We reopen on Wednesday using our travel schedule from July 3 to 6. Please see below

Wednesday and Thursday: Kids Karate Class (All Belts): 6:00PM to 6:55PM | Adult Karate Class (All Belts): 7:00PM to 7:55PM

Saturday: Adult Karate Class (All Belts) 9:30AM - 10:25AM | Kids Class (All Belts) 10:30AM - 11:25AM

Being the last event before nationals, the Toronto Open is a vital event to test our team’s mettle, assess our training regimen, and analyse our strategies. We also use the event to introduce new prospects for our competitive team. Our team of 19 strong for this event consisted of Alex Robinson, Nico Aniceto, Logan Lai, Christian Aniceto, Zachary Chin, Noah Sansait, Andre Aniceto, Cadence Truong, Meredith Huang, Andrea Chan, Nathan DeJesus, Theodore Kwok, Evan Kwok, Ai Barrett, Charisma Toupin, Emilio Joaquin, Joanne Tran, Cassidy Truong, and Dreyson Uy.

Travel Schedule

Please note our travel team has nationals from July 3 to 8. Therefore, the following class schedule will be in use.

Wednesday, July 3: All Kids at 6:00PM | All Adults at 7:00PM
Thursday, July 4: All Kids at 6:00PM | All Adults at 7:00PM
Saturday, July 6: All Adults at 9:30AM | All Kids at 10:30AM

Itosu Kai Nationals

Come and learn from one of the top male kata athletes in the world today. Olympic bronze medalist Ariel Torres Gutierrez comes to NOX Dojo to share his passion and secrets of sport kata. Just $165 for 4 hours. Register now.

New Update for Karate Ontario Kata Team Members

Nolan with his crew!

Zac and Noah at Commonwealth Games