The following is a speech as delivered by Mark Tsuyuki at the 40 th Anniversary Dinner followed by a few words by Tom Mukai.

Transcription

1 Burnaby Judo Club Bonsor Park Complex 6550 Bonsor Avenue Burnaby BC, V5H-2G8 Website: January 28, 2006 The following is a speech as delivered by Mark Tsuyuki at the 40 th Anniversary Dinner followed by a few words by Tom Mukai. Introduction Welcome to the 40 th anniversary celebration of the Burnaby Judo Club. Thank you for attending and supporting the club. I joined the club in 1970 and have been an instructor at this club since I grew up in South Burnaby, just down the slope from the Burnaby Judo club. So, what this club does for the community is very important to me. Highlights 1) In 1983, three of our athletes were selected for the junior national team to compete at the World Junior Championships in Puerto Rico. I thought that was an exceptional accomplishment to have three members of that team from one judo club. Those athletes were Chris Schenk, Mike Clemas and John Karnik. Hartley Jones was also a member of that team but at the time, I think, Hartley was still at Aoyama judo club. Other club members that have represented Canada at the World Junior Championships are Sandy Kent in 1992 and Christine Tsuyuki in ) In 1988, after 22 years, we moved into the current Bonsor Recreation Complex. 3) In 1995, we successfully hosted the Senior National Championships. History The club was started in 1966 by Tom and Henry Mukai at the Edmonds school annex. In 1967 we moved into the basement of the original Bonsor Recreation Centre. The club occupied a small-unheated area with approximately 30 mats. In 1969 we moved across the street to the basement of the Army and Navy (314) Veteran s Club (where the Firefighter s club now exists). The club membership undertook extensive building modifications in order to construct a new entrance through

2 the basement wall. This new dojo proved to be a breakthrough for the club as it provided a much larger mat area and allowed us to advertise and increase membership. In 1981, after 12 years we were forced to relocate back to a one classroom portable located adjacent to the original Bonsor Recreation Centre. Although it was a small facility the club was very successful during this period of time and the workouts were intense and spirited. In 1985, due to construction, we were temporarily relocated to an old annex at my old elementary school, Riverway West at the bottom of McKay Avenue. In 1988 we moved into our current dojo at the brand new Bonsor Recreation Complex. It s an outstanding multipurpose facility, which offers many services to the City of Burnaby. At the time the club had to come up with $20,000 to complete the interior finishing of the judo club. In addition, we had to raise additional funding to install the spring form floor and to complete the office area of the judo club. I think it s important to recognize the efforts of all current and past members that volunteered their time & money to provide us with this excellent facility. This new judo club provided us with one of the best judo facilities in the country. In the past we used to have to load the mats from the portable classroom into a truck, drive them to either Burnaby South or Burnaby Central, set up the mat areas, run the tournament, and return the mats to the portable. We used to do this twice a year once for junior tournament and once for the senior tournament. It was a huge amount of work. Now we have the luxury of walking across the hallway to setup for our tournament. The current lead instructors at the Judo club are: Tom Mukai Bob Orescanin Mark Tsuyuki (myself) Curtis Pentland There are also many other black belts that assist in teaching the classes. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the club. Achievements I have been doing some homework trying to quantify what I think has been a very successful judo club. I have been researching past Canadian National Championship results. By my count, the Burnaby Judo Club has had 49 national champions and 91 silver or bronze medallists in it s 40 year history, a very impressive record. Even still, I am missing at least 12 years of national championship results, which I ll have to obtain

3 from Judo Canada. Based on those results, I think we can safely say that we have been and continue to be a very successful organization. In addition, to these results the club has continued to send athletes to BC Winter Games, Western Canada Games, Canada Winter Games as well as many other international events such as Rendez-Vous (used to be called the Canada Cup), US Open and international competitions in Europe. As a matter of fact, last Sunday, I was notified that one of our young athletes, Jessica Mah, has been selected to represent Canada at a competition and training camp in Germany this year. Jessica was a bronze medalist in her first national championship last year and we are very excited about the news. I reviewed the current Judo Canada National Team roster and the Burnaby Judo Club has 4 members on the team. Jocelyn McGrandle, who is now competing for the Province of Quebec but was a multi-time national champion while representing our judo club. Two others, Blake Tsuyuki and Christine Tsuyuki both former national champions have moved to Montreal to train at the national training centre at Shidokan. We wish them success. In addition to the accomplishments of our elite athletes, I feel very strongly that the club has an obligation to support the community. When I started at the club, we offered a junior and seniors class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Many years later we started up a beginners junior class on Mondays and Wednesdays. The purpose of this class was to teach the basic judo fundamentals to new junior members as well as to offer options for those students that could not attend Tuesdays and Thursdays. Under Tom Mukai s leadership and direction these classes have turned out to be very successful. In 1996, under Bob Orescanin s leadership we started an Adult Recreation class on Monday and Friday. The purpose of this class was to offer a non-competitive judo class to adults that wanted to learn the sport, get in shape and have some fun. This year the class will celebrate it s 10 th anniversary and the class has turned out to be a very popular and important part of our judo club. Because of the initiative of these people, we can offer to the City of Burnaby 9 judo classes, 5 days a week. I would also like to mention a few other important achievements: 1) Curtis Pentland our, Head Coach, is the 2 nd Vice President of Judo BC and BC s representative within Judo Canada. -Curtis is also a Course Conductor for the NCCP -He has also been selected to take a Canadian National Judo Team to Paris this year to one of the most competitive tournaments in the World. It should prove to be very exciting.

4 2) Renee Hock, a former Head Coach of our club, is the Executive Director and Head Coach of Judo BC. Renee has also travelled internationally as a coach for Judo Canada. 3) Last year, Tom Mukai our Head Sensei, was inducted into Judo Canada as a Life time Member and will be inducted in the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame on February 16, ) The membership also includes referees such as: -Tom and Henry Mukai- IJF level B referees -Russell Ko IJF level a referee -Bob Orescanin and Paul Whishaw National A Conclusion I believe that the Burnaby Judo Club has done an excellent job at representing the sport of judo, the club, the City of Burnaby, the Province of BC and Canada through out the years and we hope that we can continue with our success. Based on my research the club has been very successful and continues to be successful. The club s success depends on the many volunteers that continue to work hard for the club both on and off the mat. Without their support we could not have achieved the success that we have had. A Few Words From Tom Mukai Many famous people have passed through the Burnaby Judo Club during the past 40 years. Kimura, Kotani, Takagaki, Kashiwasaki, Minatoya, Endo, Takahama, All Japan University, Shikoku University and Nagoya High School Teams, Dave McKay, Brian Miki Along the way the Burnaby Judo Club has produced several National Champions and National Team members who have represented Canada, such as Henry Mukai, Udo Werner, Mark Tsuyuki, Hartley Jones, John Karnik, Mike Clemas, Chris Schenk, Sandy Kent, Janet Parker, Sandra Parker, Jason Bradley, Scott Mukai, Todd Mukai, Bob Attwell, Jocelyn McGrandle, Christine Tsuyuki, Blake Tsuyuki

5 Many of these students and senseis have gone on to become important citizens who contribute to our communities in not only their professional lives but also by continuing to unselfishly donate their time and energy to pass their knowledge onward to Burnaby s youth by continuing to teach the values and practices of Kodokan Judo.