Grand Canyon State Summer Games

Well, it's that time of year again--time for the summer edition of the Grand Canyon State Games. The summer games are usually smaller than the winter games, and this year was no exception. Still, we had few troopers who went out and did a great job representing Shihan and the Arizona Budokan again this year. As always, the instructor team worked hard to get us ready for the tournament as well.


We're especially proud of Alan, who went out and competed in long weapons and in a huge kata division after only having trained with us for a couple of months. He took third place with his bo kata, and we can't wait to see how well he does at the next tournament!

Alan competing with Kihon Ichi no Kata

Alan competing in long weapons with Sunakake no Kon

Ricky did an awesome job in both kobudo and karate, earning a medal in all four divisions. His ni-tambo kata was as solid as ever, rightfully earning him the gold. He got second place in bo and third place in both karate kata and kumite.

Ricky during his winning ni-tanbo kata

Ricky being presented with a silver medal in long weapons

Sarah was her usual unflappable self, presenting solid kata and kumite performances and earning medals in the weapons division as well. She placed first in short weapons, second in long weapons, and did a great job performing the kata Ji-in. We're proud of her!

Sarah mixing it up in kumite

Sempai Dawn also competed in the adult divisions, getting second-place medals in weapons and kata and a first-place medal in adult women's black belt kumite. The black belts fought under the new kumite rules, which require eight points to win the match instead of three. Whew!

Sempai Dawn performed Seipai in adult women's black belt kata

It took a lot of reverse punches to make it to eight points!

Congratulations again to all of the competitors, and a special thanks to Shihan, Sensei Ed, and Sempai John for coming out to support us and helping us perform at our best. We'll see you at the food drive tournament in December!!