Grace Yoo

December 10-11 was the Quebec Regional Tournament, with individual shiai, team shiai, and engi tournaments! We were especially excited to welcome Concordia Naginata beginners to one of their first big tournaments.

Special thanks to Marija Landekic for organizing the event. And now, for the results:

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Individual Shiai:

• 1st Place: Marija Landekic
• 2nd Place: Julia Luo
• 3rd Place: Kevin Hallé

Team Shiai:

• 1st Place: Concordia (Kevin, Jérémy, Daiki)

Engi:

• 1st Place: Marija Landekic & Kevin Hallé
• 2nd Place: Jérémy Frandon & Birgit Siegert-Iriyama
• 3rd Place: Julia Luo & Daikai Siegert-Iriyama

Fighting Spirit: Birgit Siegert-Iriyama

Congratulations to all those who graded at the Wild Rose Naginata Club and Concordia Naginata Club grading on Dec. 11th. One 5kyu and five 4kyu ranks were earned! We’re excited to see the community growing and look forward to practicing with our newest members in the near future.

The first Montreal Intercollegiate Tournament was held on Nov. 5th. Organized by McGill Naginata Club, this shinjin taikai allowed beginners from McGill and Concordia Universities to experience their first external competition.

Beginners were introduced to the etiquette and procedures of competing in engi-kyogi; intermediates carried through the organization; and advanced students practiced shinpan duties.

The collegiate naginata community is growing well in Quebec, with the new Concordia Naginata Club making its competition debut and McGill becoming an organizational powerhouse. We can hope to see both clubs in more events, such as the rumored Quebec Regional Taikai, and collaborating on projects such as the Intercollegiate Tournaments.

 

Written by: Jeremy Frandon

Oct. 15-16 was the annual CNF Seminar! Thank you very much to the sensei and organizers for a wonderful seminar.

We’re especially grateful to Schmucker-sensei (Renshi), D’hose-sensei (Renshi), and Kubo-sensei (5dan) who were in attendance. We had the opportunity to practice kata, learn new drills, review basics, and strengthen our fundamentals. We all learned much from sensei to take back into our regular practice.

Congratulations also to the new yudansha and kyu ranks earned this seminar! Three new 2-dan, one new shodan, and several kyu ranks were graded. 

We’re excited to see the community grow and we look forward to seeing everyone again!

Our yearly CNF Seminar will be held on October 15-16 in Montreal. There will be grading up to 2-dan available at the seminar – please check with your dojo leaders about grading. Note that there will be no taikai this year. In exciting news, we will have in attendance two sensei from overseas!

More details to come.

WNC has been postponed from 2023 likely until 2024. We will update with further details as they become available.

A shinpan seminar was held in Montreal on August 14 to teach beginners the basics of being shinpan for shiai matches – we went through basic vocabulary, motions, and how to judge ippon!