Dear Students, Teachers and Friends,

We have a tournament in Denver on February 21st. Anyone interested
in attending please see your instructor.

A couple of up coming events to put on your calendar is the Pikes
Peak Tournament to be held here in Colorado Springs (Coronado High
School) on March 13th and our black belt testing and training camp
is scheduled to be held on April 16th and 17th. We are having
trouble with the facilities and will keep you informed as to any
changes. We have a great group of master instructors lined up for
training and many of our senior black belts from around the country
are flying in.

One of the new divisions we are going to be able to compete in is
Chanbara where competitors are able to spar with padded swords and
protective gear. This event is a lot of fun and we will be having a
seminar on Feb 14th at 11:00 at the Bijou school. The seminar is
free to Master Club, Leadership or Deshi members, $25 for everyone
else.

Quotes of the Week

ISAIAH BERLIN:
Only barbarians are not curious about where they come from, how they
came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether
they wish to go there, and if so, why, and if not, why not.

C. WRIGHT MILLS:
Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither
is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives.
Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available
choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose.

LEO BUSCAGLIA:
What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our
willingness to choose life.

Lesson of the Week

Juuyou Jiko O Yuusen Suru – First things first

Learning to priorities and figuring out what needs to be done first
is one of the key fundamental tactics of the superior martial
artist. To be successful in life, one must understand what is the
most important task they should be working on at this very moment
and concentrate on that one task. This is easy to see in self
defense where you are about to be attacked by several opponents.
Based on proximity, degree of threat based on whether they are armed
or not, etc, we immediately target our tactics and implement them in
order to survive. If it is 2 against one, we take out the closest
one right away thus making it one against one. If one attacker is
armed we take him on first therefore neutralizing the most serious
threat.

Accomplishing goals in civilian life is all the same. We identify
our strengths and weaknesses, all the threats that stand in the way
of us reaching our desired goals and then create a strategic written
plan on how to overcome these objections or threats. The real key,
once this is done, is to identify the most important thing to do and
get it done first.

In the martial arts school we learn first to stand and move in our
basic stances. Then we learn to execute blocks and strikes while
moving in those stances. Soon the student is executing movements
that seem very difficult and yet he does so effortlessly. This is
all accomplished by the instructor knowing what to teach first and
putting that in the lesson plan first.

One of the greatest things one can ever learn is the ability to ask
themselves, "What one thing could I be doing right now, that would
allow me to reach my goals." This is one of those key ingredients
towards black belt excellence.

Respectfully,
Terry Bryan