With one more day to go before leaving Vancouver, I
wanted to thank you for supporting me in preparing for the tournament. You
spent so much time with me from Montreal, Canadians, New York to this World
Tournament. As I finished the last training session the other day, I felt
some emotions. One of which kind of got me look back on my past.
When I practiced karate as a child I never trained more
than 2 times a week , always being involved with team sports like hockey,
football, baseball and other sports. karate felt more like a hobby. When I
was 14 I was introduced to Olympic wrestling. This also felt like a hobby.
I was very fortunate to have met Reg Laroque, Canada's national coach, who
had moved to my hometown. He was hired to coach a nearby university team.
After seeing me wrestled at a high school tournament he invited me to come
train with his team. Reg thought me that if you want to be a champion you
must dedicate yourself to training 6 days a week. For the next 2 years I
learned more about warrior spirit then ever I started, beating wrestlers
much older than me and my final year I won 7 gold medals in a row. Sensei,
you remind me so much of him, you have the same skill knowledge and have
awakened that warrior spirit ! For the first time I`ve given karate 100% of
myself and it is because of you that I`m going to the 8th world
championships.
When I saw the fight draw with 240 competitors on the web
address you gave me last week, I was just amazed by the scale of the
Kyokushin organization. I knew it was a large organization but didn't
realize the actual size of it until I saw the draw. Those fighters are
virtually from every corner of the earth! I feel very privileged and
fortunate to be selected as one of those top fighters, and very grateful to
Kyokushin Canada for letting me be part of the National Team. I also have
sincere respect to the tournament director, Kancho Matsui. Making a success
out of such a large worldwide event must require a strong organizational
skill, leadership and, of course, love and dedication to Kyokushin.
Many of my friends ask me "Why do you fight?" My answers
were always like "it keeps me in shape." or "it gives good discipline and
keeps me focused." But as I write this email, I realize these are not the
only reasons. There is something more in Kyokushin. I believe that's the
appreciation to all your supporters. Through training for the tournaments,
without me knowing, I have built up the strong team spirit and friendship
with you and the students I trained with at our dojos. My relationship with
Kyokushin and our club has become very important to me. I know now that
Kyokushin is not just all about fighting.
I wish I would of thanked the class more for all the
support they have given me, especially the one`s who stayed late in order to
help me in training after each class. Alan and Brad frequently held pads for
me. Sempai Mark constantly gave me good advice. Kai, Eisuke, Seiji, Yusuke,
Michi and Chris sparred with me at all times. Can you let them know that I`m
truly grateful to them? I`ll be bringing the spirit and pride of all the VKK
students with me to TOKYO...
* Johnny fought very well in the
8th World Tournament. He won in the first round and advanced to the 2nd
round where he fought toe to toe with one of the world class fighters
from Poland. The well-matched bout made them fight for the full two-minute
round. Johnny unfortunately lost but gained a tremendous experience.
* The article was copied from
the Vancouver Cup 2003 event program.
