I’m Paul Lew of the Trail Butokukan Dojo located in Trail, British Columbia, Canada.

 

I was featured in November 2007’s newsletter as the latest person to receive their Shodan.  For the members who keep all the archived newsletters, please refer to that newsletter for more detail on my previous martial arts background and my steps to becoming a black belt. I personally have soft copies of this newsletter if anyone else is interested. For anyone missing that newsletter, here’s a brief summary.

 

Back in September of 1999 (for all the Gen Z members, “At the turn of the century”) I started training with Sensei David Williams.  I was no stranger to martial arts as I had trained in multiple disciplines of Kung Fu for over 15 years. I had friends who trained in Shotokan Karate. I trained and sparred with them many times.  When I got to Sensei David’s class, he somehow taught karate “differently” and he moved “differently”.  This style of karate was different from traditional karate systems I had seen before.

 

Kung Fu basic hand motions, and basic kicking are fundamentally the same as karate. There are subtle differences in body positioning, and in how power is generated (most long styles of kung fu use more of a whipping motion than the harder linear style of karate). When I watched Sensei David demonstrate a technique, I focused less on his hand or foot technique and concentrated on how his feet moved, how he sidestepped the attack, and how his footwork brought him to the correct distance for counterattack.  I also watched how he developed power in is techniques.

 

Just that concept of sidestepping an attack had me obsessed with this style. I thought to myself, “If I could just move like Sensei, I would feel like I’ve accomplished one of my goals.”

 

When I was a 3 kyu brown belt (blue belts weren’t part of our grading system yet) I went to train with Sensei Andrew Stephens in Kitsilano.  We were warming up when Sensei Andrew commented that I was moving like Sensei David.  In my head, I said, “Mission accomplished.”, but there was much more to learn!

 

In September of 2007, I tested and received my Shodan.

 

Later that year in 2007, Sensei David asked me to start teaching Monday nights and he would continue to coach me in “how to teach karate”.  As a new black belt, I was apprehensive in teaching.  “Do I have enough knowledge?  Do I have the correct technique? I just got my black belt; can I do this?”.  It was quite a stressful period for me because of, I would consider, a “new school” way to teach karate.

 

I came from a very traditional way of learning Kung Fu.  In the traditional “old school” way, standing in horse stance (or goat riding stance in Wing Chun) and practicing hand techniques for a 2-hour class was common for beginners.  Getting out of our stance was frowned upon.  Techniques had to be refined to a certain level before new techniques were taught. In my experience of teaching the old school way, 80% of beginning students would drop out within 3 months.

 

With the guidance of Sensei David, I began to feel more comfortable with teaching.

 

In late 2009, Sensei David asked me to take over running the dojo, as he was starting a new work position which required him to be out of town extensively.  I took on the position of primary instructor, but I had many questions about my ability to excel in the role. Could I keep a balance between my work, family, and karate?  Could I be as successful as an instructor as Sensei David?  Could I be a competent leader? I, and the other dojo members, considered Sensei David as the head instructor of our dojo and could always ask for guidance on dojo policies, technique applications or general questions.

 

During the first few years, Sensei David would still come to class once a month to train.  His visits would give me new material to focus on until his next visit.  It was the graceful transition that I needed. 

 

As the years went by, his visits were less frequent and in 2019, Sensei David officially retired from Butokukan.

 

A long time ago (for the Gen Z members, “Last Century”), my Kung Fu instructor said to me, “We have all the same basics.  We all start at the same point. During our training, our personalities will influence our style and what we emphasize; what techniques fit our body types; and our physical abilities and inabilities.”  His words did not make sense 40 years ago while I was standing in stance with my thighs shaking from holding for over 90 minutes and my arms bruised from blocking incorrectly. But they make sense now.

 

Looking back at the 15 years I have been teaching karate, my teaching has evolved from trying to emulate Sensei David, to adding my own personality into training people in Butokukan.  I didn’t realize this was occurring until this year when we had three new adult students enrol. I had to mentally take a step back from teaching intermediate/advanced students and teach the basics to these new adult students. Back to the same point where everyone begins their martial arts journey. Back to first time we learn to make a Seiken.