SKIF USA NEWS

Greetings from the General Secretary

Greetings from the General Secretary,

I am happy to introduce the new 2019 board of directors whom you have chosen to lead SKIF-USA.

Jim Shea: President
Chris Johnson: General Secretary
Ruben Fung: Secretary
Penny Karpovsky: Treasure
Mike Cook: Director
Peter Rodriquez: Director
Manfred Nagel: Director

You will see that there have been a few changes on the Board. I wish to thank Sensei Mike Cook, who stepped down from General Secretary, for his years of service in that role. We are grateful he will continue on as a Director. I wish to welcome Sensei Manfred Nagel from Hawaii to the Board. It is great to have a representative from Hawaii once again. Also, after many, many years of service, Sensei Lynda Crimmins has retired from the Board. A heartfelt “thank you” from the entire organization for her many contributions. Fortunately, she will continue to assist us with her knowledge and support. I have had the privilege to be elected General Secretary, a role I am honored to fill. We are all dedicated to growing and advancing SKIF-USA in the spirit of Soke’s precepts of harmony, dedicated training, and respect.

As all of us start out on a new year, there are a few things I would like to let you know about and touch on. As the year progresses, I am sure there will be more updates.

This June Peak Performance Shotokan Karate-Do (MN) and California Karate Association (CA) will be hosting Kancho for his annual summer tour. I sincerely hope you can all make plans to attend one of these seminars. Also, the 13th SKIF Karate World Championship in Czechoslovakia will be held July 15-July 21. We wish our team good luck! (Check our new website for more information on these events.)

It has been a while since we have had a newsletter and Sensei Peter Rodriquez has stepped up to take the task in hand. But, I hope everyone understands, Sensei Peter cannot write the letter by himself. This is OUR newsletter. He will need frequent and numerous contributions from our membership to create a content-rich newsletter. Please send Sensei Peter notices and articles of your events; analysis of techniques; teaching and training ideas; news of your dojo; etc.

We also have a new website. Please visit www.skifusa.com for information on the organization, events, black belt registry, merchandise, and dojo locations. You can contact Sensei Ruben Fung if you would like to post an event on the site.

During our recent survey, many of you expressed an interest in our social media platforms. We will be expanding our presence in that area as the year goes on. Please check out our official Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/skifusa/ . We can also be found on Instagram by searching for skif_usa and Twitter @skif_usa.

I want to thank everyone who participated in our survey. The board is very interested in hearing your thoughts and perspectives. We have lots of information to review and act on.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to one of SKIF-USA’s finest Karateka – Glenn Stoddard, Shihan. Glenn Shihan passed away July 16, 2017, and has been greatly missed. He was a founding board member of SKIF-USA and a guiding hand in our development. Last year Nobuaki Kancho and I traveled to Bayfield, WI, where Glenn Shihan and his wife lived, to visit his memorial. There Kancho presented Shihan Glenn’s wife with a posthumous certificate for Hachidan from Soke and all of SKIF. I was honored to witness this presentation along with Kancho and SKIF’s “final bow” to such a fine man.

Wishing you all a great year of training,
Oss!

Chris Johnson,
General Secretary

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