Oku Damashi Martial Arts: ~ TIGER BALM INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT ~

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

~ TIGER BALM INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT ~

Oku Damashi Martial Arts competed in the Tiger Balm International Tournament that just happened in Vancouver BC on March 18th and 19th, 2011. The event was a success, with our students bringing home 5 medals in 6 divisions. Competitors were Senpai Arek Thankachen, Cassie Warbeck and Kelsey Cunningham. All did phenominal and represented their dojo extremely well. Senpai brought home a Silver Medal (2nd place) in the Traditional Forms Black Belt Division and forth place in the Submission Grappling division. Cassie brought home a Silver Medal (2nd place) in Traditional Forms Division and in Continuous Sparring Division she won the Gold Medal (1st place). Kelsey competed in the Traditional Forms Division and brought home the Gold Medal (1st place), after winning 1st place in her division she went onto the Grandchampionship in which she placed 2nd place! She also competed in the Submission Grappling Division and received a Bronze Medal (3rd place).

I am so proud of all of you! Thank you guys for such a great weekend, I am proud to have students like you, you competed with respect, gratitude and spectacular sportsmanship, excellent job to all! Congratulations!

*To see more photos from the tournament, check out "Gallery" at the top of the page and click on the link!

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO SAVE BC'S GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

Save BC's Great Bear Rainforest from Enbridge10,0002,649 2,649 signers. Let's reach 10,000
Why this is importantBC's Great Bear Rainforest (the world's largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest) is under siege! Plans endorsed by Canada's Government are underway to build the Northern Gateway pipeline to pump crude, unrefined bitumen, from Alberta to Kitimat, on British Columbia's north coast. This pipeline would extend a distance of over 1100 kms. It would be built by Enbridge, a company that has been responsible for over 800 oil spills, since 1999. The proposed pipeline would cross many rivers, the Rocky Mountains and pristine wilderness. Much of this area is home to First Nations people. Oil tankers would collect and ship the raw crude to China (the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter).We can stop this irresponsible development- BC's First Nations have a constitutional right to be consulted-- and this hasn’t been met. Newly released documents reveal that the government knows that it cannot address the legitimate concerns of the aboriginal people from the area at risk and is attempting to silence them.Let Canada's government know that the voices of First Nations will never be silenced. Add your voice to the call to uphold the legal rights of the traditional custodians of the land and stop this reckless project from going ahead. It's not a matter of IF an oil spill would happen, but WHEN!An oil spill would have devastating effects on the region and its native species. One species at great risk is the Kermode or "Spirit" Bear, a genetically unique, white Black Bear possessing a recessive gene. With only approx. 400 of these bears left in the wild, they are rarer than China's Giant Pandas. In 1987, the Valhalla Wilderness Society started the Spirit Bear conservancy campaign and, along with many others including Simon Jackson's Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, were successful in 2006 in over 1/2 million acres of spirit bear habitat being protected from clearcut logging. Protection never would've happened without the full support of the Kitasso Xai'xais and Gitg'at First Nations. Now a larger threat looms for the Spirit Bear, which relies partly on the marine environment, including salmon. Giant oil tankers are planning to bring bitumen to Asia via the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta's tar sands. Given the narrow marine channels, huge Pacific storms and the risk of Tsunamis in the Spirit Bear's homeland, an inevitable oil spill would devastate fragile marine ecosystems for many years to come, including salmon and other marine life that the bears depend on. Such a catastrophic spill would also destroy the traditional livelihoods of First Nations communities and others in the area, representing millions of dollars of loss annually. We can't afford to have another Exxon-Valdez like spill or any significant spill off the BC coast.Stephen Harper's Government has openly dismissed concerns of those opposed to the pipeline. We have a small window of time to influence the final decision during the review, so please sign the petition, which will be sent to decision makers regarding the pipeline hearings. Demand that the moratorium on tanker traffic off BC's coast remain in effect and that the destructive Northern Gateway pipeline should not be approved. We need to explore renewable energy sources and invest in a sustainable future for Canada and the world.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_Enbridges_Northern_Gateway_pipeline/?ctQDUcb

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

~ TIGER BALM INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT ~