2010 Goshin Ryu Karate Invitational
By Bill Bly
Sensei Luis Ruiz invited us to the Goshin Ryu Karate Invitational tournament held at the Elmcor Center here in Queens NY. This was the second year for the event. He expected about 250 competitors based on last year’s attendance and true to his expectations he had a full house. This event is a NYTL (New York Traditional Karate League) event. The league has been making progress to provide a consistently well-run event with a large corps of officials and volunteers.
This was a special day for Luis Ruiz as it was his birthday and the event was stopped to celebrate with a surprise cake and song. You could say there was a lot of love at this event. The atmosphere was friendly with everyone having a good time.
This was also the last day to register for the league to be recognized for your competitive efforts. Sensei Georges Aschkar the league president has been working hard to grow the league membership, coaches and officials.
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Here Sensei Herb Wiles happily joins the big winners for a photo. $200 each plus trophies not a bad afternoons work. |
There were prizes, trophies and cash awards. The big winners were Cheryl Murphy and Brian Ramrup who both earned first place for kata and kumite and their adult black belt divisions. Brian Ramrup competed with shotokan Bassai Dai, Enpi and Unsu, Cheryl won with Kanku Dai, congratulations to both.
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The kumite matches were very exciting as Cheryl exhibited excellent kicking skills. In the men’s division the competitors just keep getting better. With so many quality events here locally we are consistently seeing the elite athletes rise to the top, but we are seeing a great number of new faces with exceptional skills. NY athletes are finally able to polish their skills with so many excellent opportunities to compete.
Cheryl Murphy in action
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Adult Male Kumite
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A special note sensei Miyazaki was in attendance, some of you may have heard him called ninja-san. He quietly slipped in and sat in the stands enjoying the event incognito. Many of those in attendance were his students or are students of his students. It is always nice to see traditions be carried on. In a conversation with Tom Casale he praised Miyazki for his gift of communication, noting the way he could with a few words fix a technique by pointing out the need to make a few changes.
It is great to see the support the events in New York our having. Good things happen when people work together. Congratulations to Sensei Ruiz for a well-run event and to all the competitors. We saw a lot of trophies being handed out. Everyone should be proud of his or her efforts.
