My dream of inviting Sumi sensei to come to Hochiminh City dated back to the beginning of HCMC Kenyukai (剣友会 - CLB Kiếm Hữu Tp HCM). After the rather disastrous failure at the 9th ASEAN Kendo Championship in Singapore in 2010, where I failed to make it to the third round of the individual competition, I was in the process of soul searching to determine what went wrong. As most sensei would probably tell you, when you find yourself lost, go back to the basics!, I started to re-examine my kendo as well as my coaching method entirely. Sumis sensei book Kendo is Kihon caught my eyes, and I decided to purchase it despite not knowing any Japanese at all. My hope was to be able to to watch the DVDs and learn about his training method to apply in the training program at Kenyukai. Fortunately, in 2011, Hanoi Kendo Club representing Vietnam Kendo Club, was able to invite Sumi sensei to come to Hanoi for the first Kendo seminar ever in Vietnam. For the entire weekend, we were able to learn and about his method in first hand account, and it has completely changed my thinking as well as approach to Kendo. The training program at Kenyukai was subsequently incorporated his lessons. Kenyukai has grown from 7 members in the beginning of 2011 to almost 100 members in 2014. We also have achieved certain successes at the ASEAN Kendo Championship in Malaysia 2013. Without a doubt, Sumis sensei teaching method has contributed greatly to all those achievements. Finally, we are able to invite him to Hochiminh City this July... making one of my dreams come true!
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 18:31:17 +0000