To: All IKD Members, Instructors and Masters
From: Frank Woon-A-Tai, Shuseki Shihan
Re: COVID-19 and its impact on global karate
I trust you and your families are all well and safe during these trying times of the dreaded COVID-19 Pandemic that has affected all of us worldwide.
Since it began in March 2020, the Canadian and Ontario Governments and the City of Toronto have locked IKD HQ down three times. I believe your region and country have suffered the same or similar lockdown.
Our IKD Karate Brand and all Martial Art styles experienced the same fate. And some countries are still unable to resume their practice of karate.
Our financial situation came crumbling down for many Instructors who teach karate as a profession. In the case of IKD HQ, the Canadian government kept us afloat with small, long-term loans and subsidies. Moreover, a few loyal and dedicated students, realizing our dire situation, continued to pay their dues, albeit a small amount that was highly appreciated.
We have endured and weathered the storm, and now, I am optimistic that we are at the endemic stage. I can see the sky with a small clearing.
I know we have all been in a state of karate depression that perhaps the most challenging time my family and colleagues have ever had to face, but please persevere as we attempt to recover and rebuild. During one of the brief moments we reopened IKD HQ, all of our members turned out for training even though we were under strict safety guidelines. When this is all over, I genuinely believe we will rise again like the Phoenix, from the ashes!
I am writing this letter to reach out to all of you personally at this time to see how you have been and how you are currently doing. I am interested in hearing from all of you and creating a dialogue between us so that we may work together to rebuild, repair, resume teaching, and share our love for karate.
Built on the foundation of a community, IKD is a karate family. I would like all of us to regroup and reunite to work together to create a more unified and stronger global karate organization.
I encourage you to take some time to respond to this email and let me and the rest of the IKD know how you are doing. What challenges and successes you may have had during this challenging time, and what your aspirations and plans are for your dojo and the organization moving forward. We may draw inspiration from your story while providing support for those who have struggled.
For myself, I am currently making plans for the rebirth of IKD karate, the same as I have, and am doing for the Guyana Karate College (GKC) that was reborn a year ago after a change in management and the COVID-19 dojo lockdowns. GKC has now surpassed its pre-COVID-19 numbers.
Furthermore, GKC/IKD’s Technical HQ is progressing well with its building project. The next phase will replicate this success globally, but we can only do that together.
2021 saw another milestone; our 10th Anniversary! Pre-Covid numbers showed 80 regions in 58 countries worldwide in only ten years! Today we are getting more requests for membership.
Another significant milestone was the 10th Anniversary promotion of my two deputies, Dr. W. Dexter Shim and Maureen Woon-A-Tai, to the IKD rank of Ninth Dan! Moreover, the IKD Shihan-kai Senate elevated me to the rank of Tenth Dan!
The passing of most of our Japanese teachers and mentors due to old age has propelled us to continue preserving their legacy. In my case, and those of my senior colleagues in the IKD Shihan-kai, we lost Masters: Nakayama, Nishiyama, Okazaki, Koyama, Takashina, Maynard Miner and Stan Schmidt.
Furthermore, Masters Sugiura, Enoeda, Asai, Kanazawa, Mori, Tabata, and others have passed.
I look forward to hearing from all of you. I genuinely believe that together we can remerge from this Pandemic with the strength of the Tiger. 2022 is the Chinese year of the Tiger and the year of my birth!
Osu!
