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Karate with Roell Sensei from USA Karate Shakopee

By Sanae Tomita, 10/23/20, 7:00PM CDT

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Hybrid Japanese Club Kickoff

Even though students are physically separated by different learning models  the Japanese Club is here to bring the community back together!  Officers are meeting weekly online to discuss how students who are at school and completely at home  can be reunited and have fun like they did before.

After school on Friday, Oct 23,  we invited Mr. Jake Roell, the instructor of USA Karate Shakopee, to learn some Karate basics while practicing social distancing. It was a B-day, but some A-day students also showed up just for this event.  Other students joined their friends via Google Meet.

The karate lesson started with some warm-up exercises lead by blackbelt Tien Pham (sophomore) and Tombong Takang (senior), aka TK. They have been training at Roell Sensei's dojo and did a great job of preparing the participants for the lesson. 

Then, Roell Sensei taught us some practical self-defense with a spirit-boosting shout, "Get back!" After some demos by Sensei with Tien and TK, we also learned a form of throwing a punch while protecting yourself. We also enjoyed hearing about Sensei's personal background (He studied Japanese in high school!) and different martial arts that he incorporates in his teaching. 

We are very grateful to Roell Sensei for giving us the opportunity to learn a little bit about Karate.  Although it was a brief lesson,  we all had a good time being there "together" regardless of in person or online. It was a good reminder that we are all Sabers, whether you're studying at school or online, and people in the community of Shakopee are there to support us.

Arigatoo-gozaimasu, Roell Sense! Please come back again!!