It is now official. Karate is an Olympic sport for 2020 in Tokyo. Champion karate athletes are coming out of retirement, new people are interested in joining the movement, and the karate world has been turned upside down.

So what now?

Team Meibukan have been competing the AAU Karate circuit for quite some time. The AAU is a USA based group that have been involved in promoting amateur sports for over 100 years. Since 1888, the AAU program has developed athletes like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, and Lebron James. Up until 1978, with the formation of the United States Olympic Committee, they were the Olympic representative for the USA.

The AAU Karate circuit was chosen by the coach of Team Meibukan because of its balanced philosophy of winning in sport and winning in life. There is a culture of mutual respect among the parents, athletes, officials, coaches, and tournament promoters which honours the game and encourages athletes to stay in the dojo. Another reason is because the Canadian stream does not have a strong traditional karate circuit for under black belt athletes that will lead them into a national level competition. The AAU does…and does so well within positive environment.

Now that Karate is an Olympic sport, there are a few athletes in Team Meibukan that could be of the right age in 2020. These athletes deserve an opportunity to present themselves in front of Karate Canada via our Provincial Sport Organization which is Karate Ontario. This will result in a the development of second tier of elite athletes. Criteria for these athletes are:

• Must have competed in AAU Karate for 2 years
• Must be qualified or capable of competing at Black Belt level.
• Must commit to strict training schedule

The 2016/2017 Team Meibukan tiers are as follows:

• Elite A – Karate Canada stream, AKA Club Seiryu (AAU events, Karate Ontario events, US Open, Montreal Open)
• Elite B – AAU Karate stream (Syracuse, Chicago, and Nationals)
• Intermural League – Among outside clubs within Canada (minimum of 3 tournaments)
• House League – Among the membership within NOX Dojo (4 tournaments)

If your are interested in competing for Team Meibukan, even if you are from another club, you are encouraged to join in on our meeting scheduled for Friday, September 16th, 2016 at 4:00 pm.