Okay. . . Now you guys are going overboard.

So, today I decided to go watch my brothers hockey game. I'm glad I went, because it taught me something very worth while.

We all know that the key components when playing a sport are Sportsmanship, always have fun,be aware of your actions, have dignity in yourself and your team, respect for your team and the opposing team, etc. These are all really important for the players of the sport, but I think that the parents, family, friends, and anyone in the crowd should learn to abide by these rules as well.

As far as I could say, the parents of the other team were very disrespectful, and very un-sportsman like.

At the beginning of the game the score was pretty close, and of course when your team scores a goal, you're going to cheer loudly to let them know that your happy for this accomplishment. But, in my opinion, if your team is winning by more than 2, you should tone it down a little bit. No need to make the other team feel worse than they all ready do.

The parents of the other team were definitely going a bit overboard. Close to the third period, their kid's team were winning by so much that we knew we weren't going to be able to catch up. With this in mind, they were still overly yelling and screaming when they scored (more than when they were only winning by 1 or 2) but on top of that, they were yelling really disrespectful things at their coaches, players, and the referees. I really don't believe that telling the kids on your own team that "they suck" and yelling at the referees things that I do not even want to say on this blog was reflecting very bad things on their team. It got so bad near the end that some of the parents on our team, and their team were leaving because it was getting a little bit ridiculous.

All in all, I'll have to say that the kids on the team that my brother was playing against were very good hockey players. They definitely play a good, clean game. But, it was hard to recognize that because of the way that some of the parents were acting.

I think that we all need to think about our actions, and who they reflect upon. This was a very good life lesson for me, and I will always think about it before I do, or say something. This is just my opinion on the subject, if anyone has anything to add, feel free to comment :-)

Bottled Water - Reducing Our Ecological Footprint.

Silent River Kung Fu is working towards becoming a greener school, by lessening our environmental impact. As most know, one of the things that we are trying to do is eliminate all use of plastic water bottles within the kwoon.

I decided that for my blog I would research the effects of bottled water on the environment, and teach myself something new in the process.

First let’s start off with this.

SIX FACTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BOTTLED WATER.

1. Tap water is just as safe as bottled water. In fact, the U.S government performs more vigorous tests on tap water than bottled water.

2. Purchasing bottle water is thousands of times more expensive than tap water. One-third of Canadians buy bottled water rather than drinking purified tap water.

3. Terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used plastic for making water bottles. PET is derived from crude oil.

4. Just in the U.S., 1.5 MILLION barrels of oil are used each year for tasks such as (but not limited to) making PET, transporting bottles and powering water bottle factories.

5. 86% of plastic water bottles are not recycled.

6. About 40% of bottled water starts as tap water.


Bottled water is the top selling product in the beverage industry, but it’s also the worst for the environment. Each year, 2 million tones of plastic water bottles are put into landfills, drastically increasing the amount of time it takes to fill up a landfill. As well as, the recycling rate for these bottles is only around 27%. Scientist have proven that the best thing that you can do to reduce your ecological footprint is to stop buying bottled water completely.

Many resources are used to make, ship and recycle bottled water. In fact, if bottled water were eliminated, the oil that would have been used to make them would be enough to power 100,000 cars for a year. That is a lot!

There are many things that we can do to reduce this portion of our ecological footprint.

Stop purchasing the bottled water and use tap water. Or, if its taste you’re worried about, buy a drinking water filter to attach on the end of your tap.
Use a re – useable water bottle to put your water in. Even though we sometimes re use the plastic ones, resources were still wasted to make the bottle, and more will be used to recycle it.
I have a challenge for everyone that reads this blog. Go online to the following website, (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators) (You have to click on Calgary for your location ) and calculate your ecological footprint. Then find out one thing that you can do to reduce it. Take action. We are aiming to be leaders through our actions, and what a better way to do it than to help the planet in the meantime. My footprint was 7.1, the Canadian average. But, I would need over 8 football fields of land to support all of the resources that I need to live. That’s huge! I’m going to take action by trying to carpool, walk, etc. to try and reduce the pollution that I put into the air.
What will you do?

Year of the Tiger

I want to start off with saying that the banquet was really amazing. All of the sihing's did such a great job at setting up, the banquet hall looked fantastic! It was truly a night to remember.

Of course, the banquet and ceremony last night was really exciting for me, seeing that I received my black belt. I really believed that all of the other candidates and I really saw yesterday who we had really become through our training, and how much that we had grown together as a group.

I am so proud at how well the demo that the kids classes put on went. I have seen so many different transformations in those classes this past year, and I can only begin to imagine what type of progress that the classes will begin to make this year. The kids were awesome, and I am really
looking foreward to this year.

These were just a few thoughts on the banquet last night.
What were everyone elses thoughts on the banquet last night?

Kids classes

I am very fortunate to have the chance to be able to teach in the kids classes. It is something that kung fu has given me, that is irreplaceable.
I have learned and experienced so much in the past year of teaching, that many 13 year olds don't usually get a chance to.

First of all, it is so inspiring to watch some of the kids in their classes. They have so much passion, and determination to succeed in what they are doing. I think this is something that many of us could learn from. Sometimes the longer we do something, we sometimes loose the passion that we had when we first started. We know that we have it, but it doesn't isn't always apparent to others. These kids just have so much drive to get something new that they just learned right. A good example of this is watching some of the new white belts trying to do their first shoulder roll. They watch the instructor do it a couple of times, and they say that it looks so easy, but they just cannot get it right. You can see the frustration in their eyes but they just wont give up. I think this is something that we can all learn from.

It is also cool to see how open most of them are. You'll have a kid that you have never even seen before come up and give you a hug and start telling you about the highlights of their day. Yesterday, Sihing Young came out to the 5:00 class to help out. We were doing stations and she was right into it with all of the kids. I think she was a bit shocked when one of the students ran up to her and gave her a big hug, and wouldn't let go :-). It was really cool because I know for a fact that the student had never seen or met her before.

I have been helping with the kids classes for around a year and a half now, and they have taught me so so much. I think that anyone that steps in there is (most of the time) given a truly great experience. If you get the chance, pop in there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We like the help ;-)

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
~Albert Einstein