Coach Dutch IBK team catching up on things

A lot has happened in the world of Kyokushin Karate, although I do not mean to take all the things that happened in the last few years under review, I must see there is one thing that is still puzzling through my mind after all those years of training Kyokushin Kai, why don’t we learn from the original meaning of this word??

Kyokushin Kai means “cooperating with each other”, working together. But it seems that is the one thing the Dutch cannot seem to be able to handle or maybe even not be willing to handle. Everybody wants to be the General and nobody wants to be the soldier in the field. If we think of it like this, we are all the “children” of what Kaicho Bluming brought to the Netherlands in the 60’s from Japan. Everybody who is doing Kyokushin is in a way one of his followers, so let’s start behaving like it.

Back to the present, on September the 23rd, a historical day in the history of the IBK, the Honbu dojo in Klazienaveen was officially opened. It must have been a lot of work to realise and create such a nice dojo, a boxing ring in the centre, a great tatami, nice bar but last but not least, a very nice Jon Bluming museum, when you enter this room you can see a lot of faces from the kyokushin history going by you. Kaicho said that he has lost a lot of his stuff, a lot of things people ever loaned and never returned, to bad that there are still people taking advantage of this man like that.

The opening was a bit changed into a  kick-off when Kyokushin icon Koen Scharrenberg broke a baseball bet with his bare chinbone, it is always a pleasure to see this man doing what he does best, Kyokushin! Koen is a great budokai and human being and he promised me that he would be present at the next Karate-survival at the Marine barracks in Doorn and that he will do the opening there with one of his devastating shin bone kick techniques!

It felt great to meet all the Branch Chiefs of the new IBK (again), because of the good host of the day Kancho Henk Kuipers. There was a lot of catching up to do, and there was a real authentic Kyokushin atmosphere. After the Scharrenberg opening demonstration there were some speeches, and the new board of directors was introduced to the public. A special moment was there for Kancho Henk Kuipers when he was awarded a big certificate from his old teacher, Hansi Joop Reilman, which was signed by every black belt present. This really touched him sincerely, but that is not very surprising, knowing the big task he accepted, to lead an organisation like the IBK, it felt good to him to be appreciated. His advice to us all was, not very surprisingly, when you want something done, make sure it is done in the right way! This saying is very characteristic for him.

A next thing on the program was the awarding of the new IBK black belts to all the sempai, sensei’s, shihan’s and Hansi’s present. These new “obi’s” show the IBK characters in Japanese as well as the person’s name on it. After some demonstrations and kyokusin kihon, after which the reception started. Lot’s of story’s from the “old” days ofcourse, and we saw Kaicho Bluming loving every moment of it. Here was his organisation growing and making one fist, this organisation has a heart and a lot of potential!

The evening ended with a diner for which every branch chief was invited and again the growing and development of the organisation was giving some thought.
Kancho was awarded a nice statue of Budha from all the blackbelts present and Kaicho was awarded a nice mirror with the kyokushin and now the party could start!

There awaits us a big task, but we could see and really feel that everybody is really motivated, so when you want something done, we will make sure it is done in the right way! We have a good board of directors, a good graduation commity, the new schooling for the assistant trainer and trainer certificates are ready as well as the new referee course. My great personal friend, shihan Ruud Muller and I are working on a new Kihon book, new kata booklets and a new allround book is coming.
Ofcourse, there is still a lot of work to do, but we are working for a good future of the IBK, the worldchampionships are coming next year, and I promise you all that I will be there for all karateka who will be present at any future seminar of central training, Shihan Ruud Muller and I can’t wait to get started with the new task which waits ahead of us!

This was my first catching up with all of you and I hope there will be many more to follow. I am proud to be the first  bondscoach of the IBK, representing such a great group of fanatic and enthousiastic Kyokushin karateka’s!

Jan de Bruin Shihan, 8th Dan, IBK Netherlands