Seminar with Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto

The 3rd Kyokushin seminar, organized by Sensei Jonathan C. Hemond of Karate Laval, welcomed more than sixty participants. This seminar, which took place from May 18th to 20th, 2018, was given by the national representative of IFK Brazil, Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto, 4th dan.

Participants came from four countries, including Brazil, the United States, Kazakhstan and Canada. Most of them were IFK members, including 5 from the USA, accompanied by Shihan Mike Monaco 7th dan, President of IFK USA. Two members of two other Kyokushin organizations joined us: Nelson Amado of Shinkyokushin FKCO and Sensei Eric Ratelle of So-Kyokushin North-America. Senpai Alem Baimoldin, of IFK Kazakhstan, traveled more than 9,000 kilometers to be part of this special event.

Note also the participation of a dozen karatekas from Rimouski accompanied by Shihan Réal Gagnon and Sensei Jean-François Verreault, Toronto students along with Sensei Steve Fogarasi, President of IFK-Canada, and Sensei Jennifer Lacroix of Magog. Shihan André Lafond (Karate Reality, affiliate IFK Canada) and some of his students were also present throughout this 3-day seminar, as well as Shihan Gaëtan Sauvé. From Canada, 5 IFK dojos participated in this 3rd seminar: Contact Kicks Martial Arts (CKMA) from Toronto, Rimouski, Magog, Berthierville and Laval.

This event was a great success and allowed all participants to form friendly ties with Brazil and the United States, which are two member countries of IFK Americas. The International Federation of Karate Americas brings together Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, the United States and Canada. Some events took place throughout this seminar, presentation of belts, meeting of the 3 present IFK Americas member countries, discussions, exchanges between participants, etc. This event was organized by Sensei Jonathan C. Hémond who worked very hard with Natalia Aragao throughout the year to make this event a resounding success.

From Two Brazilians to One Brazilian

The seminar was initially to be given by two exceptional Brazilians, Sensei Luiz Feitosa and Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto. Unfortunately, Sensei Luiz Feitosa had problems with customs officers in Toronto. The Canadian immigration agency in Toronto (Pearson airport) was contacted by the Brazilian authorities who confirmed to them that nothing could prevent Sensei Luiz Feitosa from being in Canada, since his visa was in good standing. Sensei Jonathan did everything in his power, even consulted an immigration lawyer.

Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto conducted the seminar on his own masterfully during the three days. Here is a summary of the three days of the seminar. But before, let's start with an introduction of our special guest from Brazil, Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto.

Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto, a legendary fighter, is a black belt 4th dan and includes 9 schools in Sao Paulo IFK Brazil, including his own school named Kentouryukai (heart dragon) Puro Impacto. He has been practicing Kyokushinkai Karate for 27 years. The national representative of Brazil, for IFK World, is a true legend of fighting with K.O. He is twice world champion and several times international champion in knockdown championships. In 1998, in Japan, he won a Japanese championship in all categories with a K.O. scored on each of his four Japanese opponents. The same year, he won the ultimate challenge in the United States by beating his 6 opponents by K.O. All this at a weight of 72 kg (158 pounds). Sensei Jeovaldo also practices other martial arts, including Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), kickboxing, Muay Thai and MMA. He has a record of 78 fights (70 wins, 6 defeats) in Muay Thai and kickboxing, in amateur and professional combat. He has won several titles in both of these combat sports and is also 3-0 in mixed martial arts (mma) fights. As all participants have seen, his experience is very relevant. He knows very well how to detail and dissect the essential elements necessary to be victorious in combat.

To watch him in action check out his fight videos on YouTube.

The power of attention of Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto

In a class, Sensei Jeovaldo is an observant and very caring person. He has a piercing look and all quickly realized that he has a very sharp attention span that allows him to quickly detect the strengths and weaknesses of each practitioner. He structured the various courses of the weekend by ensuring to create a progressive approach of the techniques of Basics to Advanced Combat Techniques He cautioned every class he taught what worked for him, and took into consideration that everyone should adapt to

these tactics according to their individuality and studies.

3 days of memorable practice

On the first and second day, classes were fashioned in a similar way. Each class lasted two hours. The majority of the classes began with warm-up, basic on-site and on-the-go techniques, as well as various exercises to increase participants' physical, aerobic and muscle abilities. Since the seminar was geared towards combat and self-defense, he structured the courses methodically to teach the concepts of combat according to the experience of the participants. The first part was oriented towards the notions of distance and movements of the body. Then, he demonstrated how to use typing techniques by combining them to create openings in the opponent's guard and to create adverse reactions in the adversary. He put a lot of focus on the need to block, dodge and position oneself so as to hit the opponent by avoiding as far as possible the retorts of the latter. Since he has fought and won weightless knockdown championships, it was quickly realized that what he teaches really works in the chaotic territory of full contact combat.

As a first step, Sensei Jeovaldo begins by practicing various techniques himeself. In the second stage, students practice techniques on pads. The one who holds the pads remains active, by attacking his partner, the latter must block, move and counter by striking the pads. It is at the third stage that the participants apply tactics in combination with a partner.

Special IFK Canada Ceremony

On Saturday evening, a special ceremony under the presidency of Sensei Steve Fogarasi (President of IFK Canada Kyokushin and National Representative IFK Canada) was inaugurated to officially recognize the 5th Dan IFK Shihan Réal Gagnon and Shihan Gaëtan Sauvé.

Sensei Jean-Francois Verreault and Sensei Jennefer Lacroix also received their official certificate for their IFK 3th dan. Senpai Hubert Tremblay also obtained his 1st dan certificate . He is among the youngest in IFK Canada, to receive at the age of 14, his official black belt. As for Sensei Jonathan C. Hémond , he was promoted to 4 th dan. Belts and certificates were donated by none other than Sensei Steve Fogarasi. Shihan Mike Monaco took the opportunity to give a moving personal account of Shihan Réal's and Shihan Gaëtan's more than 45-year-old careers, as well as their past experiences competing, officiating and promoting Kyokushin around the world.

Saturday evening there was a “Sayonara party”, accompanied by hot buffet from the caterer "Le Chemin Faisant". Italian pasta, salads, Portuguese chicken, vegetables, desserts, in short all have satiated this sumptuous buffet. A well appreciated meal after more than eight hours of classes.

Last day of the seminar

On Sunday, the training focused mainly on fighting. Sensei Jeovaldo wanted to spar with all participants of the seminar. He participated in more than fifty fights of two minutes each, to which he gave practical advice to the participants to improve their fighting skills. He insisted on the importance of integrating circular movements and how to use his body to intercept damage. All were able to see the exceptional physical form of Sensei Jeovaldo and the precise control of his attacks, both with his legs and fists. During the last class, he demonstrated self-defense tactics to participants by incorporating techniques taught over the weekend.

All the participants of this seminar were thrilled by this third seminar and are ready to implement what they learned with this warm, humble, fun, but extremely effective Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto.

Special thanks

Natalia Aragao, the translator of Sensei Jeovaldo. Throughout the twenty plus hours of classes, Natalia worked exquisitely with French, English and Portuguese while guiding students. It was partly thanks to her that each participant was able to understand all the subtleties taught by our Brazilian guest. I personally want to thank her on behalf of all the participants for her outstanding work and her demonstrated patience throughout this event. Domo arigato gozaimashita Natalia.

I would also like to thank Sensei Jonathan C. Hémond for the tremendous work that brought this event to fruition and made us aware of a "Brazilian" vision of combat training. Most importantly, I thank him for bringing Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto from Brazil to Canada to show us a true model of excellence. I know that it is Sensei Jonathan's priority to bring the best instructors from IFK Global to share their knowledge with his students. We will also thank Patrick Nicol our photographer and Sensei Louise Plante (Shihan André Lafond) for their beautiful photos that will immortalize this event forever.

Finally, thank you to all participants for participating in this event in large numbers. Finally, I recommend that students follow the recommendations of Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto finally to become a better karateka, from the inside to the outside. You have seen through his presence that we can be a formidable warrior on the battlefield while being a warm, respectful and humble person in everyday life.

Osu!