AMHERST - Members of the Amherst Shotokan Karate Academy (formerly the Amherst JKA) attended clinics and examinations in Dieppe, N.B. over the summer with guest instructor/examiner Master Yutaka Yaguchi, an eighth-degree black belt from Denver, Colorado.
Earning new belts were:
Yellow Belts - Deacon Lawr
Orange Belts - Alana MacDonald, Sydney Skinner, Lauren LeBlanc, Terri-Lynn Skinner, Ryan Greenham
Green Belts - Peter Greenham, Tyler Greenham, Matthew Murray, Ben Curry, Carly Trumble
First Purple Belts - Logan Pitman, Brittany Burke
First Brown Belt - Forrest Dawe
Second Brown Belt - Derrick Gabriel
Second Degree Black Belts (Nidan) - Ashton Hunter, Gail Gouchie
As well, Gail Gouchie earned a silver medal in senior womens kata at the 2007 nationals in Toronto during the Thanksgiving weekend.
The club is also preparing to move to its new location at 100 Spring Street, the current location of the Amherst Wesleyan Church.
Renovations will take place in November with classes moving from the YMCA in December.
