  |
|
         |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
| Bio Yves Paquette |
|
| Born in Ottawa in Oct 1969 and raised in Vanier ON to less than wealthy parents I spent my younger years running from bullies, being quite small for my age and not usually in the best of clothes, bullies were always abundant and eager to pound on me on any occasion. Getting beaten- up and being in trouble with the law was almost a daily occurrence. When I was fifteen, I was kicked out of Highschool my life needed guidance luckily one evening I followed a friend into the open door of a grade school there I saw Go Ju Ryu Karate, to me it was something I needed to do. | |
| Training with Sensei Hing Poon Chan |
|
 |
My Instructor is Sensei Hing Poon Chan and to him I was just another punk and I doubt for the first 6 or 7 years of my training he even knew my name. I had no money to pay for training so Sensei Chan told me not to worry, for payment all I would have to do is train hard , this is the true meaning of Karate-do. For the first year I did not have money for a uniform so I used a tye dyed Judo gi with the arms cut off that my mother found at a Salvation Army store and a pair of black gym pants( I was an eye sore )but, I kept training. |
Training with Sensei Chan was always an adventure because he refused to make money (he said I don’t have to make money I already have a job) we were always looking for places to train Community Centers, other dojo’s, outside, in a Highschool locker bay (that was fun) anywhere. He won’t admit it but he was quite harsh to train with, at first I was into high kicking so he decided that every time I would lift my leg he would kick me in the groin. Arm conditioning with him was less than enjoyable, you see banging arms with a guy that worked as a logger is interesting, seeing that his forearms were about the same size of the logs he pulled around. He was always there with a kind word like “your Karate is terrible” or giving me the ”you make me tremble with disgust look” He always said ego is a persons downfall and there is no place for ego in our club. Tournaments were foreign to him and he was very skeptical of them (breeding ground for the egomaniac) but when I was 16 he took me to one, and it was like the first Karate kid movie he had no idea how to tournament “fight” so he told me to go and hit someone so I did, long story short my tournament career was short lived “thankfully”. Sensei Chan has always been a very open minded Martial Artist and believes we should understand as many different systems as possible, thru this teaching I have tried many systems, Wing Chun gung fu (non-classical) With Sifu Eric Tuttle (very funny guy) Gung fu with Sifu Kiem Hou Lee (don’t hurt the people) and Kobudo (Okinawan weaponry). I have shared my knowledge and beliefs with many of my students thru the years and still do. Sensei Chan taught me how to live my life properly and with respect for myself and others, basically showed me right from wrong. The basis of whom I am today was formed by him. |
|
| Notable Sayings |
|
| "There is no such thing as a superior system, just superior people. Bunkai makes a good Karate-ka, but imagination makes a good Martial Artist." "In Karate, Kata is the encyclopedia of techinques and Jiyu Kumite is the thesaurus." |
|
|
|
|