The World Championships have begun!

While still dark this morning, we piled suitcases and gear bags into a small trailer already crammed full of stuff, loaded ourselves into the dojo van, and made the trek to New Orleans. The late morning hours were spent unloading everything, checking into our hotel room, eating lunch, and meeting up with friends.

Soon it was time for the first competition event: continuous sparring. Most of the competitors have not yet arrived, and some were just trickling in, so it was a very small event.

Daniel fought two of his good friends on the tournament circuit, the Sumey sisters.


Sempai Miriam had only one opponent.


Sempai Benjamin faced a tough division and fought the most fights, all of them against near-giant opponents. He won two of his matches and placed third in his division. Pretty exciting!


After watching the rest of the competition, we had dinner with friends (both old and new) and enjoyed the view from the Riverwalk.