Senior members from the Steveston Kendo Club made their way down to Seattle last weekend to participate in the 37th Annual University of Washington Senior Kendo Tournament.
The local members dominated the event by placing in six of the seven divisions.
The club had entries in the Team Division - Steveston "A' (made up of the older, experienced members) and Steveston "B" (made up of the younger, faster members). They went on to face off against each other in the finals.
The experience of the "A" team was evident early on as it held a 2-0 lead going into the third of five matches.
The built up excitement for the final three matches quickly came to an end as a thunderstorm outside created a power outage which resulted in the cancellation of the final match with the "A" team ahead.
Steveston members gaining the podium were:
Vincent Yu (2nd place, 0-4 Kyu Non-Degree Div.), David Yao (1st place, 1-3 Kyu Non-Degree Div.), Wendy Robillard (3rd place, Ladies Open Div.). Ryan Murao (1st place, 1-2 Dan Black Belt Div.) Philip Nishikihama (3rd place, 4 Dan & Over Black Belt Div.) Neal Nakano (2nd place, 4 Dan & Over Black Belt Div.), Steveston "A" (1st place Team Division - Paul Lee, Mina Kobayashi, Ian Miki, Philip Nishikhama, Neal Nakano). Steveston "B" (2nd place, Team Division - Alex Lee, Gen Mizutani, Sean O'Sullivan, Leo Leung, Ryan Murao).
