I was also incredibly fortunate to learn from Sensei Ben Shimoda. I started in Karate, but also did Judo. I was chatting on my phone with a buddy about our time at John Abbott College with Sensei Ben Shimoda and how we are both alive largely in part due to his training. I was fooling around in Google search and it led me to this article. I read it to my buddy and we chuckled over memories of Ben. Loved the article! We were training with him in the early 90's...who knows...perhaps you saw me flying through the air during demonstrations. lol
LOL! I was at Abbott from 1989-91, but continued in the Judo club until 1993 - looking back I wish I’d stuck with it. One fond memory of Sensei was learning chokes and our inability to choke him as he had a neck like a tree trunk! “Try harder, try harder”…as he was laughing. Another memory was him taking a group out for sushi (my first experience), and watching me eat a lump of wasabi, Sensei burst out laughing (“You ate wasabi?)… Always the laughter.
I was also incredibly fortunate to learn from Sensei Ben Shimoda. I started in Karate, but also did Judo. I was chatting on my phone with a buddy about our time at John Abbott College with Sensei Ben Shimoda and how we are both alive largely in part due to his training. I was fooling around in Google search and it led me to this article. I read it to my buddy and we chuckled over memories of Ben. Loved the article! We were training with him in the early 90's...who knows...perhaps you saw me flying through the air during demonstrations. lol
LOL! I was at Abbott from 1989-91, but continued in the Judo club until 1993 - looking back I wish I’d stuck with it. One fond memory of Sensei was learning chokes and our inability to choke him as he had a neck like a tree trunk! “Try harder, try harder”…as he was laughing. Another memory was him taking a group out for sushi (my first experience), and watching me eat a lump of wasabi, Sensei burst out laughing (“You ate wasabi?)… Always the laughter.