On Okinawa, it is a tradition to present a friendship gift to the dojo leader when opening a karate dojo. Friends of Prof. Dr. Filipe Castro Soeiro gladly followed this tradition on May 17, 2024. After all, Filipe had invited all Goju-Ryu clubs from Berlin and the BKV presidium to the opening ceremony. Lutz Schulz (PSV) and Wilson Sturm (Tsunami-Berlin) presented Headcoach Filipe with their guest gifts on behalf of all Goju-Ryu clubs and the presidium, which Filipe reciprocated with a guest gift of his own. Filipe, a holder of the 3rd DAN, had moved from Portugal to Berlin for professional reasons and founded his Okinawa Goju-Ryu club last year. In his search for a training facility, he was supported by the Steglitz-Zehlendorf District Sports Association with Ms. Hinze and Wilson Sturm. A heartfelt thank you once again to the Sports Association and Ms. Hinze for their prompt support. The new dojo is located at Florastraße 13, OSZ for Office Technology in Steglitz.
The opening ceremony began with a joint traditional training session led by Filipe. Caroline Schiemann (4th Dan) and Wilson Sturm (6th Dan) then alternated leading a 2.5-hour training session for the children’s group. After the rigorous athletic start, many participants went to the Golden Brown Restaurant for a communal meal.
Filipe is a great asset to all of us, even though the training is currently conducted in English. However, Filipe is practicing the German language, and the athletes can improve their English in the meantime, with everything eventually converging in karate through Japanese instructions. We can learn a lot from Filipe, especially regarding traditional Okinawan karate training: a good mix of respect, discipline, and hard training. We had a lot of fun and enjoyment on this day.