Douvris Martial Arts Westboro
1568 Carling Avenue K1Z 7M4 Ottawa, ON, Canada

**ATTENTION** Ottawa residents: The police chief is urging everyone to stay home on Monday as over 400 traffic lights are still out at this hour making travel s...low and difficult. The English school board that serves the City of Ottawa and surrounding regions have announced that all schools will be closed tomorrow. Details here: https://t.co/n8kVaqRwBI From CBC News Ottawa: "If they can, please stay home. Those of you who must absolutely circulate on the roads, understand that patience and courtesy will be the top priority," "Please avoid unnecessary travel. If you can work from home or avoid travelling tomorrow we encourage you to do so," https://www.cbc.ca//ott/stay-home-monday-tornado-1.4835478 - Brennen P.

Just a reminder that there will be no weapons class on Saturday November 30Just a reminder that there will be no weapons class on Saturday November 30

We are delighted to announce our new dates and venue for the 2020 WKC World Championships. We are moving the usual November dates to August 2020! Many parents h...ave requested to move the dates to a more convenient time of the year, and we listened. While disappointed not to be able to secure the venue in Scotland with our new dates, we are very happy to be hosting the 2020 WKC World Championships in Madrid, Spain! Start planning now for August 1st 8th, 2020 at The Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Center: https://www.marriott.com//madad-madrid-marriott-auditoriu/ Working alongside us, WKC Scotland have a huge announcement coming for 2020 look out for this exciting news regarding #thescottishopen. WKC continues to showcase the worlds best and always puts competitors and spectators first in all we do.

Just a reminder that the dojo is closed for Easter! Have a great weekend everybody! Classes back on Tuesday!

Parents: In light of recent news events that we have all been following surrounding bullying and our bystander/social media culture, I had a conversation with... one of our members that shocked and saddened me. This thoughtful young man said that while he was so thankful that there was current media coverage of the latest horrific teen bullying incident which would only lead to more awareness and long overdue conversations, that sadly this was nothing new for kids. This kind of thing is something that is an every day occurrence in most of our children's lives. It drove home something that we all know ... our children live in an infinitely more complicated world from that in which most of us grew up. Oh, they make mistakes just like we did; but ours were relegated to the trash heap of memory to be relived at a whim that is usually ours alone. Not only do our children often have their most embarrassing moments recorded, shared and posted to live on in perpetuity. Our children get swarmed for shoes or phones or clothing or for no reason at all. Challenges are set that involve random acts, not of kindness, but of petty violence or worse. And all for what? Likes on youtube or facebook or snapchat or instagram or whatever new and immediate social media platform they think validates their existence. Social media, as we know, is both a blessing and a curse. It can connect people and isolate them all at the same time. We all know that, but our children live that day in and day out. As much as we talk to our kids and they tell us about their lives, there's a lot that is NOT shared but sadly simply endured. Things that we find shocking have become so commonplace as to not cause a ripple in the sea of of their lives. As parents, it's important to make time to talk about the little things ... as inconsequential as they may seem. Because it is in the act of talking about the little things that we can establish a relationship that allows those bigger, more complicated issues to enter the conversation as well. It's also important for kids to have a place to just be - like a dojo - where they can connect with people with similar interests who may be apart from their everyday lives. A place where they can establish friendships and seek out positive role models so that they can learn to be a positive role model as well. A place where someone will always listen. A place to just be safe. That's why we hope that what our students find with us is not only an opportunity to be physically active and healthy and to share our passion for martial arts but also an environment where we reinforce the building blocks of strong character and leadership that will hopefully serve them well in the complicated world in which they live. It's not that these lessons aren't taught at home. It's simply important for them to have those lessons reinforced outside the home as well. Being able to do that for our students is one of the greatest gifts we can offer them. It's one of the reasons why we love what we do and we thank each of our students for being a part of our school. "Lesson not just karate only. Lesson for whole life. Whole life have balance."