What a day!
A BIG thank you to the JAI Community for coming together for an epic Sunday of events. A Jam packed morning of over 150 students competing in over 300 events.
We owe the success of the day to our volunteers and helpers. From current instructors, former instructors, students and senior belts, it was all hands on deck helping the next generation of JAI students. We sincerely thank you all for your time, enthusiasm and effort on the day.
The last 2 years (2024 and 2025) we have held successful events, and while there may be some small bumps here and there, we will learn and improve upon them for 2026. This year we made the following changes:
- Increased the competition space, we had 3 courts running in 2024, and we had 6 courts running this time.
- Finding a larger space for families and students – in doing so parents and students had room to move and be comfortable.
- We also found a suitable space that could accomodate nearby free parking for everyone.
- The new space featured a coffee shop for parents to get food and drinks.
- We were able to start the sparring components earlier – last year they were held up until the end.
- We shaved hours off last years competition time.
As you can imagine, organising an event of this size is a big logistical nightmare. With many spinning wheels on the day, it’s a delicate balance to ensure the event runs smoothly for all. We once again thank our amazing volunteers, as well as the parents for letting our team run the events with limited distractions.
Finally, a big thank you to GM Joe who has had many late nights and long days organising this event. In the end, it’s all for the kids and their smiling faces.
Get ready for 2026!