November 2011 Thibodaux

This past quarter has seen many changes for the Shaolin Institute of Thibodaux. Our Chief Instructor, Jeff Bordelon, has decided to take some time away due to career and family obligations. Though still under his guidance, it’s been tough adjusting to not having him at the school each day. However, the core of the school who remained dedicated have stuck together and are making this work in his absence. With the local economy, it truly has been tough keeping a consistent student base, so we’ve been hosting fundraisers to help with the overhead operations cost. Thankfully, we do have wonderful students who don’t mind pitching in.

We’ve also been trying to treat the kids with fun as a reward for their hard work. One night we held a Shaolin Sleep Over where we watched movies and played games. Two students awed us in the horse stance competition. Bret Benoit won with a time of 9 minutes and 3 seconds. Second place went to Peter Perez with a time of 9 minutes and 2 seconds.

Every Saturday, students from our school travel to the New Orleans location to get extra training. This helps to keep our schools working closely together. After training, though, a committee meets and discusses plans for the upcoming events next year that are to be hosted in New Orleans: our Shaolin Legacy Show and the Art of War XS (extreme Sanda) fight competition. It’s not only work. We also have time for some play as well, such as taking a moment to celebrate Renard’s birthday with cake.

Renard, Kirt, and William

For quarterly testing, these are the results for the following students:

Students receiving stripes:

Testing Pictures:

Two sets of Yang 108 going on at the same time.

Tai Chi Sword photos

Kitchen Staff

GBSC Staff