SRKF Leadership

Saturday’s banquet was a great way to bring in the lunar new year. I hope everyone is able to take advantage of all the opportunities  the  Year of the Dragon affords.

The production of this year’s banquet was truly the result of teamwork. From the dedication of our dragon and lion dancers to the hard work of our I Ho Chuan team — teamwork created one of the best banquets we have ever produced.  Special recognition must go out to our masters of ceremony, Sihing Sharida Csillag and Sihing Kayley Burke, for keeping the program running smoothly and efficiently. I would also be remiss if I did not highlight the extraordinary work that Sihing Yitzik Csillag and Sihing Kevin Lindstrom did in preparing our Dragon Dance and Lion Dance teams. The banquet also marked the debut of Todai Malinda Ferris on the drum and performing their first ever lion dance, Todai Owen Johnstone and Todai Reed Kaufman.  Everyone’s effort and dedication created an amazing result.

There were many accolades for Silent River Kung Fu students who really shone in 2023. Sihing Sharida Csillag earned her 2nd degree black belt and Sihing Jackie Kohut and Todai Logan Smith were recognized as Black Belt of the Year and Student of the Year respectively.  Our Zhang Fei award recipients were Luka Tracy from the Lil Leopards, Vincent Verhey of the Tiny Tigers, Caleb Stewart of the Level 1 Young Dragons, and Kasidee Derkson of the Level 2 Young Dragons. Liu Bei award recipients were Chyler Jarrell of the Lil Leopards, Nora Johnson of the Tiny Tigers, Olivia Esch of the Level 1 Young Dragons, and Jaxon Skjerven of the Level 2 Young Dragons.  Michele Ward was recognized with the Kwan Kung award for the school’s best attendance record.

The highlight of the banquet was the promotions of Michele Ward and Jordan Carreau to the rank of black belt.  This promotion was the culmination of a year-long black belt test.  Along with their I Ho Chuan classmates, their  banquet presentations were exciting and inspiring.

There was an announcement on Saturday night that may have got lost in all of the excitement. With the unanimous support of the Silent River Kung Fu Master Instructors, Sifu Khona Rybak is officially the Chief Instructor of Silent River Kung Fu.  This expands her role from Program Director of the Young Dragon Program as she takes on the additional responsibilities of running the day to day of the school and, with the continued guidance and support from myself, Sifu Hayes, and Sifu Dennis —  Sifu Rybak will develop and enforce all promotion standards, including all ranks of Black Belt awarded by Silent River Kung Fu.

Jeff Brinker

Chinese New Year Banquet Tickets

Tickets for our Year of the Dragon Chinese New Year banquet are now available for purchase. Seating is extremely limited and we always sell out fast so to avoid disappointment I advise you to purchase your tickets as soon as possible.

As an incentive to improve engagement amongst the parents of our students, the Silent River Benevolent Foundation will once again be subsidizing a limited number of Lil Leopard, Tiny Tiger, and Young Dragon students. If parents purchase at least two tickets for themselves, and bring in food for the Parkland Food bank, the Foundation will purchase banquet tickets for all their training children. These subsidized tickets are finite in number so they can be only offered on a first come, first served basis.

To reinforce everyone’s community engagement, we ask that everyone bring food for the Food Bank directly to our school and to the banquet itself. There are many struggling families in our community who would appreciate your kindness and consideration.

If you wish to purchase tickets, they are $40+GST each. No tickets can be reserved without payment. Payment can be made via eTransfer to silentriverkungfu@me.com (make sure you include GST), or via Debit or Credit Card at the school. We cannot accept cheques or cash — only the three payment methods outlined above.

If you have any questions, please contact your instructor.

Parking at Kung Fu Class

There is plenty of parking available in the Kwoon parking lot and on the street in front of our building for every class. If you are parking in our parking lot, it is important that you only park in designated parking stalls - even if you are only picking someone up. These designated stalls are all facing north perpendicular to the street. 

For everyone’s safety and to prevent making it difficult to back out of the designated parking area, there is absolutely NO PARKING along the curb directly against either building - especially in front of the law offices. 

We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in helping us maintain a positive relationship with the other businesses within our condo association while maximizing the safety of everyone who must traverse our parking lot.

SRKF Uniform Standard

COVID has brought a lot of change to our lives and Silent River Kung Fu has not been immune to the impact the pandemic has had on us all.  Even though the pandemic has hurt our school financially, we have embraced the situation as an opportunity and have adapted as opposed to waiting for a return to a ‘normal’ that is forever behind us.

As you know many businesses faltered and failed during the pandemic. Many of our suppliers were ravaged by the effects of the global pandemic but all of them managed to survive and hold on. Unfortunately the “Freedom Convoy” turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for many of them and the reality for those who are still in business is that they are having difficulty getting their stock off the docks and to their warehouses, making it impossible for them to provide us with a reliable source of uniforms, belts, weapons, and all the things we rely upon to serve our students.

To address the crisis, support local businesses, and improve the comfort of our students - we have modified our uniform standard. Students now have the option of taking advantage of the t-shirt uniform option year round.

As many of you have already noticed, we are now using the grey t-shirts for all Lil Leopard, Tiny Tigers, and Level 1 students. Level 2 students will be wearing the maroon t-shirts and black belts will continue to use the black t-shirts. To complete the uniform, students will continue to use the standard uniform pants. Students always have the option of wearing the full tunic uniform but there may be some unforeseen delays to acquire them because of the shipping issues being experienced in Canada.

We will do our best to maintain adequate stock at the Kwoon to shield you all from any delays due to the ongoing shipping and stocking challenges affecting us all.