P.E.I.’s Power Karate Couple
Mike and Dawn Brown are a married team in life and a karate teaching duo who run the West River School of Karate, based in Rustico and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Mike, a 5th dan, and Dawn, a 4th dan, combine an island sense of hospitality and charm with a devotion to martial arts excellence that has made their 17-year-old dojo successful. They have also given back to the karate community at large, participating in different provincial and national associations.
For example, Mike was a past kumite coach for Karate PEI. And Dawn was formerly President of Karate PEI, a member of the ParaKarate Karate Canada committee, and a Director at Large for the Canadian Chito Ryu Karate Association.
As the duo’s public spokesperson, Dawn answered questions about their karate history to introduce themselves to the rest of the Ryusei members.
Question: How did you get started in karate?
Answer: Mike started karate at age 15 by travelling to classes with a person in his community that he knew, Carl Gallant [a long-time Chito-Ryu instructor and competitor]. He went to yellow belt and then hockey kept him pretty busy so he put karate on the side burner but always knew he wanted to go back so in 1999 he made the leap to rejoin karate. I started in 2002 when I met Mike.
Q: How did you start West River School of Karate?
A: We decided to open a dojo in our community to help grow the membership in our province. In 2007, we started our dojo in a local school with three students (our children!). and continued to grow slowly over the years.
Q: What are your proudest accomplishments as practitioners or sensei?
A: That’s an easy question to answer! Our students are our greatest accomplishments. As any dojo knows, students come into your dojo, and some leave for family reasons, education, etc. However, watching our students overcome obstacles, no matter how long they are in our dojo, is the best accomplishment.
We have seen students overcome low confidence, learning issues, and lack of self-esteem. Getting the strength to do this cannot be taught; it is learned when you surround yourself with a positive environment where everyone wants to see each other grow and succeed. It takes a village to look after everyone’s needs, and we are so lucky to have a great group of senior students who truly care about every person who walks into our dojo.
Q: What do you focus on in your personal training?
A: Our personal training is twofold. We are always trying to research and learn new things and find ways to teach them to our students to keep them motivated, and to grow and improve their karate. Staying in good physical shape and being able to defend yourself if a situation should arise is a strong focus in our dojo. We work on both mental and physical discipline.
Q: What are your goals for the future?
A: Our future goals are to evolve our karate skill set and knowledge. Whether that be by researching old techniques, learning new ones, or trying to dig deeper into the history behind the techniques, karate is definitely a true way of life for us.