Jan. 6, 2020 Class Speech by Sensei Freeman:
Sensei Konzak / The Future of the Dojo

Sadly, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Burt Konzak Phd, passed away just before the holidays in late November of 2019.

He was a great man, the Sensei and founder of our dojo 50 years ago in 1970. As a professor at the U of T, he taught Zen Philosophy. He was a writer and author of many successful books on karate-do and zen philosophy and he was a world-renown martial artist.

He inspired thousands of karateka to become better and happier people and I am proud to call him my mentor and friend for the last 43 years.

As a professional graphic designer I worked closely with him for many years on promotional materials and the dojo logo. He appointed me as Sensei when he retired in 2011. I promised him that I would make sure that I would continue to lead the dojo with the same high standards of training, character development and spirit that he gave us all.

History of our dojo

For the first 3 decades, most of the new students were young adults who came from the U of T. Over the last 2 decades more new students have been young families and children.

The Toronto Academy of Karate today

So who are we now?

I know who we are not … we are not a club!
– We are not a kick boxing club!
– We are not a mixed martial arts club encouraging violence!
– We are not a McDojo offering a babysitting service!

We are an academy of higher learning, with many dedicated senior Black Belts teaching authentic karatedo!

And we are a family…. a family built on respect!

2020 is the dawn of a new era!

I believe that the TAK is the highest quality karate dojo in the country.

I want to hear from you, to help me guide the dojo into the future.

Together, we can make a difference in the world, one student at a time.

My goal is to help as many people as possible find the joy for life that we have been blessed to experience.

I hope I can count on your support. Please feel free to come forward with any ideas that you may have. Some of you have already been very helpful.

Thank you,
Sensei Bert Freeman

If you have a quote you would like to add please forward it to sensei@torontoacademy.com

Thank you