Hanabi is lucky to have wonderful teachers from around the world but we also have good American instructors too. Chris Sensei is a bit of both. Chris spent his early years in Southern California then moved to Minnesota where he heard about judo in high school. He looked around for a dojo and found North Star Judo led by Michelle Holtze, a world champion in kata.  She was an inspiration to Chris. He worked hard at judo but he also had a serious interest in teaching and living abroad. He studied early childhood education and Teaching English as a Second Language, receiving his teaching credential, and taught for a year in Minnesota. He then traveled to Japan for a summer, teaching English there.  Chris, whose mother is Chinese-American, found an opportunity in Taiwan where he was able to teach first at a public school and then to Kindergarten students at a bilingual international school. He was there for 4 years when he heard about Hanabi.  Chris is one of our lead teachers at Hanabi’s Pokemon Summer Camp and we hope to have him head up a new after-school care program in Albany in the Fall.  But Chris is really looking forward to developing his judo here.  We expect him to become a strong competitor, representing Hanabi at both local and national competitions.  He is a wonderful teacher now. We expect him to become a wonderful competitor as well.