Phew! It’s been over 24 hours, but I’m still exhausted!  We had the much awaited, eagerly anticipated Zen-Do Fun Day yesterday!  It started at 11 am and didn’t end until 6 pm!

And boy did we have fun!  The day started with a Nunchaku weapons demonstration with Sensei Vinod and some Zen-Do Black Belt Club students.  This was followed by games, a dodgeball tournament, more games, a Zen-Do “puppet show”, an anti-bullying workshop, a kickboxing padding demonstration, an amazing choreographed “fight” between me and Sensei Vinod, a massive kickboxing class, a talent competition, and more and more games!

Everyone had such a good time!  My kids Selma and Laith were on such a high all day!  The feedback from the parents was just amazing.  It was such a fun day, true to it’s name really.

My sincere thanks to the Zen-Do Team Vinod, Angela, Leo and Ara for their great efforts.  Also, special thanks go to Saba for sorting out all the logistics, and to DBC GM Mark and Falak Admin Manager Gemma for helping out on the day.  Great job everyone.  My sincere thanks also go out to Zen-Do students and Black Belts Alaa Al-Alawi and Hussain Al-Fardan for their help.  And to my brother Faris for his cameo appearance.

Most of my sincerest thanks and appreciation go out to the parents and kids who came on the day and made it so special!  Thanks everyone.  I can’t wait for the next one!

Here are some photos, courtesy of Angela De Guzman.  Talk to you soon.

You’re invited my friend!  I’m happy to announce that we’re having a Zen-Do family fun day!!  This is a day for fun, games and activities.  There’ll be kickboxing and weapons demonstrations, a dodge ball tournament, a special Zen-Do “puppet show”, face painting, and an extreme padding session -  and more!

I’ll also be doing a special anti-bullying class for all the kids.  Oh and don’t miss the ultimate finale: A full-contact, no-
holds-barred fight between me and Zen-Do Head Instructor Vinod Joseph!  Who will win?? The young, upstart Head Instructor, or the older but faster, wiser, more good looking and deadliester Chief Instructor? (I’ll be using my secret death crush technique)  You have to come see for yourself!!

Mark your calendar:

Date:     Saturday the 22nd of May 2010

Time:     11 am, and all day

Where:    at the Zen-Do Bahrain Kickboxing Club in Hamala

This event is absolutely FREE!  Bring the kids and have a great
time!

From left, Financial Control and Admin Manager Gemma Austria, Suhail Algosaibi, Zen-Do Head Instructor Vinod Joseph, Marketing and Operations Manager Saba Saleem and DBC General Manager Mark Salvador.

If you recall, last week we had our annual Big Bang event.  I shared some photos with you.  Well, the video is finally ready.  Hope you like it.  By the way, if you know of any young, awesome, outgoing guys and girls that want to be part of our multi-cultured Team, then please direct them to our recruitment site.

Wow, wow, wow!  What a great two days we had!  Last Wednesday and Thursday we had our annual Big Bang, and what a Big Bang it was!  The Big Bang (a term I borrowed from EO) is our annual training, motivation, fun and games, team building, and bonding event.  It’s an exclusive event just for our Team Members.  We actually close all our locations during these two days and focus exclusively on our Team Members.

What an exhausting two days! Day One started with a group circuit workout in DBC Hamala.  This was followed by an Introduction to NLP presentation given by me.  We then had lunch in Pastarito in City Centre, followed by bowling (which I won again!).  We then made our way to the Royal Golf Club in Riffa Views, where we were given some golf lessons.  I think they call it a golf clinic.  We were taught how to putt, chip and drive.

I discovered I was really – and I mean really – bad at golf!  I did really badly in the driving range.  Zuhair, our company driver – who never golfed in his life – felt sorry for me and started giving me some tips.  “Look Mr. Suhail.  You hold the club like this, and then you swing like this!” he told me, whacking the ball into the distance.  Yeah but I can still kick your backside I thought to myself.  Other people who turned out to be talented in Golf were DBC GM Mark Salvador and Zen-Do Head Instructor Vinod Joseph.  It’s liked they played their whole life!  After that we had dinner in the club, in the restaurant Links.  There we told jokes and just laughed and laughed.  What a great first day!

Day Two started with team building training session with Trainer Extraordinaire Feda Salameh.  We did some fun games like blindfolded guiding, building towers out of flip chart paper, and the egg wrapping and throwing game.  It was a lot of fun.  As a business owner it was great to see my Team Members having so much fun, and bonding so well.  It really brought me a lot of joy and satisfaction.

The team building session was followed by lunch in Cafe Ceramique in the Aali Mall.  Here each Team Member painted a small tile with their own interpretation of either one of our missions or our Guiding Principles (values).  These will later be collected, framed and hung on our wall.  Cool idea, huh?  Again we had a really good time.  And I discovered how artistic some of our Team Members are.  And it just reaffirmed how artistically untalented I am…

Anyway, this was followed by our much awaited talent competition!  This was extremely popular last year, and so we made a point of doing it again this year.  And boy did we see some great talents.  We had juggling, rope-skipping, chili eating, singing and dancing, make up applying, creating things out of junk, a puppet show, martial arts choreography and painting!  It was just so much fun.  At the end there was a vote for the best talent, and three cups given out.

I also gave away two Extraordinary Falakonian Awards (all Falak Enterprises Team Members are called Falakonians) to two invaluable Team Members; Marketing and Operations Manager Saba Saleem, and Financial Controller and Admin Manager Gemma Austria.  Two very hard working Falakonians who are an integral part of the company, and are very instrumental in making Falak Enterprises what it is today.

When the talent competition and award ceremony was over we went to dinner in Bang Sai Thai.  We had our own room with a karaoke machine – and boy did we use it!  DBC circuit advisor Mahmood Al-Bahaar really made us laugh with his own rendition of Shaggy’s You’re My Angel.  He even sand a Philippino song.  I thought I was going to burst laughing!

There was just so much laughing the whole weekend actually.  I’m still on a high as I write this!  The second day ended at around 12:30 am when we were politely told by the restaurant staff that the restaurant is closing.  I went home exhausted but exhilarated , and when I slept I dreamt I was still at the Big Bang…

I’ve collected some photos for you below.  You can see us doing the cheesy Big Bang sign in most of the photos.  I hope you like them, and talk to you soon.

Sensei Vinod, Sharon with her new Brown Belt, and Sensei Suhail

I’m proud to announce that Sharon Kaur received her Brown Belt on Thursday.  Well done Sharon!  I really put her through the paces and pushed her hard, and she was really nervous.  But she passed and did well.  Congrats again

Talk soon.

This is a topic dear to my heart.  You’ll here me revealing some powerful anti-bullying concepts.  As this is a big topic, we’re doing it in two parts.  In the meantime, if you’ve not seen my anti-bullying video slide show, visit the Zen-Do for Kids website, there’s some great content there, and it’s all free.

I hope you like the interview:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

I cannot tell you how proud I am to announce the promotion of Zen-Do Bahrain Senior Instructor Vinod Joseph to Head Instructor.  Well done guy!

Sensei Vinod joined Zen-Do in 2005 as a general purpose cleaner/janitor/driver.  It turned out he didn’t have that much to do so he started training in the evening class.  He then started assisting in teaching some of the classes until he worked his way up the proverbial ladder to become our Head Instructor.

He’s been running the day-to-day operations of Zen-Do for quite some time now, and he is more than worthy of the new title.  It truly was remarkable to see his transformation over the years from an insecure kid off the streets of Bangalore to a matured, and very capable martial artist.

Vinod has always credited me for changing his life and turning him into what he is today.  And though I deserve some credit for that, my true talent (if I have any at all) is to be able to recognize rough unpolished diamonds and uncover their true potential.  Vinod’s mind was like an open box when he first came to work for me, and absorbed everything I taught him like a sponge.  Not only has he turned into a great martial arts instructor, but he’s also  turned into one hell of a kick boxer.  Check out the short clip below (man I’m a good teacher )

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN2BR7SJHog

Here are some photos of the event:

Yet more great feedback from a Zen-Do student.  I admit I never get tired of hearing it .  Here’s what Sharon Paul Kaur says about Zen-Do:

Since I live in Hamala, I used to see the Zen-Do sign every time I was on my way home, or out. The word “kickboxing”, really caught my attention. One day, I finally decided to visit Zen-Do and see what it’s all about. It really excited me, because here is a way to keep fit without being boring. I was so bored of the usual jogging or aerobics, and here was a change. Not only that, since starting Zen-Do I’ve seen an improvement in my coordination and reflexes, because a lot of the techniques and exercises are based on these.

The instructors and the team at Zen-Do are a really friendly bunch. I look forward to going to Zen-Do, especially to see what the instructors have planned for the day, for us victims

After I started, I even enrolled my son into their Little Ninjas program. Zen-Do to me, is adrenaline, heart pumping. Not only that, I’ve made some really good friends here with the other students, whom I meet up with, on a regular basis.

I use Zen-Do as a stress buster. Punching and kicking those bags helps me take out a lot of my stress. After a workout, I’m more relaxed, more calm, and more focused. Ever since I joined I also feel like I’ve become more toned. I have more stamina and more energy, which really helps since I have two young children.

I have just recently joined Zen-Do’s Black Belt Club, and I hope to see this through till my Black Belt. I have just started sparring as well, which is a whole other experience from the regular classes. It’s that one step higher. I haven’t missed a sparring class yet, and I think I’m seeing progress in my sparring skills as well!

Overall, Zen-Do has been a really good experience and I’m hoping that this experience continues.

Sharon Paul Kaur

Why not test drive Zen-Do for yourself.  Call us on 17 611 909.

Talk to you soon.