What’s Coming up at BBRD?

While we are heading towards the end of the month, I’m excited to see the return of some old classes, the start of a new time slot/class and some major events coming up in the month of September. 

Coming up this week ...

First, Michael C is back from his trip to Canada to visit family and to attend the Systema summer camp. He is scheduled to recommence Tuesday night classes from this week, and has confirmed he will be there both Tuesday night and Saturday to run classes. For those of you who have been hanging out to try or recommence Systema, this week would be a perfect opportunity to do so. 

Second, Michael S will be starting a second fencing class this week. It will run from 6–7.30 pm of a Wednesday before Kendo and be focussed as an adults class, leaving Tuesday nights as more of a children’s focussed class. 

Third, after more than a month away, Dylan ought to be back this afternoon to run Arnis and Systema at the MEAC from 5 pm. It will be great to see both him and the others get back into the swing of things. 

Fourth, there will be no Jujutsu training this Saturday. Brady and I are off to Brisbane to complete the practical component of the NCAS coaching accreditation on Sunday, and so will need the time Saturday to prepare. Kendo ought to be unaffected. 

To things coming up in September ... 

The Club has two committments on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd September. It is the weekend of the  Australian University Division 1 National Championships, which will see Kateena Martin represent USQ in Kendo and Jack Baker represent in Judo. It is also the weekend of the Toowoomba Carnival of flowers, for which the Club has been asked to deliver a Taiko and martial arts demonstration in the Toowoomba Japanese Garden. 

While this will split the Club’s available members between the Gold Coast and Toowoomba, I’m confident that we will be able to have sufficient to properly support both events. We will be talking to folk this week to lock support, and let you know what we will be requiring at both events.  

As always, have a great week ahead, and I will look forward to seeing you at the dojo! 

Taiko venue Thursday night this week

Taiko with the resl. drums will be on again in the St James Anglican Parish Centre at 145 Mort St Toowoomba. Please come and join us, if you can, from 6pm to help set up the drums but for those who can only come later we will be starting drumming from around 6.15 - 6.30pm. Come along when you can!

Be the Influence training

I received a reminder from Wanita Lawson this morning regarding the Phoenix Central run Be the Influence training. It is designed for those who hold a leadership position within a Clubs or Societies, Student Representative Committee, Academic Student Representative Committees or as a Team Manager for Nationals, and certainly those that are looking to step into leadership roles within the Club over the next few years. It helps to develop personal skills that are transferable to work and study life, and to think more strategically about how the Club can be better promoted and managed. 

Details are:

When: Friday 17 August
Time: Starts at 9am – 12noon
Where: Steele Rudd Dining Hall, Toowoomba Campus
Lunch will be provided.  If you have any specific dietary requirements please send an email to wanita.lawson@usq.edu.au by CoB today. 

To book in use the following link: 

https://payments.usq.edu.au/OneStopWeb/USQEvents/booking?UDS_ACTION_DATA=Z1pdB0A3LQROW1UBSkJDcSxQQgxPLDQbWklKLQEyUzQORVBS 

Languages and Cultures Festival wrap up

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who came and participated in the Club’s 10th outing at the Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival.

The combination of the cold south-westerly bluster and the extremely dry conditions threw up fragments of grass akin to small blizzards at times, and it felt like it was a touch colder than the past few years have been. However, both Club members and Toowoombans came out in force to support the City’s annual celebration of our diverse multicultural community. 

It was great to see folk who had been absent for some time from the Club pop past and say hello, and to have people drive great distances to participate in Club activities and engage with the crowd. Tamara came all the way down from Gin Gin, Randy was an absolute work horse while introducing the crowds to the fundamentals of Kendo, and Rob D cut a striking figure as always (and attracted many who wanted photos with him) in his full yoroi. 

I very much enjoyed catching up with Michael S, who was doing a roaring trade introducing the crowd to the art of fencing, and likewise with Eric fresh back from his week at the International Jodo gasshuku. It was very satisfying to see the Takatsuki-donated taiko drums be used by Tomoko, Sian, Michelle, Jun and Arielle. Brady, Jack and Oliver cut great figures demonstrating Jujutsu. Kendo was well presented by Sean, Kateena, Hernan and I — including a great deal of fun in some balloon geiko. The Iaido crew of Sian, Tracy, Tamara and I cut a solid performance in testing conditions, including some tamashigiri work, where we were aided by Sean and Rob D. 

And of course, a day like this cannot work without the efforts both big and small of all the members who came to spend the day sharing what we love with the wider community. For me it was very gratifying to see everyone step up and actively working together to fill in all the gaps throughout the day. It was the first time that I actually had an opportunity to sit back a little and not have to be on my feet talking and directing for the whole day. A special thanks from me goes to Kateena and Tracy, who actually insisted on (and organised) food for me at more appropriate times through the day (rather than scoffing “breakfast” around 3 pm). 

So with another year done and dusted, we shall look forward to doing it all again in 12 months time. We will probably have to spend a bit of effort getting the grass fragments out of both Club and personal equipment, but I am pretty happy to say that it has certainly been worth it!

Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival this weekend

It is that time of year again— Sunday will be the tenth outing of the Club in support of the Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival. 

The set up will be broadly the same this year as in previous years, with a dedicated demonstration area adjacent to the combined USQ/Languages association marquee, a separate smaller marquee outside the entrance and two tables with the USQ area where we can set up a set of Go boards and taiko drum display out of the sun. We are scheduled to do active public demos from 12.30 pm, but will be practicing fairly much from completion of set up (around 8.30 am) till close of the day at 4 pm. We hope to show our usual spread of Jujutsu, Kendo, Iaido, Arnis, Systema, Taiko, Jodo, Go, and include Kyudo (at least the taihai if not the actual shooting of arrows), and European fencing. 

We will need as many of you there as can make it to set up, demonstrate, and pack up at the end of the day. I know that some of you have out of town committments — particularly Jack B who will be helping out and competing at the Gin Gin Judo tournament over the weekend. However, for those of you who can, please come for as long as you can stay, and every little bit of assistance make a huge difference to the success of the day.  We will do a equipment pack at the MEAC Saturday afternoon 5 pm, and arrive at Queens Part 7.45 am Sunday so that vehicles can be out by 8.30 am and everything ready for the public at 10 am. We will be packing up at 4 pm, and heading to the Dojo straight afterward and commencing the unpack. For demonstrations, our busiest time is the 11am-2 pm period where there are the largest crowds in for lunch, so it would be most helpful if you can be there for that. 

For everyone intending to be there, please let me know ASAP as I can then forward the exhibitors/vehicle passes as necessary (so you won’t have to pay to get in).  

Please being all of your equipment and uniforms as we shall be cycling through the various disciplines and many of you will most likely be doing double duty. We will of course have Club equipment there and back up clothing/uniforms if you miss something. A water bottle and sun protection is also highly advisable. Even if you cannot physically demonstrate, we will still require you to interact with the public to hand out flyers and let people know a little about what it is we do. And the food as always will no doubt be delicious, so make sure you have some spare coin for that as well!

Have a great week everyone, and I hope to see many of you on Sunday.  

Taiko for breakfast!

Following up on their recent successful Toowoomba Camellia Show Taiko performances, Toowoomba Taiko performed on Saturday morning to a small audience at St.James Anglican Church for their monthly fellowship breakfast. After advising the audience to turn their hearing aids down if they had them, four members (Tomoko, Michelle, Gary and Sian) played several pieces on the wonderful Takatsuki-donated Taikos to the delight of those assembled.

Their next gig will be during the day at the BBRD stand in the Toowoomba Languages and Cultural Festival next Sunday in Queen's Park.

As a result, we have been given permission to hold on to the drums until after next Sunday, so we will be doing our usual Thursday night training session, this week only, in the St James Parish Centre, 145 Mort St from 6-7.30pm. Please come along if you want to have a go on the real Taiko!

SMR Jodo Gasshaku

Hello All,

The Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo Gasshaku at Camp Warrawee, near Petrie, started on the 4th of this month (Saturady) with a formal welcome occurring on Sunday.

Training started in earnest on Sunday with kihone starting at 0600 hrs (6 am) for an hour.  Following breakfast, a brief history of SMR Jodo in Australia was presented, followed with a formal bow in and then two hours of omote training. After lunch more omote and ken training took place followed by open paired training until dinner time.

That was just the first full day of training.  The rest of the week will be similar, with Wednesday being a free day.

There are a good number of practitioners attending the Gasshaku with ample opportunity to train with people with various and varying techniques and styles.  There is also plenty of good insight being given by Sensei Pascal Krieger, the president of the European and International Jodo Federation.

See everybody at the Language and Cultural Festival.

Eric

No Jodo this week

Hello All,
Due to the SMR Jodo Gasshaku being down in Brisbane this week (and my being down there as well), jodo will be cancelled for this week.  Training will resume as normal starting next week.
Eric

Fight for life wrap up

It was a glorious day yesterday for the IBF training day/Fight for life fundraiser. As always, I very much enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with the broader martial arts community, and to spend a good part of the day training across a number of disciplines. This year both Tracy and Kateena made the trip down the hill, with Ramon Lawrence sensei, Tom Johnson sensei, and myself providing a demonstration of Kyudo at the end of the day. The Kyudo makiwara I hastily made the day before held up to the task (both of being transported down to the event and having ya fired into it). I also drew some amused comments regarding quick costume changes (Jujutsu gi, to Iaido, back to Jujutsu, and then for Kyudo). 

Many thanks to Peter Hills sensei for again organising the event, for all of the session instructors for their patience and generous feedback, and of course to all the participants who came and made the day a success. $950 was raised for the Charlie Teo Foundation. Will again look forward to next year and hope that more of you can make the event!

Training this week

Sessions this week ought to be broadly as per usual. However, due to Minty’s potential unavailability of Wednesday there is the possibility that Kendo may be cancelled for that night. Additionally, as I will be going down to Brisbane of the Sunday, I will not be able to be in the dojo Saturday afternoon, so again there will be an advisory on both the Jujutsu and the Kendo sessions, based on Brady and Minty’s availability to run them.  

We will make announcements over the next day or so, but please bare with us and I’ll hope to see a bunch of you for tonight’s sessions!