Seminar this Sunday at the MEAC

The MEAC will be hosting an open seminar organised by RAW Combat Toowoomba on Sunday 22 June from 12-4pm.

The Seminar will feature Adam Martin from RAW Combat Melbourne and cost $50 for the session.

Bring water, comfortable training clothes (or Gi if preferred, towel), focus pads and training knives if you have them. Some spare equipment will be available on the day. The seminar will be for ages: 15 yrs and over (due to edged weapon training)

New comers to experienced practitioners welcome. For more information, please contact Rob Schyff on (07) 46353086 or 0405687582.

Kyokushin Dojo Open Day

I just wanted to say a quick word of congratulation to Dave Johnson Sensei for the inaugural Kyokushin Dojo Open day. It was great to see some of the regular faces come out to support on the day despite the awful weather!

Thanks particularly to Sian and Maaike for their very able Kendo demonstration and to Stuart for running a  Systema mini-workshop. It was also wonderful to see Dave demonstrate the Primal Move and kettlebell work he does. Plenty of thoughts for supplementary exercises in class!

I'll make sure that a full list of Dave's upcoming workshops are posted up, so please check the Club calendar for more details.

Taekwondo Kids Gradings on tonight

The inaugural Taekwondo gradings to be held at the BBRD will be on tonight (Monday 26 May) at the Mort Estate Activity Centre from 6pm.

If you are free, please come and consider supporting the students, some as young as 5, who will be attempting to grade!

Seitei Iaido on this Sunday

This Sunday is the first of the month, and we will be practising seitei iaido kata at the James Street PCYC straight after regular kendo practice. We will notionally be starting at 10.30 am, but if you can, please try to be there a little earlier.

In addition, if you are interested in undertaking iaido and need to borrow a bokken and/or saya, please let Michael know ASAP so that sufficient can be made available.

Aikido now at the CBRC

Thomas Banhazi and the Aikidoka have now made the move across to the Clive Berghoffer Recreation Centre, Baker Street and will be commencing classes from this Tuesday in the Group Exercise Room (upstairs). Classes will be from 6.45–8.15pm Tuesday and Thursday. Training may vary depending on the ability for Thomas and/or Adrian Knight to be available to instruct, and it would be a good idea to ensure that you are on Thomas' e-mailing list to avoid the disappointment of turning up to a cancelled class.

We currently do not have full payment details yet, but I understand that all people who attend class will have to pay a casual rate of $5/6 (USQ student/all others) to reception downstairs. It is also a timely reminder that in order to train in Aikido and be covered by the Aiki Kai Australia's insurance you must be a current financial member, and that these memberships are due for renewal at the end of June.

Please contact Thomas for any further details either by phone on 4631 1191 or e-mail Thomas.Banhazi@usq.edu.au 

Congatulations for successful Nyumon jujutsu gradings!

I just wanted to write a quick work of congratulations to all who came on Saturday to participate in the Jujutsu gradings.

First up I would like to thank Steve Witney sensei for forming the grading panel with me and providing that vital set external eyes to benchmark and validate the gradings that everyone received.

I'd also like to thank Brady Albrand for helping the candidates make their last minute preparations before the grading commenced.

As for the grading itself I want to commend everyone who participated. The level of resilience, determination and technical competence shone through and everyone impressed both Steve sensei and myself. To the results:

9th Kyu
Wayne Frith

8th Kyu
Maaike Stehouwer
Tony Schirmer

7th Kyu
Aaron De Smet
Dylan Green
Lauren Ole

6th Kyu (and hence progression to blue belt)
Daen Fryar

Well done everyone!

QKR Winter Seminar details

The next seminar and grading opportunity will be at the Collingwood Park Sports Facility on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of July.

On this occasion we will be offering Kyu gradings in Kendo and Iaido and Dan gradings to Shodan level (if a candidate for Nidan is interested, they need to contact Kevin Humphries urgently at president@qkr.asn.au so he can confirm whether a grading panel can be found). Some of Queensland's senior members will be attending gradings and/or seminars in Japan during that weekend, and we wish them the very best for their Shinsha opportunity.

All other arrangements for the weekend will be as usual, cost is set at $10 per day attended for all participants and QKR standard grading fees will apply.

New Club conditioning classes

Just to let everyone know that we are intending to restart Punchfit this Friday on Campus. Sean Crust, who is an experienced boxing coach, will be joining Michael Baczynski in providing some well grounded pad work for fitness and development of boxing speed and power. Please let Michael know if you intend to come so that we can provide sufficient gear for everyone. We will be meeting at 12.15 pm at the front of the CBRC and starting 12.30 sharp.

Also, if you are wanting something a little different, Lauren Ole is very kindly coordinating a session on Tuesdays 11 am at Milne Bay Aquatic Centre. The work will primarily come out of drills from synchronised swimming, the physical skills from which are directly applicable to all of the Club's disciplines (and is wonderful fun to boot). Would be great to see you there! (The picture attached is an approximation of what Michael looked like at last week's session :) )

Restarting Social Kendo at St Josephs College

This Wednesday will see the recommencement of social Kendo at St Joseph's College, Mackenzie Street, Toowoomba.

Kendo has been in hiatus at Joeys since Hatai Sensei's departure at the start of last year. However, thanks to Cody Dimech's enthusiasm, there are 12 students keen and raring to go this Wednesday at 1.30pm!

We hope to nurture this interest and will seek to expand the practice of kendo at schools in Toowoomba over the coming months.

And of course, don't forget regular kendo keiko will be on Wednesday afternoon in the GX room from 4pm.

Jujutsu Nyumon gradings this weekend

This Saturday the Club will be facilitating Jujutsu gradings from 9th through to 6th Kyu at the MEAC.

The gradings proper will run from 12.30-2.30 pm, but the dojo will be open from 11 am for set up and last minute practice. Pre-grading training will cost $10 for those wanting to attend. Grading fees will be $10 for application to grade (non refundable) and $20 for registration of a successful grade. As is done in Kendo, the full fee is payable before the grading commences and a refund shall be provided if the candidate is unsuccessful.

Please print out a copy of the grading criteria for the exam you wish to attempt and give it to Michael either at training this week or on the Saturday before 12.30.

Spectators are most welcome, so please come along and support those fellow Club members attempting a grading!