AGM 2016

A quick thank you to everyone who came along to the AGM at the end of the Dojo Day on Saturday.

The Executive for the new year will be ...
Elected members:

• President— Michael Baczynski
• Treasurer — Sian Carlyon
• Secretary — Matthew Greenhatch
• General Member — Brady Albrand

Sian will be assisting Michael with the roles of the President, and Brady will assist Matthew in the role of Secretary. In addition the current discipline coordinators are:

• Michael Baczynski — Arnis, Flexi Fit, Gym and Swim, Kendo, Kyudo, Jujutsu,
• Tracy Campbell — Seitei Iaido
• Sean Crust — Punchfit, Systema
• Jesse Gough — Fire Twirling
• Jared Greenstreet — Go
• Dave Johnson — Kyokushin Karate
• Eric Tavenner — SMR Jodo

We wish everyone good fortune and success for the coming year and hope to build on what has already been a great start to 2016.

Easter is almost upon us ...

And this, of course, means the end of the first term, a couple of weeks break from regular classes, a chance to leave the mats down for the holidays, and of course, the Australian Kendo Championships, being held this year in Tallebudgera.

First up, this Tuesday we will be starting our evening training a little later than usual as parent teacher interviews are being held that afternoon. Strictly speaking they finish at 6 pm, but we expect there to be a little bit of lag time, as usually happens.

If you arrive at the MEAC a little early please be patient and wait until Michael gets there before entering the MEAC. At 6pm, be ready to help pack away the collapsible tables and chairs that the teachers and parents will be using, concentrating on the end nearest the store room. We will try to get training started as soon as practicable.

Second, there will be no training this Saturday coming as Michael will be helping out on the scoreboard of Court 1 for the AKC. He will be going down and back on the Saturday, so if anyone would like to take the trip and have a look at some of the best Kendo on offer in Australia, please let him know. It would be great to have a few folk come and support Maaike and Ryo in their individual matches as well! Fair warning though, we will be leaving around 5 am in order to get there for 7.30 am ...

Third, I'd like everyone to take the opportunity to look at your training gear and restore, repair and replace things that need attention. We will be doing the same with the Club's gear on Easter Monday so that it is in good repair for the Dojo Open Day the following Saturday.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy and safe break. Blessings for you all to be careful on the roads, productive with your assignments, and have fun with friends and family over the next few weeks!

Notice of Annual General Meeting

We will be holding the Annual General Meeting on Saturday 2 April after the completion of the Dojo Day.

We are still looking for someone to nominate as Treasurer for this year coming. Please give it some consideration, and talk with one of the current Executive members.

Please remember that if you have not paid membership this calendar year i.e. after 1 January 2016, you will have to ensure that you pay on or before that date. If you are not a financial member, you cannot participate in the AGM, and you will not be allowed to train under the banner of the Club, as membership includes your insurance cover. We will have a PayPal reader available so you can pay on the day with debit or credit cards (if necessary). Our very strong preference is that we operate cashless — unless you have a compelling reason to pay in cash, you must either directly transfer into the Club bank account, use the Stripe facility on the Club's website, or pay on the Saturday with card.

Regular cleaning at the MEAC

First up, a big thank you to Dylan and Tracey who came in Sunday morning to help tidy up the store room of the MEAC.

You will all notice when you come in next that we have re-arranged the layout of our gear in the store room. Specifically, the School's oval tables are now next to the pieces of stage, the mats have been stacked into a single pile, and our equipment is against the wall. We will be purchasing shelves and storage bins this week to complete the tidy up of our gear, including the relocation of the Toowoomba Kendo Club's bogu. it is expected that this should make the maintenance of the space easier.

However, we do need to be mindful of maintaining the hygiene of the space. In particular, keeping the floor swept, mopping the floor and the mats at least once per week, and keeping the toilets clean. As a consequence, we will be setting up a roster, so that it isn't the same people who are always doing the same work around the dojo. Please talk with Michael this week about your availability to make your contribution to these efforts.

Harmony Day Action

Harmony Day 2016 was one of the best in recent years. Great atmosphere, quite a bit of interest in the Club, and, as always, the fun of doing what we love for a couple of hours out in the community. The Toowoomba Chronicle was out there, and a picture of Michael performing iaido kata was used as the lead photo for its record of the day (will see if we can get some more hi resolution copies).

Many thanks to Dylan, Eric, Matthew, Raymond, Sian, and Tracey for putting on demonstrations and participating on the day, and to Sean, in absentia for the loan of the gazebo, which was most appreciated as shelter from the frying sun, and then the rain that came just as we were packing up!

Autumn Dojo Day 2016

Just to provide some notice for your calendars, the Club will be holding it's Autumn Dojo Day on Saturday 2 April — the Saturday after the Easter long weekend.

Dojo days are an opportunity to come and try out something new, bring along a friend, or come along for the first time to train with the Club. We will be finalising our timetable over the coming fortnight, but we should be able to provide an experience across each of the supported disciplines and activities in a number of parallel session through the day.

So regardless of whether you are a regular, an experienced martial artist, or trying things out for the first time, the Open Day is your opportunity to extend your knowledge and have some fun!

Harmony Day celebrations this week

USQ Toowoomba campus is celebrating Harmony Day on Wednesday this week, and the Club is once more chipping in to add to the colour and movement to the day. Festivities will be in the Quad from 12–2pm.

We will have a small display stand and be doing some demonstrations that do not require using the training mats — some Arnis, Iaido, Jodo, and Kendo, in particular.  We will be running a "suburito swinging" competition for the USQ crowd, and having our usual fun. And yes there will be a prize for the most amount of swings in 60 seconds!

I would encourage everyone who is on campus to come along and participate. The food provided by the various student groups each year is excellent, and it will be a chance to fly the Club's colours for the annual "Tug of peace".

Tozando order this week

We will be putting in an order with Tozando this week to get a few items (including a zekken/nafuda order). Please let Michael know by Wednesday what you might like added and get monies deposited to Club account no later than Thursday.

Have a look at www.tozandoshop.com to see what you might want. Remember that on Tozando-branded items we receive a 15% Club discount, and the more people involved in the order the smaller the per person shipping cost!

Do-Pro video of kendo: Market Day 25.2.16

A kendo session between Michael Baczynski and Robert Kimber, at USQ Market Day last Thursday, was filmed with a Go-Pro (now renamed a Do-Pro) attached to Michael's Do (kendo body armour) 

This gives a unique perspective, a bit like a first person shoot-em-up computer game crossed with a washing machine!

Our thanks to Nik for the footage.  Domo arigato gozaimasu!

Enjoy!

Welcome to the new friends and members!

I wanted to provide a big round of thanks to everyone who participated in the USQ Market Day on Thursday. We managed to generate 45 expressions of interest in the Club — significantly up on last year. So to Adam, Brady, Dave, Dylan, Eric, Lauren, Peter, Robert, Sean C, and Will, thank you for your time in the embu-jo and for talking up a storm to generate the interest.

There should be some good pictures and footage from the day, including some from a go-pro strapped to Michael's chest while practising Kendo with Robert. We will post them up when it becomes available.