Market Day this Wednesday

Welcome back to Week 1 of Semester 2!

I hope that everyone was happy with their results from S1, and are looking forward to the new term.

The first of the Club's community commitments is this Wednesday with the market day being run by Phoenix Central. Will will fortuitously be inside the Refectory on that day, given the predicted weather, but as a result will be a little more cramped for space. We will discuss on Tuesday night what we will be providing by way of demonstrations and whom we might need to staff the stall.

Have a great week everyone and I'll look forward to seeing you at training!

Kendo and Iaido weekend wrap up.

The weekend of Kendo and Iaido was, once again a tremendous learning opportunity, and a really fun weekend away. In addition, it was highly successful, with all members and friends of the Club meeting the challenge of the gradings they attempted.

Matt Greenhatch successfully double-graded at his first seminar to 5th Kyu in Kendo, Rob Doncaster graded to 1st Kyu in Iaido, I was successful in my challenge of Sandan, and Ryo Atsumi shone as the only candidate to successfully challenge Yondan.

I would like to thank all the Sensei whose input, encouragement and assistance facilitated these successes, particularly John Isaacs, Greg Nicholas, Noriuki Tamura and Tom Johnson. Without their support in the lead up to the seminar and over the weekend, we would not have enjoyed the success that we have.

Given that this year the seminar was held on the Gold Coast, we took the opportunity to drive down on Friday night rather than do the excruciating commute both days. Speaking for myself, I would like to express my thanks to everyone who came along and make the weekend as socially enjoyable as it was successful. It is a true pleasure to share a space with folk so easy to get along with and who made all aspects of the trip a breeze. Special thanks to Matt for driving the Toowoomba crew there and back.

So now onwards and upwards! The next opportunity to grade for Kyu grades in is December, where I will be getting back on the Iaido wagon. So Excellent work everyone and we are back to regular Kendo training this afternoon, and Iaido Tuesday night!

Visitors to Jodo

Last week (4th & 6th of July) two students of Sensei Glen Henry, Mr. Darren Higgins and Mr. Ron Payne, came up from Brisbane to Toowoomba and joined us for the Monday & Wednesday Jodo sessions.  They are advanced students at Chushinkan Dojo and gave some very helpful guidance and advice concerning various aspects of jo and sword work - including warm up, kihon and kata.  Monday's training was followed by Mr. Higgins and Mr. Payne demonstrating Omote Kata for the jo and Kenjutsu kata for both the long and short sword.  Wednesday's training ended with a meal at Mort Estate Hotel with discussions on various topics in SMR Jodo with Mr. Higgins and Mr. Payne.  I would like to give a hearty thanks to both Mr. Higgins and Mr. Payne for taking the time to come and train with us, and for giving as much of their experience and knowledge as they could over the two days.

Eric

Jodo for the next two weeks

Hello everybody,

As was mentioned in the post "Training this week (Monday 4 July)" two students of Glen Henry Sensei will be coming to training on Monday and Wednesday this week.  Glen Henry is sensei of Rembuden Institute of Martial Arts and Ways of Chushinkan Dojo (https://rembuden.wordpress.com/) on the North side of Brisbane.  I will be in the dojo (MEAC) starting at 6:00 pm.  I look forward to meeting our guests and seeing everybody who comes.

Jodo will not have training on the 11th and 13th (next week) due to my having other obligations, training will be back to normal starting the following week.

Take care.

Eric

Training this week (Monday 4 July)

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the mid-year break in whatever capacity the seasonal change brings. And best wishes for any Americans celebrating Independence Day on Monday. Given it is the last week of school holidays, we are still afforded the luxury of leaving the tatami down. We will, however, have to pack them up Thursday night as there will be no training this weekend, given I will be down on the Gold Coast at the QKR seminar and grading.

We will be taking the opportunity to train Kendo at the MEAC this week, so that some of our beginners can be fitted for Club bogu in order to take their training to the next step. It will be great to have more folk kitted up and fully participating in all aspects of regular training!

This week we will also have visitors from Glen Henry sensei's Brisbane dojo. They will be training with Eric Tavener in Jodo both Monday and Wednesday night. I'm personally looking forward to it as I'm (a) batching it, with Sara away on conference this week and (b) been bitten by the Jodo bug a little, after trying my best to help Eric with the demonstration at the Geham State School. So happy coincidence! Now I just have to fit in some regular training opportunities ...

Finally, could I ask that everyone try to be on time for training sessions. On Saturday, I demonstrated the protocol for what to do when you come in late. However, this ought to be a rare occurrence. And with the tatami down, I would ask that people are absolutely ready to go at 6.15 pm for jujutsu classes and 6 pm for other classes this week. Plenty to do in Jujutsu, with our biannual focus on goshin jutsu and heiki wasa this month.

Have a great week everyone! As always, I'll look forward to seeing you on the mat!

M.

Date Claimers coming up in the next two months

We have a number of things on the go in the next two months for the Club to participate in. First is the USQ Toowoomba Market Day Wednesday 13 July, which will be primarily held during the common hour. The Club will be doing a regular spread of demonstrations and meet and greet with students. More details will be discussed in class this week and in the next Budo Bulletin.

Second, the first anniversary of John (Panda) Watton's death on August 1, and I would like to commemorate that with an event around that date. We will be discussing the details of this at the next Executive meeting, and will let everyone know ASAP.

Third is the Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival, which will be on Sunday 14 August. We are currently negotiating a suitable place to hold a Kyudo demonstration on the day, in addition to the other activities that we will be engaged in.

Fourth, the BBRD Winter dojo open day is scheduled for Saturday 20 August.  We will be advertising more widely in the community to see if we can entice a few more members. However, regardless of the "new" turn out, we will be having a usual day of fun!

Finally, Saturday 27 August is the training day for the Queensland branch of the International Budo Federation, which we have been invited to participate at. It was quite a bit of fun last year to meet and train with new folk, and I am looking forward to it this year as well!

Club inventory

I wanted to thank everyone who was able to make it in this Saturday and help out with the annual Club inventory and stock take. Adrian, Geoff, Jack, Matt, Michael, Raymond, and Tracy (with over site from Ollie) made relatively short work of the count and assessment of the Club's equipment. There are a few items that will need repair and replace, particularly in the first aid kits, but at least we have a base to work from in terms of restocking what is necessary.

It was much easier to assess everything with the shelving and storage tub system that we deployed earlier this year. It is really good to feel more in control of the storage space and to be able to keep the MEAC in a much tidier state!

Could I ask that if you are currently in possession of any Club equipment (uniforms, weapons etc) that you please bring them in this week to be sited, evaluated and counted on our inventory list. 

Kendo: QKR Winder Seminar this weekend (9 and 10 July) in Tallebudgera

This weekend will see Michael Baczynski, Sian Carlyon, Matt Greenhatch and Tracy Campbell trek down to the Gold Coast for the annual weekend long Kendo and Iaido seminar and grading opportunity. We have rented accommodation for the weekend and will be joined by Maaike Stehouwer, Rob Doncaster and Tom Johnson sensei for what should be a fun weekend of training. The accommodation apparently has a decent kitchen, a pool table and a fireplace, so Friday and Saturday night ought be well sorted in between servicing equipment for the following day!

There are a number of high ranking sensei who will be there assisting, including Shigeoka sensei, Kyoshi, from Japan, and the wealth of senior sensei that we are fortunate to have in both Kendo and Iaido here in Queensland. 

Michael, Matt, and Rob are all challenging grades on Sunday afternoon, as will Ryo Atsumi, who is challenging his Kendo 4th Dan. We wish everyone a fun and engaging weekend, and all the best to those being evaluated. 

Restarting Martialytics ...

As most will be aware, we are going to reintroduce the use of student tracking software to help streamline the administrative processes of the Club.

This week as you come in to train, could you please check that your details are correctly entered into our database. We will be using this to better target out e-mail distribution lists, ordering of equipment and training contributions.

Thanks in advance for your patience!

School holidays are here: Dojo clean and equipment stocktake

School holidays are upon us and the Club has he opportunity to again leave the tatami down for the next two weeks.

We will be engaging in our regular mid-winter clean of the MEAC and the tatami, and it also provides us with an opportunity to do a stock take and repair/replace of the Club's equipment.

Given the weather today, I am going to suggest that Wednesday afternoon and Saturday afternoon be the two main days for this activity. Wednesday afternoon will be a general clean/tidy, and Saturday will be for the stock take. Both will commence at 3 pm.

It will also allow us to trial our new cleaning roster for the MEAC. Please remember that if you volunteer, you can earn up to $40 in dojo credits (Dojo Dollars) to put towards your training contributions. The $40 pool of funds is available each week for cleaning the toilet area and giving the MEAC floor a mop down, which can be divided up to four ways depending on the number of people who sign up for it each week. The sign up roster is available next to the Club's equipment in the store room.