O-week wrap up

I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who turned up and helped out with Orientation Week activities. It was a very successful time or the Club, with nearly 40 folk providing us with contact details on Market day and another half dozen making independent enquiries regarding the Club over the week. We even had a couple of new folk come along last week to train, and I am looking forward to seeing even more new faces over the coming weeks. 

Market day was perfect weather again this year, and shifting the position of the mat and being prepared with cleaning equipment made it far easier to protect the demonstration surface. The addition of a new 9x9 m tarpaulin laid underneath the mats also ensured that we had the least amount of "mat drift" for a public demonstration, making the day more enjoyable and safer than in previous years. We even dragged out Mr J Tamishigiri at the end of the day for some test cutting, which was large amounts of fun!

I want to especially thank Dave Johnson and his Kyokushin students for this demonstration, Eric Tavener for a run through with Jodo, and Maaike Stehouwer for sticking around the extra few days in town to once again spruik the Club to the University community. And of course to Brady, Ray, Jack, Tracy, Matt G, Sean C, Jonn, Rob C, Sian and Tomoko for their contributions on the day. 

So I'd like to wish everyone a great start to the academic year, with regular classes commencing this week, and hope to build on the Club's solid start throughout the year!

Welcome to O-Week!

Welcome everyone to the start of the new academic year at USQ. I hope that everyone enrolled in courses this year, whether at USQ or other institutions, have a smooth and productive year ahead.  

O-week allows for a refocus and recommitment to activities, even for the "old hands" among us, and I am looking forward to the year ahead, which promises many great opportunities both inside and outside the Club. 

To kick things off, the Club will again be participating in the O Week market day, which will be on Thursday 23 February. We will be in our usual spot in the Quad, just opposite C Block (near Heritage Bank). 

I would love to see as many of you as can make it along to help out on the day, or even to simply say "hi". We are scheduled to be there from 8.30 am till 3.30 pm, but will require some assistance setting up at 8 am and help through to around 4 pm to "bump out". We could also use some assistance on Wednesday 5.30 at the MEAC to help pack equipment into Brady's ute and my wagon. 

Tuesday night training will be spent refining some of our demonstration "set pieces", so please make sure that you can come along  that night. Also please make sure that all of your personal equipment and uniforms are clean and in good order, so that we are puttin forward our best to the public. I will look forward to seeing everyone there! 

Taste Tester is back!

At the meeting yesterday, the Club Executive discussed the running of a "taste tester" this semester in a similar vein to courses that the Club has run in previous years. 

What the taste tester provides is an opportunity for new folk or members who have been away from the Club for more than two years to come and get a weekly sample of the activities and disciplines that the Club supports.  

After a very constructive discussion, we decided that a once a week format, with sessions to be held Saturday afternoons from 2.30–4 pm will be the best way to ensure that folk are able to attend without disrupting usual training schedules, and to maximise the chances of inviting senior practitioners from outside Toowoomba to come and support what we do, particularly for newer activities such as Kyudo and Taiko drumming where we are still very reliant on outside guidance. 

We will be firm in up details this week in the next week, and will be providing more information on Thursday at the market day. There will be a number of "packages" for the taste tester, for instance the "Full Taste", "Pick and Mix", "Weapons disciplines", "Unarmed disciplines", and "Activities only" that will be set at various prices. As in previous years, the cost of the course will cover annual membership, but not insurance/activity fees for 2017. 

When the final details are confirmed, I would ask that everyone push out the notification to your wider networks (social media and otherwise) so as to maximise the reach and encourage as many folks as possible to come and join us! 

Cleaning of the MEAC

At the Executive meeting we held on Sunday afternoon, we spend some time discussing the arrangements for cleaning the dojo of a Saturday and the general usability of the dojo during the school week.  

As you are probably aware, the Club is in an arrangement to give the MEAC a thorough cleaning, including the toilets/bathroom on a Saturday afternoon before Jujutsu training. The Club offers "dojo dollars" for participating, which can be offset against training contributions. However, attendance has been variable to poor, and it is falling onto the same one or two folk to take on the lion's share of the work. 

We have also been noticing that by mid-week, the floor of the MEAC is becoming particularly grotty, to the point where we are coming home from iaido on a Thursday night with very dirty feet. This dirt is, of course, tracked onto the mats if we are not very careful about wearing foot ware appropriately. 

As a result of this, we have undertaken to implement a few changes and reinforce a few practices that have tended to lapse over the past few months.  

First, could everyone please bring a dedicated pair of thongs or other easy slip on/slip off foot ware to the dojo. These are to be different from your street shoes you wear to the dojo, and must be worn anywhere off the mat, especially if popping outside for a drink or going to the bathroom. In addition, please minimise walking across the keiko jo, or practice area, which is defined by the red line in the MEAC. If there is sufficient interest, we can investigate whether it might be viable to get some "official" BBRD thongs made up. In addition, please check the state of your feet before you come in, and clean them with the tap outside if needs be before training. 

Second, I am establishing a new expectations that all BBRD members turn up to a Saturday clean at least once per University semester (i.e. three times per year) . This is part of your service obligation back to the Club and will not be eligible for consideration of dojo dollars.  

Third, We will formally be making Tracy Campbell the coordinator for Saturday cleans. If you wish to be considered for dojo dollars, you must sign up with her before the end of training on Thursday night. 

Fourth, we will be asking the school and Extend After School Care if we could get into the MEAC around 5.40 pm of a Wednesday to give the MEAC floor a wet mop down before FlexiFit, just to keep the level of filth down somewhat.  

Hopefully, with these tweaks, we can maintain the space to a level that we are more comfortable with.  

Annual General Meeting 1 April

Just a quick note for folk to place Saturday April 1 into their calendars as the date for the Club's AGM. We will be holding it at 4.30 pm in the MEAC instead of jujutsu that afternoon. Please attend, as this is an important part of setting the Club's agenda for the year ahead, and provides ordinary members with a say in what you would like the Club to provide over the subsequent 12 months— both in terms of classes and equipment. We will also be voting in the Executive team for the year ahead. 

Formal notification of the meeting and associated documents will be sen out next week. 

Jodo training cancelled for Feb. 22

Hello All,

Jodo training will be cancelled for Wednesday, February 22.

Jodo training will resume as normal the following Monday (27 February) at 7:00 pm (19:00 hrs).

Eric

Welcome Toowoomba Taiko

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Tomoko Sneath and the other members of the newly formed Toowoomba Taiko into the BBRD family. 

Tomoko is an academic a USQ's Open Access College, and has been working over the past few months to start up a taiko drumming group here in Toowoomba. With the support of the Japanese-based Takatsuki Drums, Tomoko hopes to grow the numbers interested and participating in regular practice sessions over the coming months. 

The Club will be assisting with promoting the group to the University and wider Toowoomba community, and providing support in the writing of grant applications and the such like.

The first session will be Monday 13 February at the MEAC from 7.30 pm. All are welcome. 

One of the first orders of the group is to create a range of practice equipment. This will be done as an interim until they are able to obtain authentic taiko, as Japanese constructed drums can run into the thousands of dollars to purchase. 

If you are interested, you can contact Tomoko via e-mail at sumomotom123@gmail.com or just turn up to the Monday night training sessions. Just bring yourself, comfortable exercise clothes and some water. Training contributions and membership/insurance are the same arrangements as for other Club supported activities. 

Dogi wrangling part 1 ...

I spend a little time Saturday afternoon going through the uniforms tub in the store room to see what is currently out an unaccounted for. On the list (all jackets) are:

1 Size 5 Fight World brand white single weave
1 Size 5.5 Fuji brand white double weave
2 Size 6 Fuji brand white single weaves
2 Size 6 Sports Master brand white double weaves
1 Size 6 Fight World brand black single weave

If you have them sequestered away in your cupboard, please bring them to the dojo this week or call me to let me know when you will be returning them to me, again, no later than this Sunday. 

Uniforms cost at least $100 to replace, and they will be needed for the expected flush of new students that inevitably start from O-week onwards. Please, do not be "that guy" and require me to chase you in regards to this. Just saying ...

Jodo Inter-dojo training

The Jodo inter-dojo training took place on Saturday 4 February. It was a hot day, but the training session was good...the finer points of Omote Kata were covered.

The future dates for training with Glen Henry Sensei and his students are as follows:

18 March - Ipswich 10:00 am
29 April - Caloundra time TBA
10 June - Brisbane 10:00 am
22 July - Ipswich 10:00 am
2 Sept. - Caloundra time TBA
14 Oct. - Brisbane 10:00 am
25 Nov. - Ipswich 10:00 am

Please not some of the training times and places may change, but will be posted on this blog and on the calendar.

Eric

Weekend training for this week.

I just want to give notification that I will not be running regular classes this weekend. Saturday I am heading down to Brisbane to get some training in at the Kenshinkai and with Don Ouellette, and as such will not make it back in time for Saturday afternoon. 

However, the MEAC will still require its regular clean, and we shall discuss during this week if people wish to have n informal training session regardless. Likewise, having spent a whole day away in Brisbane, I will need to attend to home-based stuff on Sunday, and so will not be available for kendo.