Harmony Day 2017 wrap up

I'd like to offer my thanks to the stalwart crew that participated in this year's USQ Toowoomba celebration of Harmony Day. Thanks to Brady, Eric, Matt G and Sian for turning up, setting up, talking to the public and generally having a good time. In true Harmony Day spirit, the weather even cleared and held for the day! And for once I ended up on the winning side of the annual "tug of peace". 

We even managed a few more expressions of interest in various Club activities.  

The next major public even that the Club is scheduled to participate in will be the Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival in August, so we will wait with anticipation to again share our passions with the wider Toowoomba community! 

Confirmation of Annual General Meeting Saturday 1 April

In line with the requirements set out in the Club's constitution, we shall be holding the Annual General Meeting at 4pm on Saturday April 1 at the Mort Estate Activity Centre (MEAC) right after the conclusion of the first Taste Tester session for the year. 

Could I ask that you please attend, as we need to ensure that we are quorate for important business such as confirming the Club's Executive, and receiving the official reports from the Club's office bearers.  

To aid this, could you please ensure that you have paid your membership dues for the 2017 year, and that you have filled in a Membership application/renewal form for this year. Everyone must complete this form, which can be found at http://www.bbrd.org.au/s/BBRD-membership-form-Current-Feb-2017.pdf

Please hand in completed forms to your sensei at training or e-mail to enquiries@bbrd.org.au  

If you are paying by direct bank transfer, please ensure that you include the reference "YOURNAME 2017 memb"  so that we can more easily track these payments.

A separate e-mail will be going out later today with more details.

Taste Tester starts April 1

The 2017 Semester 1 Taste Tester series will commence on Saturday April 1 kicking off with Jujutsu. A full timetable of the weekend series will be e-mailed to everyone later this week, including a link for how to pay for the sessions you are interested in. Taste tester sessions will run from 2–4 pm and will cover a wide spread of activities supported by the Club. It will run through for the remainder of the USQ semester, barring the Easter long weekend where we will be hosting open seminars by Andrew Seyderhelm and Kurt Graham.  

In signing up to the Taste Tester. Participants are also granted general Club membership, which they can convert to full participant membership at any stage. 

If you are interested in a single session, the cost is  $30; for two sessions it will be $50; for up to five sessions it will be $60; and for the whole series it will be $75. 

Look for details in your e-mail in-box and on the BBRD Facebook page in the coming week! 

Easter Weekend seminars

I'm excited to provide more details regarding the Easter weekend seminars that the Club will be hosting.  

First up will be a Systema seminar delivered by Andrew Seyderhelm on Easter Friday (14 April) on the theme of Slavic movement — how the particular movement patterns that are found within Systema approaches help to range, close the gap and engage with opponents. The seminar will run from 2.30–4.30 pm and will be open to all who are interested. 

Andrew was a foundation member of BBRD and I have always found his seminars extremely valuable due to their careful planning, interesting conception and good physical challenge. Recently, Andrew has been training in Canberra with a System group that follows the Kadochnikov syllabus and aproachs, rather than the Vasilliev/Ryabko branch of Systema. He has said that it is much more closely aligned to the type of training he experienced in the early days of Systema in the West, and more applicable to real-world situations than the direction that some branches of the Systema family have moved towards. 

The second seminar will be a two session event delivered by Kurt Graham, kyoshi 7DAN on the Saturday. The first session will be 9.30–11.00 am and will cover aspects in the new Arnis Escrima syllabus. The second session from 11.30 am–1.00 pm will focus on concepts in Japanese Jujutsu. Again, these sessions will both be open to the wider community and all are welcome. 

Kurt sensei hardly needs introduction to the BBRD community. As one of the premier martial arts exponents in the world, his real-world approach and thorough experience in traditional Japanese bujutsu is rarely matched. 

As an extra special event for current BBRD jujutsu practitioners, there will be a third session in the afternoon from 2.00-4.00 pm that will exclusively focus on Ittoshinkan Core bujutsu drills, and act as the first gasshuku for the ITSK organisation. We expect to have some of the ITSK's other senior instructors at the Saturday event, including Jason Griffiths sensei from Brisbane, and Mike Hendrikse sensei who will be travelling from New Zealand to attend. 

Prices for the open parts of the weekend are: 

BBRD Members:  $30 per session or $60 for all three sessions
General Public: $40 per session or $90 for all three sessions

Lunch on Saturday will be an additional $5

For the Gasshuku, which I strongly recommend that all BBRD jujutsu practitioners attend, the session will be $15. 

This represents exceptional value given I have seen seminars of similar caliber range into the hundreds of dollars to participate. 

I look forward to seeing a full MEAC over the Easter weekend! 

Date saver: Monday 10 April

With school holidays almost on us, it is the time of year to have a proper spring clean of the Dojo and held out with a more thorough clean of the MEAC floor.  

The Club has been asked to assist on Monday 10 April with moving some of the heavy objects such as the piano so that all the nooks and crannies can be dealt with. If you are available from 9 am, we will also be doing a spot scrub and removing as many of the built up cobwebs as we can too. This is good timing for the seminars we have coming up over the Easter long weekend. 

Please let Michael know ASAP so that we can roster accordingly. 

Jodo inter-dojo training 18 March

Hello All,

This past Saturday was the inter-dojo training with Chushinkan Dojo of Brisbane. Glen Henry Sensei with five of his students came to the MEAC to guide us through a 2 1/2 hour training session concentrating on the jo and with a 1/2 hour demonstration of kenjutsu kata, omote jo kata, and chudan jo kata.

I found the session very helpful, with not only Sensei Glen's informative instruction but also with paired practice with advanced practitioners of the art. I hope I speak for everyone in thanking everybody who came up from Brisbane to help out with the day, and especially to Sensei Glen Henry for helping to organise our periodic get togethers.

The next mixed dojo training day is expected to occur in late April. Keep an eye out for announcements.

Eric

Late posting for Jodo

Hello All,

Apologies for the late posting, but due to communication issues scheduling couldn't be finalised until now.

Jodo inter-dojo training will take place this Saturday (18 March) at the MEAC (yes, in Toowoomba) starting at 09:30 hrs (9:30 am). It would be good to see all Jodo practitioners there. I would suggest to show up before 09:30 in order to make yourselves ready for training by start time. Bring your uniform (dogi & hakama if you have one, or a Karate or Jujutsu gi would be fine), jo, and bokken (both long & short version if you have them).

I will be at the MEAC at 09:00 to give the Dojo a bit of a spruce up, I would greatly appreciate any assistance with this.

Training will follow with a demonstration in various flavours of Jodo.

See you there.

Eric

Jujutsu etiquette: what to do if you are running late to class

 A large part of what we do in the martial art is concerned with the practice of mindfulness and commitment to act. This is expressed through every act we engage with within the training space, and should be reflected in all aspects of your lives. A very small outward sign of this is manifested in being clear with your sensei when you have commitments that take you away from your regular training habits, and always trying to be punctual to class so that it can commence on time.

Despite best intentions, at times you will be caught up and inevitably run late. The question then becomes how to integrate yourself into the class without causing too much disruption.

For most Japanese martial arts, the protocol is to get yourself dressed and equipment prepared as quickly as possible, position yourself in the far corner/low seat of the training area, and wait for acknowledgement by the sensei to then enter the training space and slot in with what the rest of the class are doing. This is often done when there is a small pause between specific exercises so as not to interrupt the flow of the class. Usually this is done in the seiza kneeling posture, unless you are physically unable to do so. Before entering the training space, you perform rei (bow) to both the sensei and to shomen, then take your place at the nearest available opening — not necessarily where you might "usually" position yourself due to considerations of rank or habit. Again, it is about minimising the disruption to the class.

Sitting in seiza till you are invited to join provides you with the opportunity to engage with zazen  — the meditative aspect of our training that mentally prepares you for the session ahead. However, the question often asked is in regard to the physical aspect of preparation for a class. This is because when folk do arrive late, they usually do so part way through jumbi-undo (the physical warm up). Generally it is assumed that you do a brief, relevant warm up before you sit in seiza. Obviously this will depend on the activity you are about to commence.

In Jujutsu we will be instituting a new protocol from this week for completing the physical part of the warm up should you find yourself late. We will be setting up the two "spare" tatami as a warm-up zone. You will be expected to do ten "bridge" exercises, ten "shrimp" exercises, and ten forward rolls (5 right and 5 left handed) before taking position in seiza. If there are a few of you running late, you will have to wait for the previous person to finish their set of exercises before starting yours. After this, please follow the protocol set out above, and wait to be invited to join in the class. 

I hope that this makes the procedure more clear. I will be reminding everyone over the next few weeks so that it becomes embedded in what you do without having to think too long about it. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Bon voyage Greg Nicholas sensei

On behalf of the Club, I would like to extend best wishes to Greg Nicholas sensei for his imminent relocation south of the border. 

Greg sensei has been a constant throughout my time learning Kendo, and has been immensely important to the development of many kendoka in Queensland over many years.  His wit, warmth, clarity of explanation, brilliance of technique and generosity will be missed by the whole Queensland kendo community, and can only be an asset to New South Wales. We hope to catch up with him at upcoming national level events, and extend an open invitation to visit Toowoomba at any time. 

Date saver: Saturday 15 April Kurt Graham seminar

I just wanted to make sure that everyone in the wider circle of BBRD members and supporters knows that we have locked in the date for the next Kurt Graham seminar.  

Toowoomba will be hosting Kurt sensei on Saturday 15 April for a morning of martial arts excellence. Those who know Kurt sensei is one of the finest martial arts practitioners I have ever had the privilege to train with and under. His personal training history speaks for itself and those that have been to previous seminars will attest that he is an erudite and entertaining teacher, and that everyone comes away with a new appreciation and understanding of what we practice.  

Details will be finalized this week, including cost, duration and focus. We are likely to organise 3-4 hours of session with two or three foci — definitely jujutsu and self defense applications and possibly Arnis Escrima, depending on levels of interest.   

This will be an open seminar, with BBRD members, friends and the general Toowoomba martial arts community most welcome to attend. Look for the confirmed details in next week's bulletin!