Call for Social Media support

Just a quick request for those of you who interact with Budo Blog posts via Facebook. Could I ask that when you see the post, please give it a like, click on it, and even share it..

The Club does some amazing stuff, and it would be great to have that more widely known in the martial arts and wider communities. Social Media algorithms are pretty brutal in that the fewer likes or clicks a site receives, the further down it is put in people’s news feeds (if it appears in them at all).

One thing you can do is to make sure that you select the option in Facebook to view all of the BBRD posts. If you go to the BBRD Facebook page and look at notification settings, you can select to see all posts, and “see them first”.

Hopefully, with more photos of our activities throughout the year (hint, hint, remember your entries for the 2021 Calendar competition), we will have sufficient to use some other social media channels such as Instagram. When these accounts are set up, it would be great for all our active members, friends and supporters to interact this these as well.

The spirit of the beginner

Sho Shin Wasuru Bekarazu — Don’t forget the spirit of the beginner

This concept is important in the martial arts in that no matter how advanced one is in their particular art, the need to continuously start again and practice the basics is paramount. Because everything is built upon the basics, the ability to develop and understand the advanced techniques will only come with the further refinement of the basic movements of the art. This is reflected in the cycle of learning in the martial arts; where one starts out as a beginner, knowing nothing of the art, then progresses to an intermediate stage where the feeling that one knows the art is present (and is a dangerous stage in the practitioner’s development in the art) and then finally moving on to an advanced stage in the understanding of the art, where one then comes back full circle to the beginner and feels like there is much more to learn about the art.

Not forgetting the spirit of the beginner will also inform an advanced student when they train with a novice, or lower level, student. One must be mindful that who you train with may be at a stage where their knowledge, skills and experience is below that of your own, so when you train with such a student you need to set the pace, intensity and strength of the training to be challenging, but not overwhelming, to your training partner. This will encourage development of their skills (which is the goal of having a beginning student training with a more advanced one). However, if the more advanced student sees such training as an opportunity to only practice their more advance techniques or to treat the training as a competition, where the objective is to defeat the training partner, then this will inhibit the development (and possibly the spirit) of the more novice training partner.

Finally, no matter how skilled one is, there are times when one needs the correction and instruction of a teacher. Often times a more advanced practitioner will feel dejected, embarrassed or frustrated when instructions are given on what they feel they already know, this is only their ego getting in the way of their improvment. Even the most senior practitioners will know that they cannot know it all…there is always some aspect of the technique that needs improving, even if it has been practised one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand times before. Keeping in mind the spirit of the beginner will allow any practitioner to take correction on their technique as that, a correction that is aimed at improving their technique.

Let’s all work this year on keeping in mind the spirit of the beginner.

SMR Jodo summer seminar

During the Australian Day weekend, SMR jodo held a summer seminar. The seminar was held at Camp Warrawee in Brisbane during the Saturday and Sunday. The seminar was lead by both Glen Henry sensei and Adrian Knight sensei (both menkyo kaiden).

Saturday (starting at 09:00) consisted of working on ken kihon, which included various iaido style techniques, cutting techniques (both solo and paired) and stances. This was followed by work on kasumi shinto ryu kenjutsu kata. Practice then concentrated on omote kata until lunchtime. After lunch, intermediate practitioners then worked on chudan kata and with advanced practitioners working on kata up through gohon no midare (the 6th kata group for jo). After dinner, Glen Henry sensei gave a demonstration on shodo (the art of Japanese calligraphy).

Sunday practice started at 06:00 with jo kihon, followed by breakfast. After breakfast, some combination drills were practised to aid with development of techniques within the kata. Following this, intermediate members went back and worked on polishing chudan and then continued with free practice of both omote and chudan kata until lunchtime. Senior members worked on okuden kata. Lunch was followed with an embu.

Overall the seminar was filled with good instruction by both menkio kiden instructors and by the senior practitioners, and there was ample opportunity for all to improve their skills and understanding in the ken and jo.

School’s back from summer

With the school year proper starting tomorrow, we are back to our regular routines of setting up and packing away training mats each session that we are training in at the MEAC. We are also unable to guarantee that we can access the hall until after 6 pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights due to after hours school care running in the MEAC.

Could I again ask that everyone who attends 6pm sessions to make an effort to be there on time so that we can manage the set up as efficiently as possible. And I commend those that automatically help to set up or pack away the mats even if you are not involved in a session that uses them as it is a solid sign of community building and sense of responsibility for the shared space. Many hands and all of that …

If you find moving the mats too difficult, there are other preparatory tasks such as sweeping the floor, and opening (or closing) the windows/louvers that can be undertaken to speed up the start/end of class for everyone. So please, be attentive and look to see how you can help rather than wait to be asked.

For my part, I will attempt to get classes underway by 6.10 pm and no later than 6.15 pm.

I’ll look forward to seeing everyone this week, especially a number of new faces that have indicated they will be along for their first sessions!

Club tablet up and running

With thanks to a generous donation by Tracy C., we again have a functioning SIM card in the Club’s tablet.

This means that we can use the tablet for all class participants at the MEAC to log in when they attend a class. I will be helping folk do so for the next few weeks until it becomes a habit.

We will try to ensure that things are set up to make this easy, and we shall also be using the tablet to provide a better track of time so that classes are not running into the next session as often.

I’d ask that we all be patient as we get used to the new routine, but that you ask yourself before you step into the “red zone” of the dojo-jo inside the MEAC, “have I logged into Martialytics yet?”

Club photo comp

In an attempt to set a wider diversity of images representing the Club’s activities throughout the year, we will be running a competition each month to select a picture for that month’s entry in the official Club Calendar for 2021.

Anyone whose pictures are selected for inclusion in the calendar will receive a free standard size calendar at the end of the year, or optionally only pay the difference between the standard and the large calendar prices. Anyone with two or more pictures selected will receive a free large wall calendar.

Pictures can be of any Club related activity— regular training, special sessions or seminars, and promotions or social events. Where possible, we will try to have at least one picture from each of the Club’s supported activities and disciplines, so, for some months, I may stipulate that we are looking for photos of a particular type. You can submit up to three pictures for the month, and these will be voted on by Club members via our Facebook group. Submissions must be from that calendar month, and submitted either directly to me (as the Editor of the Calendar) or via the Facebook group no later than the 5th of the following month. Members will then have one week (till the 12th) to vote on their choice. For those without a Facebook account, you can ask to see the pictures at any regular training session and let me know their choice for best pic.

In the case of tied votes, I will make a casting vote as editor.

Regular terms and conditions apply to this competition (editor’s decision is final and no discussion will be entered into once made. The calendar cannot be exchanged for cash or other item. Pictures selected for the calendar are agreed by the creator to become Creative Commons 4.0 BY NC licensed where the creator and the Club are listed as nominated parties).

Good luck everyone, and I’m looking forward to see your creative output!

Reminder: Jujutsu “lipstick drills” this Thursday

Thursday is the last training session for the month of January, and we will be putting the hard fork of the last few weeks of training to use in our bi-annual “lipstick drills”.

For those readers unfamiliar with them, they are a way of getting more appreciation for how effective (or lack thereof) defensive strategies against knife attacks are. They involve scenario based “games” where the attacker uses a rubber knife that is loaded up with lipstick to better highlight a landing blow or slash. The drills are usually pretty instructive for participants.

Because we don’t want to spend the next six months getting the stains out, please consider bringing an old, light-coloured t-shirt and pants to training on Thursday night.

We will be doing some final “pre-lipstick” prep tomorrow night at training, so please come along if you can.

Getting ready for the new school year

This week marks the transition to the new school year for those in our community who are involved with or in Primary and Secondary education. Teachers are involved with preparations and in-service workshops, and parents and children attending to last minute uniform and other equipment purchasing for the coming term. As a result, we will have to go back to our usual patterns of training area set up and pack up between now and the Easter break.

I am expecting that this week we will be asked to pack away the training mats in preparation for the biannual machine clean of the MEAC surface, so we will most likely attend to that Tuesday night. This Saturday, we will spend a little time in the store room to conduct an audit/tidy of the Club equipment. If those interested in lending a hand could please let me know ASAP so that we can plan how extensive that process will be.

Date Claimer: Wednesday 26 February Club Muster

The Toowoomba date for the start of year USQ Student Life Club Muster will be Wednesday 26 February from 12-2 pm in R-block/the Quad. Set up and pack up times will be a bit extended either side of this time, so even if you can’t make the whole event, your help would be most appreciated.

Part of what we will be doing in the lead up will be an evaluation of the suitability and stock levels for our advertising materials, so if you have any particular thoughts, please pass them through.

This year we have a number of our regular folk unable to make the day, so in order to plan our activities, could you please let me know ASAP your availability so that we can commit to specific demonstrations during that time period.

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone is having an opportunity to enjoy that dream-like period between Christmas and New Year where disruptions to regular habits make it difficult to pin down exactly what day it is, and what you are “supposed” to do. There are some of us, of course, who have had little break and who have had to return to their work and volunteering roles already. This I think deserves special consideration as their roles allow the rest of us to enjoy this liminal time between years. And of course special mention must be made of volunteers and communities facing continued severe and catastrophic fire dangers this week coming.

The Club emerges from its week long slumber this Thursday. Keiko hajime (the start of practice) will be held at 6 pm Thursday 2 January. I would encourage those that can make it to come along and participate, as we will again be engaging with a range of the Club’s disciplines over the course of a regular training evening. We shall be kicking off at 5.45 pm to give the MEAC a quick clean, followed by reiho, zazen, jumbi undo, then keiko. Keiko will finish around 8.30 pm followed by the serving of light refreshments.

If you are wondering what to wear/bring, the main thing is your cleanest and most presentable uniform, and training tools/weapons that you have (also checked and cleaned). Use it as an opportunity to start the year correctly with all of your budo related items in good order. If you wish to do multiple “costume changes”, please feel free to do so. However, there is no barrier to just being presentable in what you have, and do remember that there is plenty of Club equipment to fill the gaps of what you don’t own.

If you are coming, could you please let me know by Wednesday so that I can organise for sufficient tea and nibbles after the session.

I hope to see a good portion of you on Thursday night, and the rest of the broad BBRD diaspora for members, supporters and friends over the coming twelve months. As always, the year ahead is packed with many opportunities to participate at a local, State and National level, and to provide service to our various communities. I would like to wish everyone well and urge you as always to do your best — Gambatte kudesai!