Successful grant application for Automated External Defribulators

In wonderful news for the Queensland Kendo Renmei and the Club, the grant application that was lodged with the Gambling Community Benefit Fund last year was successful, and the Club in now in receipt of two Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), one for Toowoomba and one for Gin Gin.

AEDs are an important but expensive component of a comprehensive first aid kit. In cases of a cardiac emergency, the availability and use of an AED doubles the chance that someone will survive. However, due to their cost, they are not often available when needed.

The successful grant will mean that if the worst was to occur, we would be able to give that person the best chance possible, whether it happened to be a Club member, or a member of the general public.

Many thanks to Tom Johnson sensei, President of the QKR, for putting in the many hours of work to put together the grant application and seeing this process through to the distribution of AED units to the various QKR Clubs that have participate in this scheme.

AGM outcomes and the direction of the Club in the next few months

It is again with some mixed feelings that I am reporting on the outcomes of the Club’s AGM, though for different reasons than were around this time last year.

Despite my best intentions to step down from the Presidency to both provide clear space to focus on my studies , and to give the incoming Executive a chance to forge a new direction for the Club, I currently find myself reviving my old e-mail signatures and making plans for the year ahead.

I would first like to thank Dr Eric Tavenner for his just over a year at the helm. He had certainly done some good work in relation to steering the Club through a renegotiation with Holy Name Catholic Primary School regarding he hire of the MEAC, and had overseen the purchase and renovation of storage systems for Club use.

Unfortunately, due to a disagreement regarding management systems and lines of accountability within the Club, Dr Tavenner tendered his resignation just prior to the AGM, including withdrawing the teaching of SMR Jodo under the umbrella of the Club. I am personally saddened that we were unable to come to a resolution of these matters, and I wish Dr Tavenner all the best with his future endeavours.

So despite trying to encourage someone else to take the reins, I was duly returned as the only person nominated for President. Also returned at yesterday’s meeting were Brady Albrand as Secretary, Grant Vickery as Treasurer, and Sian Carlyon shifting responsibilities to being the General Memeber of the elected Executive core. Many thanks to Kateena Martin, who stepped down from the Secretary’s role, and the Sian, who has been the treasure for the past few years, for their contributions throughout the year.

Also (re)appointed to discipline coordinator positions on the executive are:

  • Jujutsu — Brady Albrand

  • Kendo — Sean Thompson

  • Systema — Michael Conroy

  • Taiko — Tomoko Po and Michelle Wiersma

  • Iaido — Tracy Campbell

  • FlexiFit, Go, Arnis — Michael Baczynski

  • Kyudo — Daen Fryer

  • Ex-officio Gin Gin dojo representative — Tamara Kelly

We are also in discussion with Tom Johnson sensei for replacing SMR Jodo with a ZKR Jodo study group in the near future, within the obvious restrictions that COVID-19 is imposing on us. I will be taking the coordinating role in that discipline as plans progress.

Many thanks to everyone who has stepped up to take on these roles, and I will very much look forward to you over the course of the coming year.

At the AGM we also discussed the Club’s strategy for moving forward over the next few months with online classes. Over the past few weeks, we have successfully been running Systema, Iaido, FlexiFit, Taiko and Jujutsu sessions online. While we cannot fully recreate our training environments online, we are quite confident that we are able to do some good work in this space. Sessions will be mostly focussed on existing practitioners of the various arts, but as we get more confidence in this space, we will be extending the availability of classes to new members. We will be placing our log in details up on our online classes webpage http://www.bbrd.org.au/online-classes over the next day or two, so please check this regularly to get the log in details for the classes you are interested in. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have both Jujutsu jumbi undo and Systema principles classes, so please join us!

We will ask that all people who participate are current financial members of the Club. Please attend to this ASAP if you have not done so already. We have also instituted from this week a class “10-pack” that can be used for on online classes as a way of meeting the ongoing operational costs of the Club. You will need to either make your regular monthly contribution or use a “10-pack” to participate on-line. New members will receive a free “10-pack” on joining .

So enough for now. And as always, I will look forward to seeing throughout this year, first over the camera and eventually in person!

Michael Baczynski
(once again) President

AGM 2020

Hello all,

Just another reminder that the annual general meeting is this Sunday (19 April) at 4 pm (1600 hrs). Due to restrictions on meetings the AGM will be held in Zoom. Zoom details TBA.

Please make sure that you have paid your yearly membership dues, insurance fees and the relevant art fees before the AGM.

Thank you and see everybody on Zoom.

Online classes rolling out from this week

The last fortnight has certainly felt a little strange as we have all adjusted to the constraints of the socially distanced life. Sara and I went out on our first “commuting” bicycle ride together this morning — a jaunt out from and back to home— in an attempt to make our work day seem a little more normal, and at least get out in the beautiful fresh morning we have today.

It is a good time to remind everyone that best practice guidelines suggest that at a minimum you ought be doing 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week, with a minimum of 30 minutes per day is ideal, in order to maintain good health. And good health, both mental and physical will be necessary to ride out the next few months while we are all in the current state of lockdown.

To help both your physical and technical capacity, the Club will be starting to offer some modified classes via Zoom. We have already had a soft launch with Systema last week, and Michael C will be continuing to run one hour sessions of Systema callisthenics and solo technical drills from 7 pm Tuesday nights and 11 am Saturday mornings.

We will be rolling out FlexiFit, Iaido, Kendo suburi and Jujutsu jumbi undo from this week, and other disciplines including Taiko, Arnis and Go will be looking to offer sessions too. Links to the classes will be available later today (Monday 6th) via the Club’s COVID-19 page (www.bbrd.org.au/covid19) and we shall also be putting up additional resources for you to look at and read in order to ensure that you can come out of the other side of this period ready to start training.

The Club has purchased a Zoom Pro account, through which we will run the sessions. We may be asking for folk to make a small contribution so that we can continue to offer this service — for instance a “10 pack” of classes for $20— but we will make an announcement about this in next week’s Bulletin once we have had more of a discussion around what is fair and sustainable.

For this week, if you are interested, simply contact your regular instructor/discipline coordinator for the log in details including meeting ID and password.

Hope to see you in the (virtual) dojo this week!

AGM 2020

Hello all,

The annual general meeting (AGM) will proceed on 19 April at 4 pm.

Due to the restrictions on in person meetings, the AGM will be conducted via Zoom (details on connection ID, password and instructions on connecting through Zoom will be given prior to the meeting).

Hope to see everybody in Zoom on the 19th.

Eric

COVID-19 Closures: Keep calm and do suburi

Last night the inevitable happened, and there has been a ban placed on all gyms and indoor sports activities (among other things) from midday today in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the broader community.

I understand that this can be everything from mildly upsetting through to deeply distressing, as we are pared back from much of the routine of our lives, and distanced from the activities that are deeply supportive such as the face-to-face community of the dojo and its ability for us to be able to leave the worries of the broader world at the door with our shoes. It affects our income earning capacity, and our familiar ways of tapping into the support networks we rely on to keep us sane and healthy.

However, I want to provide a clarion call to everyone who feels a little isolated or a little lost with what to do over the coming weeks, as we as a society attempt to flatten the rate of infection so as to keep underneath the threshold of what our medical services can provide support for.

Even physically separated, our community is strong. You are only as far away as a phone call, a text message or a video chat. In between continuing my studies via Zoom for the next few months, I will be looking to provide some virtual dojo sessions across the arts I teach so that we can continue to keep the pot that is filled with our basic skills simmering and ready to go once we are again able to train physically with each other.

Be calm and do suburi! Your back yard, garage or lounge room can easily be turned into your corner of the virtual dojo. I will be posting some instructions regarding how this can be managed in the coming days, as well as some times I’ll be online so that we can train together, alone, in solidarity.

Remember to reach out and check on each other too. This is actually what our community is about — caring for each other when times seem uncertain.

I will post an update once details become clearer. At a minimum, we can expect that everything will effectively be shut down till at least after Easter, and most likely beyond that.

Take care, be safe, wash your hands, and I will look forward to seeing you over the video link, or eventually back in the dojo soon!

BBRD annual general meeting

Hello all,

It is that time of year again where we have our annual general meeting (AGM). The meeting will be held on 18 April (Saturday)…time and venue TBA.

Please note that all members, new and old, that are continuing with BBRD will need to have their annual membership fee paid before the AGM. Please also ensure that your insurance fee and the annual discipline fee/s are paid as well.

Barring any unforeseen banning of all meetings due to the corona virus, we will ensure to comply with all advised venue and separation requirements that are in place on the date.

Please watch for future announcements about the AGM: venue and time notices, and updates on any changes due to recommended corona virus procedures.

Everyone stay healthy and see you at the AGM.

Eric

Rick Beal sensei Kyudo seminar: Please await confirmation this week

As an addendum to the general concerns over COVID-19, we will be making an announcement later this week regarding the planned Kyudo seminar at the MEAC this weekend.

Unfortunately, this will miss the post out of the Budo Bulletin at 10 am Monday. Please keep an eye out in the Club’s social media channels to find out the latest, or directly contact Michael B.

(COVID-19) Class Suspensions: FlexiFit, Kendo, Jujutsu, Systema

Hi folks, after quite a number of discussions over the weekend, it is with a heavy heart that I need to announce we will be suspending FlexiFit, Kendo, Jujutsu and Systema classes in Toowoomba for a least the next four weeks. We will be evaluating the risk for Gin Gin classes tomorrow, and will make an announcement very soon.

COVID-19 poses a serious risk to vulnerable members of the community, and we need to take those risks seriously. While most all of the regular Club members would fit into low risk categories, we all have people that we care deeply for that would be at serious risk due to an infection.

The main thing that we are trying to achieve with the suspension of classes and other social distancing measures is to “flatten the curve” of the infection rate, so that medical facilities, particularly ICU and cardiorespiratory support are not overwhelmed with the case load. As one Toowoomba-based ICU doctor’s observations points out, COVID-19, heart attack, motor vehicle accident etc. are all very survivable if he has a bed for you. Our task is to help ensure that.

Effective from the weekend, we have stopped what are the highest risk classes for transmission. This is in part inherent to the nature of those classes such as Systema and Jujutsu which involve very close quarter contact with each other, or aerosolisation of bodily fluids, such as when we kiai in Kendo. In addition, due to the lack of regular cleaning at the MEAC, we cannot ensure that surface-contact based transfer can be minimised unless we spent the vast bulk of our training sessions cleaning the floor, our mats, and other surfaces.

At this stage, we will still be running Iaido, and on the back of Rick Beal sensei’s visit this weekend, we might start running some semi-regular Kyudo classes for those interested. Both these activities are low-transfer risk due to the necessary space required for safe practice, and minimal floor contact. However, we will be continuing to monitor and evaluate this situation as the days progress.

I am sure that everyone will share my disappointment that we will have to take a break from our regular schedules. Already, we are seeing cancellations of events such as the Australian Kendo Championships and the Australian Iaido and Jodo Seminar and Championships.

Stay posted. I will be putting up suggestions via the Budo Blog on how you might be able to continue your training at home through the isolation period.

Keep well everyone, and I hope to see you all back soon once we have a clearer picture going forward.