Many thanks for USQ’s Virtual Open Day

I just wanted to express a quick word of thanks to everyone who participated in the USQ Virtual Open Day on Saturday.

A fine set of demonstrations by Daen and Jon (Jujutsu), Sean and Lachlan (Kendo) and Tracy (Iaido) provided an accomplished backdrop while Jenny Rix, Student Guild CEO interviewed me about the Club and what it had to offer..

The interview was live streamed, but a recorded version ought be made available later this week. Once it does I’ll send out a link so that you can see how we did!

Reminder: Club participation at Virtual Open Day

Just a quick reminder folks, that the CLub is scheduled to participate in the USQ Toowoomba (virtual) open day at the CBRC this Saturday morning from 10–11 am. Could you please let your instructor know of your availability/willingness to participate to help put the Club on display!

COVID update

As most of you would be aware, Toowoomba has from today been included in the same level of restrictions that have been in operation within the Greater Brisbane area in order to track and trace the Wacol-centred cluster of COVID-19.

This does not directly affect the Club operations, as we have an active COVID-19 plan. However, I would ask that you please be diligent in following it. This includes ensuring that you set up your gear 1.5 m away from each other, and if you are unwell, please stay away from the dojo until your symptoms resolve and/or you have returned a clear COVID test.

On Saturday we placed a few more discrete markers in the dojo to help people gauge the distances around the perimeter of the keiko-jo. This included up on the “stage” area so that we can squeeze a few more “bays” into our available space.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either the relevant instructor or the discipline coordinator.

Could you please also check the Queensland Health list of identified “hot spots” even if you are feeling fine. Remember that the incubation period for COVID is 14 days, and people are infections for up to 4 days before symptoms manifest.

If you have been to an identified hot spot you must stay away from the dojo until you return a negative test for COVID-19.

In the swing, in the groove ...

I’m writing on a Sunday night for this week’s Bulletin. Regular readers might note that this is somewhat uncharacteristic, as my preference has generally been to do so on a Monday morning in time for our copy/distribution deadline at 10 am.

However, a Sunday session is likely to be my habit for the next 15 weeks (COVID-based interruptions not withstanding) as I embark on the next phase of my studies, with clinical placements for my Physiotherapy degree. 0730 work starts will do that to what has been a fairly leisurely Monday start for the last few months. This will no doubt also mean some interruptions to my availability in the Dojo and for administrative matters during this time. I would ask that if you have queries regarding issues at the Club, that you contact the discipline coordinators or Executive members in the first instance. as I may not be able to get back to you as quickly as I would otherwise like.

I wanted to mention how lovely it has been to see the influx of new faces into the various classes, and to see the dedication of our regular attendees as they polish off the bits of technical rust that developed over the lockdown period. We have had two visits from Ivan Hills, who drives all the way from Gin Gin for a Saturday Class. Folk continue to regularly attend the Zoom session for FlexiFit, and we are starting to get some interest in our regular class video stream. With the Club’s diaspora continuing to have an active role in what we are doing, it has been feeling a bit like “getting the band back together”, without the nuns, Illinois Nazis, or police car chase (well not yet anyway).

We continue to be living with uncertainty regarding how the next few months will pan out. We are only a few errors away from a Victoria-like situation, but can hope that with good planning and vigilance we can avoid this. Some things that I would certainly encourage at the moment include

• Be vigilant and methodical with your physical distancing and hand hygiene. Your small actions will have a material affect on others.

• Come into the dojo as often as you can, because you do not know when we may be forced to take another break, or for how long

• Check in with yourself and check in with your friends and family. Dealing with a pandemic is a marathon effort, and people become both mentally and physically exhausted from it.

So I hope that everyone has a good week ahead, in spite of some interruptions that have intruded on our plans. And as always, I will look forward to seeing you in the dojo (physical, virtual or second)!

COVID Update

Many of you will be aware that on Saturday the Queensland Chief Medical Officer provided an update on Saturday morning regarding the current status of the community transmissions of COVID that have been experienced in the greater Brisbane area. This has triggered further restrictions regarding private gatherings across the State, which are now limited to 30 people, except for the Greater Brisbane area, which is currently limited to gatherings of 10. Organisations with current COVID plans are not affected as yet.

As active current training members will be aware, We have asked that if you have visited one of the areas in Greater Brisbane that you refrain from coming into the dojo till at least this Saturday. While the Lockyer Valley Regional Council area is identified as one of the affected areas, the maps provided indicate that the area included is the eastern portion of the Region, specifically East of, but not including, Gatton.

This means that if you live/have family you visit in Murphy’s Creek/Upper Lockyer, or work has taken you to Gatton you are still fine to come in this week.

We ask though if you are currently experiencing any unwellness, no matter how mild, that you stay away from the dojo this week until the situation becomes a bit clearer. Remember that we will have the Zoom cameras up and operating in the dojo this week, so if you are stuck at home, you can virtually participate or just simply watch.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

USQ Open day and Club demonstrations

Although the Club’s community engagement calendar has been drastically curtailed due to COVID-19 restrictions, we have an opportunity to take part in the ‘virtual” component of the USQ Toowoomba campus Open Day on Saturday, 5 September.

We have been invited by Jenny Rix, CEO of the Guild, to do some rolling demonstrations at the CBRC between 10–11am as part of a live video stream. We will be making some plans through this week to see what we will present, but can you please let your instructors/discipline coordinators if you available that morning so that we can know what will be possible to do.

Have a great week everyone, and I’ll hope to see you in the dojo!

Coming up over the next few weeks.

Winter is still here in Toowoomba, and while we are not experiencing the biting cold that friends and family are further south, I was certainly glad to be able to restart the home fire this morning from last night’s residual coals.

It has been lovely to get the Club’s classes up and running over the past few weeks, and settling into the new space at the Clive Berghofer Recreation Centre. I have been very pleased to see old faces return to the dojo and a number of new faces start up across most of the classes we offer. It has also been lovely to have the luxury of time to be able to update some of the Club’s systems, including the website, and promotional materials. For me, this is about to end, as in two week I will be commencing back to back 5-week long clinical placements, that will see me exit out the other side in December, just before the still planned QKR summer seminar. My first placement is in Toowoomba, though in a different area to the one I had keen initially told, so I will have to do a little more condensed preparation than I had been hoping for. This means that the next couple of weeks will be the last I can do for a little while in terms of intensive Club work, dropping back to the teaching commitments I can sustain for the duration.

Fortunately, I think that we can certainly have all the important things up and running by this time, and I am ably assisted by the whole Executive and Instructor/Coordinator team here at the Club to keep the ball rolling forward to the end of the year.

Things that you as general members and friends can do to help include:

• making sure that you continue to turn up on time, keep your gear in a tidy and presentable fashion while in the dojo, and leave at the end of the session efficiently. Not only is this part of our COVID planning, but helps to get me home before 10 pm of a week night.

• Make sure all your training dues and membership fees are kept up to date. This allows us to continue providing the services that we do. If there are questions or issues, please talk with your relevant instructor/discipline coordinator.

• Take and active part of the conversations we have in our group chats and social media. Not only does this help to promote the Club to others, but it lets the Executive/Instructor team know what we can do to help make your experience more conducive to training

Before I disappear into particulars of clinical placement, I will be working with the Exec team to launch a few promotional activities both to the University and wider community. Can I as that when you see things come through for the Club, please like and share them, as this gets our message out there and brings people into the dojo. We will also be working towards finalising the set up of the physical space and AV links to that everything is set to operate efficiently over the next few months.

As always, I’ll look forward to interacting with all of you this week. Stay warm, have fun!

Virtual dojo links are live!

Saturday afternoon marked the first time that we had simultaneous, video linked training between Toowoomba and Gin Gin dojos. It was really satisfying to be able to support our sister dojo remotely, and I hope that everyone in Gin Gin felt part of a larger integrated class.

There were some hiccups, namely an audio lag that required us to mute the Gin Gin end, and a power outage in Darling Heights that cut the lights at the CBRC (yay for streaming using an iPad and back up mobile data). And we have a few things to sort at the CBRC end with the video projector so that we are able to use the “big screen” to more easily see what is happening at the other end. However, we have made a solid start and will continue to make improvements over the coming weeks.

This week, all CBRC dojo sessions will be streamed over Zoom. For those of us who might want to participate or watch but are not physically near either dojo, you can ask an instructor or discipline coordinator for the log in details, and look at the current class timetable to know when the session you are interested in is on. With a little bit of luck and planning, we might be able to entice the Sydney-based members of the Club diaspora to join in regular sessions in the coming weeks!

For those wanting to participate, we will have the same rules apply as we operated under our COVID-19 shut down. Specifically, you need to be a current financial member of the Club, have an emergency plan letting someone know where you are and what you are doing in the unlikely circumstance that you become ill or injured. And we ask that you either purchase a virtual dojo 10-pack or pay a monthly contribution to the Club so that we can continue to offer this service.

I’ll look forward to seeing you either in person or across the screen this week!

August already

The paradox that I think many have felt this year is both how quickly this year has flown by and how slowly time seems to have passed. I think that what has generated this is the fits and starts of our existence since March— both the rapid and dramatic change to our regular schedules and then long periods of physical stasis overlaid with huge volumes of external events happening beyond our cocooned lives. A new “normal”, indeed.

Looking at the Club calendar on Saturday with the picture of Michael S and Sean T at last year’s Festival, I certainly felt a strong sense of absence of our regular August rhythms, especially the regular activities we plan for and participate in. Toowoomba’s Languages and Cultures festival was an early scratching from the calendar, as was the IBF training day usually hosted by Peter Hills sensei in Brisbane, as might well be Carnival of Flowers if we have a resurgence of community transmission in the coming weeks.

Still, we need to continue moving forward with our training and planning for contingencies. This week we hope to set up our Virtual Dojo sessions running out of the CBRC, with the Kendo, Iaido and Jujutsu running via Zoom on Saturday. We will be doing some testing on Tuesday and Thursday night to see if we can get stable connection and useful camera angles. Once we manage this, we will be letting our Club’s diaspora know the relevant log-in details so that they can participate.

I wanted to commend everyone for their efforts over the past fortnight in getting back to the dojo, and in the swing of our COVID-19 protocols this part fortnight. In particular, it was heartening to see near our full compliment return to Kendo this week, and to be able to do full keiko with our new face shields and masks. While it will be a little bit of desensitisation training required in order to get used to the increase of stuffiness caused by the PPE, I am certain that we will be able to improve on both our comfort and our fitness over the coming weeks.

I want to remind everyone that we still need to be vigilant and methodical with our COVID-19 responsibilities. We have managed to mark out one keiko-jo on the dojo floor, and will be marking out the other this week. If you have not done so, please make yourself familiar with the COVID-19 Members’ Charter, which sets out what we all need to do in the dojo.

I wish everyone a happy and productive week. Looks like we will have a bust of typical August weather ahead, with a mix of fine warm days and then a cold damp front washing over us in the later part of the week. Maybe in reminding ourselves of the old normal, we care reconnect and mould it to fit the new. Be safe everyone, and I’ll look forward to seeing you in the dojo!

Matsuyama Dojo monthly training

I wanted to provide a quick note of thanks to Tom Johnson sensei for hosting us on Saturday to train Iaido and Kyudo.

It was the first of what we hope to be monthly trips to Pine Mountain to sharpen our skills in both disciplines (COVID-19 restrictions permitting).

For me, it was delightful to reconnect with Kyudo, after having missed out on Rick Beal sensei’s visit in March. It was a grounding and embodied morning spent focussing on the small stuff, and just working on getting protocol and physical action correct.

We are hoping that with regular sessions, we will grow the number of folk practising here in Toowoomba. When we get closer to the end of this month we will put out another reminder to see who might be interested in making the trip down!