griffithaikido : Message: Thursday Notices

Thursday Notices – 14.12.06

This is your Thursday emailout of notices for 14.12.06 to club members and interested parties on Yahoo groups regarding club matters and upcoming events. If you have something to include or a constructive comment to improve this newsletter, please let me know.

Hello everyone,

Our club President has suggested we give these Thursday Notices a name. Any suggestions? Just email me back and I’ll start offering your suggestions for comment next week. I was also thinking our Japanese club members may have some plays on Japanese words/concepts which might work.

‘Griffith Kiai’ has been suggested by Simon Sensei. Kiai is variously translated as ‘spirited shout’, ‘fighting spirit’, ‘harmony within oneself’ (as opposed to aiki which is harmony between two people), or alternatively unification of one’s ki (or spirit) within. If one has harmony in oneself, one is always strong and harmonious. Expression of that is the voice, so very often kiai is expressed in the voice. So normally when people say kiai they mean the voice that comes from the harmony of oneself.

Any comments or more suggestions?

Steve M.

Contents:

1. Call for Volunteers this Saturday

2. Last Week for 2006 (almost)

3. Xmas Party

4. Club Sponsorship

5. Membership Form to be completed in January

6. Cleveland Dojo - Weapons in the Park

7. GUAC 2006 Planning Retreat Report

8. Previous news (but good news) – worth another read!:

1. Call for Volunteers this Saturday

The club mats are being steam cleaned after class on Saturday. If you’re coming to the class, could you please consider staying back after the class for a while to help manhandle the mats as needed while the cleaner does his job.

Ben Hamley

2. Last Week for 2006 (almost)

The club will have its last official Nathan dojo class prior to Christmas on this Saturday 16^th December. Logan and Red Hill dojos will also be closed during this time. Classes will resume on Monday 8^th January, 2007.

BUT…if you really can’t get by without an aikido fix, Simon will be running a South Brisbane dojo class tomorrow, Friday 15^th, as well as Friday 22^nd. See previous news below, or the website for details of times and location, and please let me know if you’re coming.

3. Xmas Party

Thank you to all those who made the Christmas Party a success. It was a very enjoyable and relaxed afternoon, and great to catch up with club members and other aikidoka from around Brisbane in a social environment. It’s wonderful to feel part of a much wider community of aikido practitioners, and to share our experiences and thoughts with them. Thank you to Tony Neal for his efforts, as well as staring down any stray park-goers who may have wanted our booked area!!

4. Club Sponsorship

We are proud to announce our new sponsorship arrangement with Brisbane based residential home loan manager, Direct Credit Home Loans Australia. As part of an ongoing relationship, Direct Credit Home loans has made an attractive home loan offer to our club members, their family & friends. In addition, they have offered to pay us a spotter’s fee on each home loan referred through the club.

I sent an email last Friday detailing our sponsorship arrangement with Direct Credit Home Loans Australia. If you didn’t receive it but want the details, please let me know. Many thanks to Gary Weigh, one of our brand new 3^rd kyu’s, who has arranged this sponsorship.

5. Membership Form to be completed in January

I just want to remind everyone that you will need to complete a new membership form for 2007, when you return in January. There is a membership fee (see previous news below), but mat fees which you should have already paid in December cover January as well.

Jutta Dowdy

6.        Cleveland Dojo - Weapons in the Park

For anyone feeling the need for some training between Christmas and New Year, I will be having an informal weapons session on Thursday 28 December.

Location:        Cox Park, Richard Street, LOTA
Time:              From 9.00am
Clothing:        Comfy attire - no need for gi's
Cost:               $2.00 to cover the sausage sizzle

After the training we will adjourn to my back deck (just across the road @ 53 Richard Street) for a sausage sizzle and some cold liquid (BYO liquid of choice). If you need to keep any drinks cold I have a fridge (you can put the drinks in before we train) on the back deck.

Note : -- for the purpose of catering I need to know who will be there, so let me know if you want to come
Phone: 0419 023 700
Email: aikido@...

Thom Hansen

7. GUAC 2006 Planning Retreat Report

Griffith Aikido has grown into a very successful dojo but it’s a bit like the proverbial iceberg, with a lot of activity below the surface to make it so. Therefore last weekend your executive and other interested people took the trip to northern NSW to The Permaforest Trust which is owned by our aikido friend Tim Winton. After a fabulous lunch which had been provided for us we walked up to the purpose built dojo for the first session of The Planning Retreat lead by our very own Gary Weigh.

It was hard yakka, but somehow Gary managed to keep our group focused on the task at hand and by the time dinner was served we had managed to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for our club and had a list of Goals for 2007. Then after our stomachs were full, the second session started, looking at defining our vision and mission statements. Luckily it wasn’t a marathon session like the first or I think there would have been a revolt J, however the group did manage to let it’s hair down around a fire with a couple of guitars (thanks to Paul, Andrew and Chris). A neon glowing fire twirling stick also added to the laughter.

The next day started with a cooked breakfast and then our club president/chief instructor was put under the microscope. Difficult for Danny but a little bit of fun for the rest of us to watch him squirm. We examined leadership and how that translates into our club culture and how the club operates. We then looked more closely at Danny’s leadership style, as it is very important to the current success of the club. We also considered our plan of action if a succession of leadership is thrust upon the club at some stage, as it is a possibility.

We finally got one last chance to have another tasty vegetarian meal, a little tired post-retreat conversation, then we thanked our hosts for their hospitality and took our leave.

Overall, a long weekend with lots of work and a little play. Many thanks to those who attended and contributed their thoughts and concerns, cautions and enthusiasm, as we look to the future. Planning as professionally as we have will help us to continue our growth and replicate our successes. A very special thank you to Gary who volunteered his professional skills.

Charlene Willis

8. Previous news (but good news) below – worth another read!:

Weapons Training

Hi everyone,

With XMAS nearly upon us the dojo will be closed for some time. I'd like to encourage all the aiki-nuts out there to consider weapons training if you need an aikido fix during the break. O'Sensei studied a number of weapons arts (in addition to the daito-ryu-aiki-jujitsu) before developing aikido. Weapons training is a vehicle that allows us to develop an understanding of body alignment, power in our movements, grace and fluidity. It develops a greater awareness of the line of the attack, where the power is in an attack and how to move with/around it as well as an awareness of ma-ai (correct distance). Maruyama sensei provides us with many weapons kata to develop our understanding of these. These include:

Bokken

Sword of nine directions (how to tune and focus our minds in different directions giving 100% to each)

Free wielding sword (to develop fluidity of movement)

Shinken koro no ken (to fully develop power in cuts)

Sword of the dream (to explore meditation through sword and pure cuts)

also 2 seasons and 4 seasons kata are used as well

Shooting Star

Butterfly

Jo 3 (to explore the other weapons that Jo encompasses)

Also have the 4 count and 5 count kata

There are many many other drills as well that we do in class and are suited to solo practice as well. Additionally there are Bokken parts for partners in the Jo kata that allow us to more fully understand the martial significance of the kata

Paired Kata

These kata are done with a partner Ken vs. ken, Ken vs. Jo, They develop an awareness of Ki extension, ma-ai and an understanding of the openings created from attacks (and highlight movements that we can improve on)

Rising moon - learning to mirror our partners movement

Lightning - learning to move before our partner

Kumijo - an excellent tool for understanding where the power in an attack starts and stops, moving on a partners ki, ma-ai at 4 different ranges, finding shikaku

Sengakuyenno tachi (Shinkage Ryu sword kata) taught at last seminar 'Do not forget' Maruyama Sensei said!

Maruyama sensei also encourages us to practice them left handed as well. In fact the Jo Kats finish with the Jo held in the opposite hanmi in readiness for this, thus conventionally an additional 'ichi' is added to them to allow the Kata to finish in the starting position for grading purposes

For those interested a number of Nathan students and I have been practicing Kumijo from 6-6:15pm prior to the Tuesday and Thursday classes (but after mats are down and uniforms are on), we would be pleased to have you join us

Danny James

Gradings - Congratulations

What an exciting evening it was with 17 people grading at all levels. The whole room was buzzing with anticipation and joy each time someone finished their grading. As many watching students remarked: “It was great to see the progression as the grades moved up one step further".

Our heartiest congratulations go to the following students who all performed exceptionally well

2^nd Kyu: Timothy Piatkowski & Suresh Thennarangam

3rd Kyu: Garry Weigh & Eri Takahashi

4th Kyu: Azim Hamid & Dominique O'Brien

5th Kyu: Sheree Anderson & Shirin Mohebbi

6th Kyu: Karren Hutton/ Eric Ohlsen/ Aaron Robertson/ Keita Hada

7th Kyu: Steve Bowen/ Ross Ebert/ Brett Wilcock/ Paul Blyth/ Matthew Burt

The pizza party at the end made it a memorable evening.

We also added two worthy (1 retired from aikido) students to our Life Membership list:

Dr Edwin Dowdy

Dr Michael Coughlin

A beautiful certificate was presented to them by our Sensei to remind them of their past services to the club.

Keep up the training everyone! We hope to see you all at the Christmas party on Saturday 9^th December . Training will continue until 16^th December.

If you are already heading for overseas or other holiday destinations, have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Jutta Dowdy

Mat Fees and Club Membership Fees – please note changes to notice

Jutta wants everyone to know that Membership fees are due at the beginning of the year and should be paid in January. Remember that mat fees paid in December cover January as well, so it will be the usual mat fees in December and then membership fees in January. The University requires University clubs to charge a membership fee. The University has also recently required us to charge Griffith University students a lesser membership fee than other members (this does not apply to other students from other educational institutions). Great for GU students, same as always for the rest of us.

Please be advised that annual membership fee in the new year will be $15 for all members who are also bona fide Griffith Uni students. For other members, including instructors, annual membership fee remains at $30. Children whose parents are financial members (and therefore have paid the membership fee) don't pay membership fees. Other children pay a membership fee of $10.

Also, if you have graded, there is a small grading fee. As always, it is not good etiquette to have someone chase you.