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Thursday,15th May 2008
CONTENTS:
1. Funding for New Mats Provided by
2. Aikikids Gradings And Changes
3. Members’ Family & Friends - Self Defence Morning - 10.30am Sunday 1st June 2008
1. Funding for New Mats Provided by
Late last year our Head Instructor and then President, Danny James applied on behalf of Griffith Aikido to Queensland Government’s Gambling Community Benefit Fund (GCBF) for a grant to help fund the purchase of new mats for our Nathan dojo. Although we also made a contribution to the purchase of the mats, this valuable acquisition would not have been possible without the $6,724 provided by GCBF. With those funds we were able to purchase three 10m x 2m rubber-based carpet strip mats and sixty-four rubber jig-saw mats.
We are absolutely thrilled to receive this funding because we can now offer a much wider range of options for children and teens within our club. As you may be aware our child and youth membership has undergone huge growth in the last 12 months. Our Nippers, Aikikids and teens classes currently run on Saturday mornings and we are now looking at additional time slots. Our Aikikids program allows children under the age of 12 years to learn the principles of Aikido, the Art of Peace, through fun and structured play. They benefit from the art of aikido, but also from the confidence, self-respect, self-discipline and strongly positive social interaction that aikido develops. Our ‘teens’ program gives teenagers the same benefits of aikido and personal protection, and adds further value by contributing awareness skills and assertive non-engagement techniques which are highly practical for the realities of secondary school social situations.
The new strip mats will enable us to run larger children’s and teen’s classes and provide more children with the opportunity to do aikido. Even more importantly, the new mats will significantly enhance safety as numbers grow by simply providing more mat space on which children can train, but also by allowing the separation of children of different abilities into smaller distinct groups in the same training area.
The new jigsaw mats improve our capacity to offer the benefits of aikido and self-defence programs to school children, at their school. We have visited many schools over the past twelve months, including a small group of autistic children at
The new mats are an exciting addition to what we do, as they provide our club with a much greater ability to disseminate aikido and the benefits of aikido to the wider community in a much stronger way. I acknowledge the strong contribution of the Gambling Community Benefit Fund to our club’s activities, and look forward to the continued strong expansion of the children’s classes within our club, as well as our schools program.
Finally I would like to encourage all members who receive this Skukan News e-letter to forward this particular edition to all your friends and family. We are extremely grateful for the valuable funding support received from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund. Accordingly we are proud to publish our formal acknowledgment below.
“The
2. Aikikids Gradings And Changes
Hi Aikikids Mums & Dads
There will be a grading for Aikikids on 31st May. I will be advising the kids’ classes this weekend which children are eligible for grading.
We have been operating on a scheme of coloured tips on a white belt to recognise rank. While this system has worked well for us to date, the continued growth of our Aikikids program has made it apparent that a more visible belt system will enhance training and safety. The belt that children will be changing to will be a colour belt the same as their current tip, with a white stripe down the middle (like Levi’s junior black belt).
To assist this process of changeover, we will introduce a grading fee of $10 which will purchase the belt and grading certificate when children grade.
I am, of course, available to answer questions and receive feedback about this change to grading. Or I can be reached at steve@... or on 0432 269 534.
Steve Mitchell
3. Members’ Family & Friends - Self Defence Morning - 10.30am Sunday 1st June 2008
On the first Sunday in June (1st June) we are holding a free self defence morning for the friends and family of Griffith Aikido members. You and your guests will receive two hours of free instruction and have the opportunity to try out some simple protection and escape techniques first hand. This free 2-hour Sunday morning session will run from 10.30am to 12.30pm. It is open to all Griffith Aikido members and their guests as well as all of our Saturday morning Mums and Dads and guests. Any additional family members and friends will be most welcome. We will have two of our accredited self defence instructors along to give you superb instruction plus two trained assistants. So please bring along your brother, sister, Mum or dad or perhaps a couple of your cousins and friends to this ‘one-only’ free self defence morning. If you have no friends to bring, you are still welcome to come along.
Please note that this is not an Aikido class. There won’t be any white gi’s, hakamas, bowing or Japanese speak to be seen or heard. This is everyday simple self defence strategies based on Aikido principles that everyone can use immediately. The difference is that you and your guests can come and learn the basics of self defence in this self-contained 2-hour course, whereas it takes a lot longer to learn the art of Aikido. Dress is comfortable clothing with no shoes, no jewellery or piercings. Although it will be a very informal session with lots of interesting things to try, our usual high safety standards will still apply. In addition, every one participating in this session will be required to sign our standard indemnity form before commencing the class. People under the age of 18 will require a parent or guardian to sign for them. So come along and have some fun and learn some very useful basics of personal protection.
Shirin Mohebbi
Email: shirin(AT)internode.on.net
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