Reminder: Student Life Club Expo this Wednesday 24 February

Just a quick reminder that we are scheduled to be out on the Y-block/Engineering lawn this Wednesday lunchtime for our annual member recruitment activity.

We will meet at the CBRC at 10.30 am to load up any equipment and promo material we will need from the store room, be “on show” from 12 till 1.30 pm, then pack up and grab some afternoon tea afterwards.

We have a few members already locked in to give a hand, but as always, the more the merrier, and it would be great to see the wider Club group of friends and supporters, even if you just have time to drop past and say “hi”.

I’m personally looking forward to flying the Club flag and seeing if we can translate our location on campus to even more participation with Club supported activities.

Kendo Iaido swap for this week.

This week we will be swapping nights for Kendo and Iaido on Tuesday/Thursday night. We will be aiming for an 8 pm start for Kendo on Tuesday just so we are tying in with the end of Systema on Court 2, and hence will finish at 9.30 pm.

Tom Johnson sensei will be paying us a visit on Thursday night for Iaido, and it would be lovely to see everyone turn out for this training opportunity. We will confirm start time, but it is likely that we will be kicking off around 7 pm. It will be a great opportunity to receive some high level polish on your practice and to start thinking about both the upcoming Nationals in June and the (date yet to be confirmed) State mini seminar and selection trials.

BBRD Jujutsu grading oportunity 23 May

Last year’s COVID related disruptions put a crimp on many Club activities, including our regular BBRD Jujutsu grading opportunities. While we had been toying with the idea of holding a February shinsa, after discussion with eligible candidates, it was decided that we would revert to a May grading instead.

The main reason is that we have had both an influx of new students, and a period of catch up with what we have been covering in class. Given that I will be away through the week from 1 March till 2 April, there will still be sufficient time to get some intensive revision in so that everyone can give their best on the day.

If you do not have access to the current grading requirements for the level you are attempting, please let me know ASAP and I can forward another copy through to you. If you have looked through the grading requirements and have any questions regarding specific aspects of what you need to do, please let me know sooner rather than later so that we can have sufficient time to work on it.

Student Life Expo and Club muster Wednesday 24 February

It is already that time again with the start of USQ academic year rapidly approaching. I want to wish everyone starting or continuing their studies all the best for the coming year, and hope for a less disrupted year than last.

Club muster this year will be on Wednesday 24 February. This provides one of our key opportunities to interact with the University community and see if we can get a few more folk along to classes.

As usual, we will run an information booth and some demonstrations depending on available space and availability of Club members to participate. This year it will be held on the “Engineering Lawn” between Y-Block and the Japanese Garden. We will require helpers to get equipment from the CBRC and set it up and put it back, as well as staffing the booth and demonstrations. The overall time commitment for the Club is between 10.30 and 3 pm (including bump in and out), though any time that you can be available during this window will be appreciated.

If you are available on that day, it would be wonderful to have your support. Please let myself or your relevant discipline coordinator as soon as you can so that we can start to plan for the event.

Kendo SEQ regional kyu grading Saturday 20 March

Another calendar grabber for all Club Kendo practitioners is the regional kyu grading opportunity that is being hosted by the Brisbane Kendo Club on Saturday 20 March.

Unfortunately, I have a pre-existing commitment that weekend and will be unable to directly support on the day. However, I would strongly urge all kendo members from Toowoomba to support the event.

There have been some proposed changes made by the AKR Kendo board to the requirements for grading, including the eligibility to challenge for grade based on time training and time as a financial member of the AKR/QKR.

The March opportunity will be the first SEQ regional grade held since Toowoomba hosted one in 2018. Given the changes to the MoD regarding grading, regional opportunities are likely to increase in frequency, and become a more usual pathway for junior grade advancement than the bi-annual State seminars. Currently, there is some discussion at the QKR Executive and Dojo Leader level regarding a similar arrangement for Iaido. I will certainly communicate any developments in that space.

New start times for weeknight training — 6.15 pm

With school back for its first full week and those of us in Honours land starting to do “official” work on our projects, we will be instituting a small change to weeknight class start times.

At the CBRC (honbu dojo), we will be back to a 6.15 pm start time from Tuesday night just so that we can finish at a slightly more reasonable time of an evening. While we had trained the 6.30 pm start last year in an attempt to make training a little more accessible, we found that by the time we finish our pack up and securing the building for second session often left us getting home after 10 pm — even later for Daen who has a 40 minute drive back home of an evening.

As always, could you please ensure that you are at the dojo 15 mins before the start time for your class so that all the necessary set up can be done. Just to formalise things, I will be putting up a checklist of what is required each session/evening so that we can attend to them efficiently.

The changes should now be reflected on the Club website. As always, if any eagle eyed Club members or supporters see any inconsistencies, please let us know so that we can correct them.

Will look forward to seeing you at training this week!

(Minor) changes to the Club’s COVID Safe plan

This week, I shall be finalising the latest update to the Club’s COVID Safe plan so that we can document and implement the changes that we have made to our practice now that we have been at the CBRC for near six months.

The majority of these changes to the document will be centred around how we lay the space out at the CBRC, including where we set up our personal gear in the dojo, and how we can fluidly change between levels of caution as the risk of community transmission changes over the coming months.

The outbreak of a community transmission case of COVID in Western Australia is a timely reminder that we will still need to be cautious in the dojo context to enhance the safety of ourselves and others in the dojo.

The primary directive of staying away from the dojo until any COVID-like symptoms have resolved and/or you have had a negative COVID test result come back is still in force. We are also requiring you to use the provided hand sanitiser and sign in using the Club’s QR- driven contactless system. If you are training on the Club’s mats, you still need to sanitise your feet, and you need to ensure that your “street” shoes are not worn on the wooden floor of the Group Exercise Room/Dojo. These procedures constitute good Dojo hygiene in any respect and will be enduring expectations for training.

Discipline specific protocols will be followed according to those set by peak State/National bodies appropriate for the level of caution. If you have any questions regarding this, please discuss them with your instructor or discipline coordinator.

Taiko!

Toowoomba Taiko is performing on Australia Day 2021 at 3.20pm.

Come on down to Toowoomba’s Civic Square to watch us do our thing with the fabulous drums gifted by our Sister City, Takatsuki, Japan!

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This also means, we’re back practicing for 2021!

Everyone is welcome to join us on Thursdays from 6.30 - 8.00pm at Hear & Say, 295 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba City. No experience is required!

Please wear comfortable clothing and BYO water as we’ll work up a sweat!

Your first class is free and if you love what we do, sessions are $10 and paid via the USQ Martial Arts Club.

For more information look for our Taiko page on the BBRD website or on Facebook.

Short bulletin: what’s on this week

Just a short note this week to highlight a couple of changes to regular programming.

First up, there will be no training tomorrow night due to the public holiday. Normal training for Thursday and Saturday.

Second, Go for this week will shift to Wednesday in the USQ Toowoomba’s refectory. We will also be starting from 12 pm as we have had requests for an earlier start time from some of our players. From next week we shall lock in Thursday 12–1.30 pm, and this has been reflected on the Club website.

Third, Daen and I are catching up today to swing some sticks. We are still talking about locking in some regular, timetabled, training sessions for ZKR Jodo and Kyudo. We will let you all know what we have come up with when we put our planning caps on.

Fourth, there has been a small flurry of interest with Arnis, and I would like to gauge broader interest in it and potentially lunch time classes for other disciplines. These of course will have to fit around by availability due to clinical placements in March and June. However if numbers are robust, we will certainly look to see what disciplines and when we might be able to get some additional training in. Make sure that you either contact me directly, or make a comment on the post to let me know what you are thinking.

Have a great week everyone, and as always, I’ll look forward to seeing you in the dojo!