Hi All
I’d like to start by welcoming all our new members who started last term. It is great to see so many new faces.
The junior class is now full and we won’t be taking on any new students this coming term, but we still have places left in the Adults class – so if any of you adults know of someone who may be interested or if any parents are keen to give it a go, you are all most welcome.
Also, there are a couple of students in the junior class (that we have approached) who may be better placed in the Adults class. If you think that you may want to try, pop along and give it ago. Historically, we have been pretty bad at catering for age groups between 14 and 16 years of age…for these people, the kids’ class has been too low pitched and it is easy for the older kids to get bored.
The adult’s class on the other hand is very much harder and the syllabus is very much more complex. Young adults who cross over to the adult’s group can be intimidated by this as they go from being the biggest and the best, to being the smallest. If we had more time, we really should have an intermediate group – but unfortunately, there just isn’t time. All I can say if you are unsure is try it out and see where you feel most comfortable. We do have a number of young adults, so you won’t be alone!
The junior syllabus has all the self-defence applications for the katas (forms) removed (as well as some of the more complex drills and hardening exercises). Some of these techniques are particularly nasty and we don’t believe that children have any business knowing these.
Congratulations go to the following people who graded successfully last term:
Junior Red Belt
· Ahren Watene-Jones
· Sean Georgeson
· Jared Kelmen
· Loren Hickman
· Gareth Martin
Junior Orange Belt
· Bronson Brightwell
· Nikhil Maharaj
· Morgan Hopkins
9th Kyu Red Belt
· Dominic Young
· Chris Steele
· Phailin Chumsombat
· Lee Liu
Well done all – the standards were very good.
Those that missed out on a grading last term; practise hard and we will try to ensure that you are ready next term.
Also, congratulations to the winners of last term’s kid’s kata competition:
Orange Belt and Below
Gold Medal – Bronson Brightwell
Silver Medal – Morgan Hopkins
Bronze Medal – Nikhil Maharaj
Green Belt and Above
Gold Medal – Theresa Smith
Silver Medal – Jelena Downey
Bronze Medal – Sam Wilkinson
And last, but not least, the kid’s sparring competition was as exciting as ever with some really good techniques being displayed. Congratulations to the
Red team who won 9-matches to 7.I recently found an article written by Rob Redmond at www.24fightingchickens.com. It is a similar article that I have planning to write for ages, but seeing as he has written it so well, I am reproducing it with the author’s permission. It is an article about which martial art is best and you can find it on our website at www.bugeikan.com – simply scroll down to the articles section in the table of contents and click on the link to the article entitled – “Which is the best Martial Art.”
I would also encourage all of you to regularly visit our own website – it is full of information and articles that will give you all a better understanding of what it is we do and why.
There was a bit of confusion last term about our term fees. This was probably due to the confusing wording of our advertising. So, just to clarify…we charge per school term (about 10 weeks). You can either choose to train once or twice a week and payment is appreciated as close to the start of the term as possible (for those who find this a hardship, we can come to an individual agreement). The first two lessons for a person training for the first time are free if they decide that they don’t wish to continue. If they do wish to continue, they are expected to pay the full fee.
The term fees are:
Kids’ classes twice a week - $70
Kids’ classes once a week - $35
Adult’s classes twice a week - $100
Adult’s classes once a week - $50
We are very happy for people to attend once a week. For those that do, you must understand that your progress will be a lot slower. Also, as we plan the sessions based on an attendance of twice a week, it is possible that you will miss learning some things. For those that want to push themselves, I do recommend that you practice regularly between classes – I normally nag people to understand the following…you do not come to classes to train karate – you come to classes to learn how to train karate…training karate is something you do in your own time.
No refund is given to those that don’t attend every session. There are no extra hidden costs – gradings are free and certificates are free. We are not a money making enterprise and we charge only to cover our costs.
We don’t sell karate uniforms or equipment. These are optional (with the exception of mouth guards for sparring). If you want to buy uniforms or equipment, we suggest that you do so using a Hamilton based retailer at www.bushido.co.nz – (the contact phone number and address can be found on our website www.bugeikan.com) you can go along there and try uniforms on for size – something that we highly recommend.
Some of you who have just started may have been wondered why I don’t always join in or run the warm up sessions. This is because I (Guss) was diagnosed with a lung disease called Sarcoidosis in 2002 (the details of which is also on our website).
Although I have made major progress since starting treatment, my ability to train full out is still very hit and miss. The recovery time has been much longer than I have anticipated. It is only thanks to loyal support and hard work by Helena, Dale, John and Leighton, that the club has been able to continue.
The dates for next term are as follows:
Monday 1st May – Wednesday 28th June. (We don’t train on statutory holidays).
An instructor’s meeting will be held early this year on
Wednesday 26th April at 6:30 PM.Anybody, brown belt and above, who are interested and willing to commit to instructing next term – please attend!
One last thing, I am in the process of folding our company Fit & Focused Ltd. It has outlived its usefulness since we stopped selling Merit Badges to other clubs. When paying term fees, please make out your cheques to either Helena or I, or cash – thanks!
Cheers and see you soon!
Guss & Helena Wilkinson