This last term seemed to go very quickly indeed and it seems strange that we are about to start the last term of the year.

Many apologies for the disruptions last term – I hope that nobody was inconvenience by the break in the term.

Helena and I took the opportunity to have a family holiday in the Gold Coast in Australia. We had a fantastic time visiting all the theme parks and catching up with relatives that I haven’t seen for quite some time. We also went to Australia Zoo less than a week after Steve Irwin had died – the atmosphere there was incredibly sad and the staff did very well to continue business as usual. The tributes outside the zoo were an amazing sight.

The other great thing that has happened to us recently is that Helena, Jake and Sam have just become New Zealand Citizens…we got out buts into gear at last after living here for 10-years and filled out all the necessary forms. The applications took 18-months to process but the ceremony last night at the founders theatre made it seem well worth the effort.

Last term saw a lot of gradings in the Adult’s classes and most of those were very good. But two grading stood out as being outstanding – Haylee Hutton and Terri Hutton going for their Junior Black Belt with Blue stripe.

For those of you who are unaware, there are (at the moment) two intermediate grades for those students going from  a Junior (kid’s) black belt to a Senior (adult’s) black belt. The transition between Junior Black Belt to Adult Black belt is a very difficult one to make. There is an enormous amount of knowledge and skills to perfect for the Adult’s Black Belt - knowledge that was deemed unsuitable for children and consequently removed from their syllabus.

Nobody in our club has successfully made this transition yet, but Haylee Hutton, Terri Hutton, Sarinah Archer and Keegan Downey are well on their way – well done and keep it up.

Congratulations go to the following people who graded successfully last term:

Junior Black Belt (Blue Stripe)

• Haylee Hutton

• Terri Hutton

9^th Kyu Red Belt

• Avishek Raj

• Donna Thomas

8^th Kyu Yellow Belt

• Thomas Hunt

• Ihaka August

• Atchara Chumsombat

• Raj Ralm

• Loren Hickman

7^th Kyu Orange Belt

• Chris Steele

• Lee Liu

Well done all – the standards were very good.

Also, congratulations to the winners of last term’s kid’s kata competition:

Green Belt and Below

Blue Belt and Above

• Gold Medal – Jelena Downey

• Silver Medal – Sam Wilkinson

• Bronze Medal – Maysell Downey

Congratulations also go to the blue team who won the junior sparring competition after a very exciting tie-breaker – the score was 7-matches to 6.

Despite a lot of consultation with Karate NZ, there is still no firm date for Helena’s and my grading – it looks increasing unlikely that it will take place this year but we will keep you all posted.

Summer camp has traditionally been reserved for high grades, but this year we are opening up the camp to all grades yellow belt and over. It is a lot of fun as we get to know each other very well over good food and a fair amount of good wine and beer – and training of courseJ. For this reason we can only invite students 18-years of age and over.

The hall hire prices for the Pukehina Beach Community Centre have risen dramatically since last year. We are offering 10-places on the camp this year and the cost (assuming 10-people show interest) will be $40 per person. You will also need to count on paying for a meal at the Pukehina Local restaurant.

If less than 10-people are interested, we reserve the right to raise the price of the camp. If more than 10-people are interested, then invitations will go out on a first come first serve basis.

Just a reminder, 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.

Remember; if you are an orange belt or above, you must purchase mouth guards and fist mitts in order be allowed to spar.

The dates for next term are as follows:

When paying term fees, please make out your cheques to either Helena or I, or cash – thanks!

Cheers and see you soon!