Hi
All!
Thanks
once again for yet another great term. Time seems to be passing at a
frightening speed these days and this term just seems to have come and gone.
JUNIORS:
But,
much to our delight and amazement, this does not appear to be the case with
The Deanwell Karate Club. Most of you who are in our junior club have been
training with us since we started in February 1998, the result being that
the bulk of the club is now made up of orange and green belts.
In
my experience, very few juniors reach green belt and beyond, as the
dedication and practice required to develop beyond these grades are more
than most are prepared to devote. In the 12 years that Helena and I have
been running junior classes, we have only had two juniors that have made it
to black belt.
But
we think that this club is showing signs of producing quite a number of
quality high grades and many of you are showing a potential to go all the
way.
As
I said in our last newsletter, this development has caused us to review our
merit badge and grading syllabus in order to more effectively lead you
through the higher grades. This review is not yet complete but it is hoped
that we will have a fully functional system in place by the beginning of
next year. In the mean time, we will be progressing using the current junior
syllabus.
We
would like to congratulate Romelli, Krystal and Erica for achieving their
junior green belts, Gretta for getting your junior orange belt, Jess, Kent
and Mwilye for your junior yellow belts and finally Daniel and Stephanie for
getting your junior red belts: Well done!!
The
perfect attendance as well as the outdtanding student of the term badge goes
to Leon Van Berkel. Very well done Leon, keep it up.
Cory
Crosland made the transition from the junior to the senior club last term.
We are considering trialing a couple of other junior members but we must
warn those who are hoping to be asked, that it really is a two edged sword.
The senior classes are very much harder and far more focused than the junior
classes and therefore, moving to the senior classes will give you the
opportunity to progress at a far faster rate, but very few juniors have the
maturity required to be able to make the transition from being the biggest
and the best in the junior classes to being the smallest and the worst in
the seniors. Most quit very shortly after moving.
This
is why we ask that if you do get asked, think about it very carefully,
realise that the move is by no means compulsory; and if you don't like it,
you may move back.
Lastly,
we would like to say how much we enjoyed seeing the end of term sparring
competition; it was very exciting to watch! All those that took part showed
great determination, a high level of skill but at the same time great
sportsmanship.
SENIORS:
This
last term has seen everyone make progress. Congratulations go to Katy for
getting her yellow belt (8th Kyu), Jocelyn, Walter & Tony on getting to
green belt (7th Kyu) and to Nick, Claire and Bisha for grading to blue belt
(5th Kyu).
It
is especially rewarding for Helena and I to be allowed to witness you
progress in this way and we are really looking forward to helping you
through the next stages of your training.
We
had a very interesting visit by two back belts from the Matamata Jiu-Jitsu
club and we had a lot of fun exchanging ideas and techniques that evening.
We particularly appreciated their openness and their genuine interest to
learn more about our style, and we will try to arrange a date for us to
visit their club sometime during the next term.
Last
term also saw a number of experienced martial artists from other styles join
our club. Shane joined us as a green belt from Ryu Kyu Kenpo Karate, Kelly
as a green belt from Okinawa Goju Ryu & Wado Ryu and Mark joined us as a
brown belt from Kokoshinkai Karate.
We
regard your presence as an enriching factor in our club and, regardless of
whether you see your time with us as temporary or permanent and regardless
of whether you wish to progress through our grading syllabus or not, we hope
that you feel welcome.
Have
a good break and we hope to see you all again shortly.