What an eventful term we have had! It has been just so action packed that it just seems to have disappeared at the speed of light.

Firstly I would like to thank everybody for their patience and understanding during the period leading up to our grading; we only got 7 weeks notice and it was really full on for us to get ourselves up to the required standard in that time. If we seemed distracted, it was because we were!

But we managed to pull it off on the night, despite being extremely nervous. All three members of the grading panel commented on the pleasant atmosphere both during the junior session and the senior session - thank you all again for that.

But best of all is that all three were impressed by the high standards demonstrated by you, our students, during those sessions and by the standard of our performance during our grading.

It is the first time that we have been graded outside of our own organisation and it is very nice indeed to get this sort of ratification.

I have to admit that neither Helena nor I have totally returned to earth yet and congratulations are still pouring in from all over the world.

The leader of the grading panel, Dennis May (7^th Dan) has voiced an interest over developing much closer ties between his club and ours, as it has become apparent that we share the same philosophies over the nature of genuine karate.

I can foresee many club visits to his dojo in Auckland in the future as well as many visits by him and his students to our club…this could be a lot of fun!!

JUNIORS

Despite the fact that we were distracted this term, you juniors have done very well indeed.

I would like to congratulate Mark Ryan on his junior red belt; Zac Penman, David Witham and Logan Thompson for their junior yellow belts; Erika Lukkassen, Michael Scott, Keegan Downey, Zac Arcus, Andrew Lanyon and Krystal Downey for their junior orange belts; and Corey Crosland, Elye Parata, Leon van Berkel, Aaron Pearce and Jonathan Bush for getting their junior green belts.

Very well done all of you. Please note that orange belts and above are expected to have gum shields and fist mitts for when we do sparring (which will be more and more often).

Please note that we are in the process of rewriting the junior grading syllabus. In future, each belt will be split into two parts. The first grade will be red, the second will be red with one yellow stripe, the third will be yellow, the fourth will be yellow with one orange stripe, the fifth will be green, the sixth will be green with one blue stripe etc. There will therefore be 17 junior grades as opposed to 9. This will allow us to increase the content of the junior syllabus so that the transition for juniors that become old enough to join the senior classes won't be as traumatic. I will be handing out copies of the junior syllabus next term for those that want one.

In the transition period when this new syllabus is being introduced, all holders of belts will be required to pass the stripes that they have missed before they can get the next belt, i.e. you green belts will need to get 4 stripes before you can get your blue belt.

Any junior that is over 13, is of reasonable build and manages to get their blue belt, will be invited to join the senior classes.

The outstanding student of the term badge goes to Leon van Berkel, Michael Scott and Andrew Lanyon for remarkable progress this last term.

Perfect attendance badges go to Corey, Logan, Leon, Mwilje, Elye, Kent, Jess & Zac Arcus. None of you have missed a single session last term. Keep it up all of you!

This club has certainly arrived on the scene as far as our success in the NZ Open Wado Kai championships is concerned. Our unorthodox fighting style proved very successful and certainly gave the judges a few headaches!! Good on you guys & girls!!

Congratulations to Katy Langley for her red belt; a very good effort.

For everybody else, this was another term of consolidation. I expect every one of you to grade within the first four weeks of next term, so PRACTISE!!!!!!!!!!

I got a very interesting newsletter from the World Karate Federation informing us that grappling (with very strict conditions attached) will be tolerated in competitions. Also, more face contact is to be tolerated (which will stop competitors only defending their torsos). I welcome these changes and it has prompted me to look at our own syllabus.

The result of this is that I plan to introduce basic throws, hold downs, strangles, arm locks, leg locks, wrist locks, ground-work sparring and standing grappling sparring (Randori) into the higher part of the grading syllabus. It won't be a large part, but it will plug an important hole as far as our syllabus is concerned in our quest to continually develop our effective self-defence art.

Thank you once again to Nick and Adrian for the part you played in partnering my grading bunkai. You did an incredible job and you really had to learn a lot in that short period of time.

As most of you know, our club was asked to provide extras for the Lord of the Rings movie that is going to be filmed in New Zealand. Any candidate had to be under 5' 8", have a knowledge of martial arts, be able to ride a horse and be prepared to wear theatrical contact lenses. This film is going to be directed by Stephen Spielberg.

Jocelyn went along to the auditions and we all wish her luck and keep our fingers crossed that she will be selected. I hope you remember us when you reach the stardom that I predict for you.

Lastly we will be having a limited intake of beginners for both the senior and the junior sessions. If you know of anybody that is interested, bring them along!!

Have a good break

See you next term

Guss & Helena