NEWSLETTER 27th September 2001  

Hi All

·         Steven Hawes

Junior Green Belt

·         Rhea Petersen

Junior Purple Belt

·         Kent Petersen

Junior Brown Belt

·         Gretta Rodrigez-Jolly

A fantastic effort from all of you!! Well done.

The medallists in the end of term kata competition were the following

·         Bronze – Emma Corban

The end of term sparring competition was as exciting as ever with the most even teams ever – this term the red and the blue teams drew with 9 wins each. We all got to see a very high standard of sparring and a lot of spirit – keep it up!!

Senior Group:

·         Blake Silvester

6th Kyu Green Belt

·         Steven Sales

4^th Kyu Purple Belt

·         Leighton Archer

1^st Kyu Brown Belt

·         Claire Wilkinson

1^st Dan Black Belt

·         Bashar Humadi

This was a very special term for us as instructors in that we graded our very first NZ trained senior black belt. It is very very rewarding for us to see someone go from being an un-coordinated, uncertain and nervous beginner to becoming an elite martial artist – it takes a very special kind of person to reach this far and the statistics speak for themselves. Out of  an estimated 600 students that Helena and I have taught in the past 14-years, Bashar is only the 7^th to reach 1^st Dan.

Bashar displayed a very high standard at his grade, but so have all the others that we have taught – this is the standard that you have to reach. If any of you were daunted by what you saw, as I expect that many of you were, the only people that are holding you back are yourselves!

I keep on repeating the message that you do not come to karate sessions twice a week to train – you come to learn how to train: the training you must do yourself in your own time – you must put in the hours. There are no short cuts and progress is directly and without exception a result of just how much time you devote.

If you feel that you are not progressing, then ask yourself why. We as instructors cannot drag you up the grades, we can merely point you in the right direction – you must find the way yourself!

As some of you may know, I was appointed the position of Secretary to the Central North-Island Region of Karate New Zealand. This will mean that we will see a lot more locally held events and we will be interacting far more with other local clubs in this area. I pushed very hard for the following slogan “…to equally respect and promote all facets of Karate: Traditional Karate, Sport Karate and Functional Karate.”

As you all know by now, we see ourselves as a functional style of Karate – for more info, see our web site at www.bugeikan.com.

I have been asked to lead the first high-grade regional work shop, open to all brown-belts and above to be held at Hillcrest School on Sunday 28^th October – I expect all those eligible to be present.

Our first regional tournament will be held on Sunday 19^th May 2002 and I hope to be able to enter strong junior and senior teams for both the kata and the sparring.

 We are planning to expand the senior class by advertising for the first time since we started. We hope to gain about 20 new beginners and this campaign will kick off with a demonstration by our club at the Deanwell School gala on Saturday 17^th November. We are all going to train hard next term to make sure that the demonstration reflects the very high standards that our club represents – I hope that you will all support us in this.

If there are any parents or friend reading this who wish to get a bit of a head start on the main group of new recruits, then you are welcome to start next term

For those of you wanting to buy Karate suits or other martial arts equipment, please get in touch with Robbie Smith at 

025 604 1568

That’s all for now, see you all next term.

Cheers

Guss & Helena Wilkinson