What an amazing day! I am very please to report that I am still on a happy buzz from this weekend, probably partly due to slowly catching up on rest after a breakneck week of getting the majority of my Physiotherapy honours project in (on time). But the largest part of my continued glow is the satisfaction that the first SEQ regional grading and seminar to involve all three QKR arts was by all measures a wonderful success.

Everything appeared to line up for us this weekend. Perfect training temperature, no additional impact from COVID, enthusiastic participation from everyone, and bucket loads of good will and can-do attitude to spare.

First, I would like to thank Brooke Martin, the CBRC’s Centre Manager for her support of the event. It was very satisfying to be able to showcase the quality of the facility here in Toowoomba, and to be able to feel at home in our own dojo with the easy access to all of our gear. Brooke’s enthusiastic support of the Club has been much appreciated, and invaluable to our sense of being “home” and being able to build on our capacity to provide service to the community.

Second, a very big thanks to all the visiting senior sensei. We literally could not have staged the event without you. To list in order of distance travelled, K. Kuromochi sensei came all the way from Cairns, Dave Kolb sensei, from Bayside Budokan, John Issacs, Greg Nicholas, and N. Tamura sensei from Kenshinkai Brisbane, Tom Johnson sensei from Kohokai Matsuyama (Pine Mountain) dojo. I would like to provide special mention to T. Itakura sensei of Brisbane Kendo Club whose active encouragement and enthusiastic support prompted BBRD to host the event in the first place. And I would also like to thank Rob Doncaster for stepping in to guide the Iaido folk in the morning and help them to put that final polish on before their shinsa.

Third, a thanks to all of the participants. Some who like sensei travelled big distances, particularly the long journeys from Cairns and Gin Gin. The day had similar number of participants to some State seminars, which is was heartening to see. In a time of COVID restrictions, committing to an event like this can be somewhat fraught. However, I think the proof of the day could be seen in the number folk for whom it was their first experience outside of their home dojo and interacting with the wider QKR community, and who left the day feeling a welcome part of that community and very happy to work towards the next opportunity to come together.

Fourth, I wanted to thank all of the Club members that worked to make the day what it was. Sean T, Kateena M, and Jono H deserve special mention for going above and beyond to help our visitors and attend to the vital administrative tasks that were needed to keep the show on the road. All of our Club members the were an embodiment of our values on Saturday— Sian C, Daen F, Lachlan M, Chris S, Ivan H, Tamara K — I would like to commend you for (again) providing evidence to the adage that we are and always will be a “friendly Club” that just gets on with what is needed, providing service not as an afterthought but as an active commitment to ensure everyone has the best opportunity to get the most out of events like this.

Club members experienced very good success in their grading. Lachlan and Ivan both double graded in Kendo to 3KYU, Chris double grading to 5KYU; Lachlan doubled up to successfully grade to 2KYU in Iaido, and Daen and I were recommended to double grade to 3KYU in Jodo.

A special mention to Ivan’s success: he has been training most of the past 18 months via video link to the Toowoomba dojo with the odd visit south. To grade well on Saturday was a spectacular achievement. With my studies almost at an end, I am hoping to get up and visit Gin Gin more often than I have managed over the past 12 months. And Itakura sensei was hinting at a combined BBRD/BKC road trip to come and provide some close support to the Ken Jin Kan.

We had not gotten to the end of the day before participants were actively expressing a wish that we do this again. My hope is that regional level KYU grades become a diarised feature of the QKR calendar, and that the next opportunity will be in March. We will look to see where that event might be hosted. However, I have a strong desire to run the event next September and make it a two day event that includes a formal opportunity for shiai and the sharpening up of shinpan skills leading up to the Uni Games. So if the stars align (and COVID permits) we might be looking at the Toowoomba Tsubaki Taikai for the Carnival of Flowers parade weekend in 2022!

I hope that everyone who participated takes back to their respective dojo the spirit of Saturday and the tips and pointers they picked up. The next scheduled event is the first weekend of December to be held at the Sleeman Centre in Brisbane. To the wider QKR community, I’ll look forward to seeing you there, and to all our Club members, as always, I will look forward to seeing you in the dojo over the coming days!