I am writing this morning, aptly the day after the Winter Solstice, having completed my last exam before transitioning to the next phase of my study that will be focussed on clinical placement and Honours project. It felt both a great relief and somewhat dislocating to know that, for now, formal class-based learning is over, and for the next 18 months will be focussed on honing my clinical skills to become a registered Physiotherapist.
Moments like the Solstice provide satisfying punctuation for mark significant rights of passage, and I want to congratulate everyone who has been studying for having got through the highly disrupted and unusual circumstances of our education journey over the past three months. All of you deserve to be able to take some time out to enjoy the successes of this past period, and build focus to look at the path forward for the rest of this year.
From my study perspective, it looks like I will be commencing my first placement toward the end of August, though this may change if I have one of next year’s scheduled placements brought forward (in which case it will be back to back placements from 20 July through to 30 October). Regardless, I will be spending a bit of time over the next three weeks sorting out some Club systems and, most importantly, putting our return to activity planning into action to enable us to get back into the dojo.
One of my first tasks will be to update all of the Zoom class details on the website. In general we have done well with these classes, getting healthy, consistent, numbers across out current offerings. In Iaido specifically, it has been excellent to get the regular input of Tom Johnson sensei, who has made the point that everyone seems to be progressing well in spite of the limitations of training online.
I do not think that we have seen the back-end of disruptions for this year. The recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Victoria and the extension of lockdown measures there is a reminder that situations can change very rapidly. However, I think that we will continue to be well placed to deal with what the second half of this year holds in store.
I will look forward to seeing folk either virtually or in person over the coming weeks. Have fun, stay safe, and please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have any specific questions about the Club or training!