I’m sitting at my kitchen table this morning with fifteen weeks of clinical placement on the go now done for me with, as regular readers will know, the last 10 based in Brisbane. That, along with the weekend QKR seminar just passed and the heat of the past week has left me feeling a touch tired. However, the cool of this morning and the significant successes of the past weeks (and weekend) are sitting with me quite well right now, and I’m happy to look forward to the next few months where we can reestablish some regular rhythms to the dojo and more generally too.

I think that Sean’s rap up of the weekend captures them most important elements of the experience, save for a brief report on the Iaido side of things. We had five of us challenge grades this weekend, all successful. Both Sean and Lachlan blasted through their sankyu examination. Sian provided once again an excellent performance of standing kata for her Nidan exam and I was successful in my Sandan examination.

I wanted to make special mention of Tracy’s long overdue Shodan grade. To my mind she had been performing at this level for some time now, and she displays a thorough knowledge of the art. She has been taking the load in weeknight Iaido classes while I have been away, Both she and Sean ought be proud of the successes they have had in preparing students for their first grades, and of their own performances over the weekend. It has been very satisfying to see both of them step up to the plate, and I hope that this weekend builds the foundation of confidence they will need to continue to extend their practice and to contribute to teaching at the Club.

I’d also like to congratulate both Justine and Joe for their participation in the Iaido sessions over the weekend. If can be quite daunting to participate in an event like this, but they both acquitted themselves remarkably well. All of the senior sensei teaching Iaido mentioned to me that they were very impressed with all the Toowoomba practitioners.

So in a way we are now back to regular programming for the remainder of this year. I will now be able to make all weeknight classes and I’m looking forward to seeing folk train who I’ve missed over the past 10 weeks I’ve been out of town. We are of course going to break over Christmas/New Year. But for now, as always, I’ll look forward to seeing you in the dojo!