2018 has so far been a year where the “normal” has been a little out of kilter. Late summer, odd cold snaps, and of course my own personal adjustment to the rhythms of a new university’s timetable.
CQUniversity goes back to class this week, so I will be making the trip north on Tuesday afternoon in order to do the face-to-face classes Wednesday and Thursday. This will mean that I can often come back of a Thursday afternoon/evening, which will come in handy, especially for the next few weekends.
As the regular readership will know, August is usually the busiest time of year for the Club, and for me personally. However, this year, in keeping with the theme, the insanity starts a little earlier. This weekend is the QKR winter seminar and grading opportunity. This year, there will also be a Kendo State Championship run on the Sunday morning. At least eight of us (six from Toowoomba, two from Gin Gin) will be participating across Kendo, Iaido and Jodo, with Kateena and Sean T. attempting to grade in Kendo.
We will be leaving Friday late morning from Toowoomba, and I am both glad that I do not have to do the drive direct from Bundaberg, and indeed Kateena shall be doing the driving from Toowoomba, which will also be a relief for me.
Next weekend, Brady and I will be in Brisbane to do our four-yearly NCAS coaching accreditation for Jujutsu. Two long days are scheduled (7.30 am – 4.30 pm) with follow up sessions afterwards to observe our teaching in action.
The weekend after is a break (yay), but the following week there is a visit by both Ramon Lawrence sensei from Perth, and Nagayama sensei from Japan. We are hoping to get some high-level Iaido and Kyudo instruction while they are here, and there has been some talk of doing so up here in Toowoomba. In addition, Sunday 5 August is the IBF training day, which the Club has participated in for the past few years.
The weekend after that, the Club is double booked. There is both the Gin Gin Judo seminar and tournament, and the Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival. We will have to plan carefully for both events, as obviously I would like to see us supporting both adequately. And beyond that, we have Eric T off to the Jodo gasshuku in Brisbane, a commitment for Carnival of Flowers this year (which we will provide more details of in next week’s bulletin), and we are scheduled for a Dojo open/training day.
So stay tuned everyone, strap yourselves in, and enjoy the ride (and opportunities) for the next couple of months!