And we now reach the end of the Easter Long Weekend for 2008.
Group meeting on Thursday was quite alright, a little long, a little sleepy, but nothing spectacularly new or exciting, but yet, nothing too boring either.
Went window shopping on Thursday afternoon after the group meeting just because I had nothing else better to do these days before I went home.
Friday, I started house sitting for the Easter weekend because they had to go up to Brisbane to pack up some things at a unit since they had moved their mother into a low-care nursing home facility. Jellica and was re-aquainted easily enough LOL, but I think she has become more socialble than before.
We had a meeting for the volunteers going to the 33rd Australian Kendo Championships (AKC) where we discussed the tasks required by us, the things to expect etc. A rather short meeting really, but I also learnt how to do Shinai weighing/registration, very simple process but rather important for official competitions etc. Minimum weight 39inch shinais must be 510g or more, no if's or buts, if it's not 510g, no pass. Womens 38inch shinais must be 440g. There are specific rules for the Nittoryu Shoto and Dato shinais as well, the Dato must be 37inches or shorter, and weigh no more than 410g, while the Shoto must weight between 280 to 300g, and be no longer than 62cm. There are also tip guages to ensure that they are not too small for safety, where the 39inch/Shoto shinais must not fit within a 25mm guage, and the 38inch/Dato shinais must not fit within a 24mm guage. A fairly simple process, but time consuming though if you have to check 100 or so competitors when each carry at least two, if not more shinais for weighing and registration.
The USYD Kendo club also had a meeting after the volunteers meeting to discuss about the Founders Cup event, on the first weekend of August this year. In terms of organisation, it was pretty simple since the hall is already booked for the event, and now we have people who are experienced in registration/shinai checking, it wasn't a big deal. The marking of the courts (11x11m max, 9x9m min) I also learnt during this weekend, so I knew how to take care of that component too. The biggest concerns left were lunch and medals/trophies. Lunch is still being looked into, with the decision to make it optional on the entry form, and hopefully enough time to ask for the amount of them to be made and paid by the day. Medals/Trophies will be also lookined into, but we expect them to be expensive. Andrew Tan, the current president of the NSW Kendo Association said that the last time his club hosted the Founders Cup, it cost them about $350 for the medals/trophies. It doesn't really seem much, but it is quite a bit when there isn't much profit margin at all already in it.
Didn't do much else on Friday after the meeting, went home, had dinner and then early bed since I had to get up super early to get down to the UNSW UniFit Gym by 7am to setup.
Saturday.
Man, I was tired. Early wake (5:30am) made breakfast (a good sized one), cleaned up, hopped into the car and drove down and found a park. Got there by 7am. Then we started to take all the stuff upstairs, chairs, tables, audio gear. Then setting up tables, chairs, banners/Flags (The Australian Flag and the AKR (Australian Kendo Ranmei) Flag can't touch the ground....), the playing courts, mats for the players, whiteboards, tea and coffee.... and so on so forth. I think we did alright time wise, and weren't running too far behind schedule or anything. Then the opening ceremony before the competition started. Saturday was the individual competition day, with some awesome kendo being played and displayed, but at the same time, some really bad play/not-kendo also being seen too.
In the end, Luke Lee from NSW won the Kyu Individuals, Brett (I think is his name?) Smith from VIC (I think he's from Victoria) won the Dan/Open Individual, and Kate Sylvester from VIC won the Womens Individual events. Our own club members both made it through the pools, but were knocked out in the first elimination round, but great work to Chai (Kyu) and Mark (Dan) for getting through their rounds. Funnily enough, Chai lost to Luke Lee (the Kyu grade winner) and Mark lost to Martino Ellero (who was placed 2nd, after losing to Brett Smith in the Final), so I think they did fantastically well and just had some bad luck. ~Applause~
In terms of play, some really good players, one standout was a I.Matane, with a lightning fast Kote cut, K.Sylvester with incredible spirit, zanshin and kiai, and though obvious he was a good player, Luke Lee. He is astonishing in ability and form, though he has only been playing Kendo for 9 months... admittedly he does train 5-6 sessions a week, but his form, posture, pose, and technique are amazing, absolutely amazing. And after talking to him in person during our lunch break, he is a fanastic person, laid back, very friendly and his view, philosophy on kendo if you like was so simple, it was almost beautiful. Since he works full time, and chose to take up Kendo, he trains hard and as often as he can, but he enjoys every single moment. The tiredness from training, the pain, but at the same time enjoys it for what it is, what it teaches him. The feeling of making that cut and knowing that was a good cut, a scoring cut, that is the high from playing. I think I will try to be more like that too. I currently play, and I feel good after training, because I know I had a good session. I too feel that high, that "Yes!" when I know it is a good cut on someone in jigeiko, even though it doesn't happen very often, but I need to take it further, and absorb it more. More of the spirit of Kendo. It might sound really corny, or lame, but, I guess unless you are a practicing kendo player, you will probably not fully comprehend the emotions and feelings behind it at times. Or you might because you are involved in something else that has similar principles behind it, like another martial art.
After the day had finished, didn't have anything to pack up so went home, had dinner infront of the computer lol (leftovers from Friday night) before an early night. I was really tired from the day, and my knee was really hurting from standing up all day infront of the whiteboards scoring the matches for the audience to see and keep track.
Sunday.
The teams events, Kata and Veterans Individuals.
Teams events are pretty much individual events, but you have to win on points overall. It's not a battle royale situation where it's 5v5 duke it out to the death anything goes LOL. Sometimes I think if it was, we'd get a heck of a lot more interest in people joining, and spectating. Anyway, also some great matches seen, with NSW winning the Kyu Teams, QLD winning the Dan Teams, NSW winning the Womens Teams, and Y.Sano Sensei from UNSW winning the Veterans Individuals. In the Dan Finals, there was an accident where one of the players from QLD had to withdraw and forfeit his match because he landed badly after a bodycheck and actually dislocated his knee..... but QLD still came out fighting and took the match to a very close finish.
The Veterans matches were also really good to watch. Ron Bennett, one of the founding kendo players back in 1962 for Australian Kendo played. Although his age has taken it's toll upon him, and he can't Sonkyo (the crouching bowing position before a match starts in Kendo), he still has strength, spirit and drive. In one of his pool matches, he showed that despite a rather large age difference between him and his younger (but still consdered a 'veteran') opponent, age matters little. His timing and hand/arm speed was incredible, beautiful to see, and delivered a scoring Men cut with no resistance from his opponent. The timing meant his opponent had no defences at all, and the cut landed without even an attempt to block by his opponent. Ron also landed a fantastically timed Debana Kote too, once again using his timing and speed. Fantastic and very inspiring to watch.
The Kata pairs was won I think by South Australia, I'm not exactly sure LOL, but NSW came second. It is really hard to judge Kata I believe, and the judges must simultaneously lift their flags to indicate who they thought was the winner. And majority wins. It is rather subjective, but I guess they have criteria that they are looking for.
Presentations took a while, and then the goodwill jigeiko.
As part of the presentations though, Ron Bennett passed on a peice of history. When Kendo first started in Australia, a Japanese Sensei came to visit and teach Kendo here. He was a very fameous Sensei in Japan, and not many people had the honour of being taught by him or training with him, but he chose to come out to Australia to help Kendo here grow. He gave a Tenegui (the headcloth used when wearing the Men) to Ron Bennett when he was here, so many years ago, with caligraphy on it. The gist of the caligraphy basically says: Blood, Sweat and Tears all flow into one river, the spirit of Kendo, or something along those lines. It is truely a profound statement in that blood, sweat and tears makes everything and anything you do in life worth the effort you have paid, and Kendo is by far no exception to this saying. Ron passed this peice of history, and it is indeed a priceless object, to a young Kendoka, who he believed possessed the spirit of Kendo, and asked him to keep it well, and safe. To hear about it, and then to receive it would have been an incredible honour, and the honour was given to Ben Kelly, who from what I heard, has represented Kendo for every state in Australia (I don't know why he's moving states all the time LOL) but, indeed, he does represent Kendo in Australia by continuing to play at a high level, across the entire country.
Wah. A long weekend indeed. People are going to the beach tomorrow for a Kendo outing. Archery is off because Ben is sick, so I don't know what I'll do. I have to do some laundry at the house in the morning anyway, to clean the bedsheets I used, but after that, I'm pretty much free all day until I get to go home.
Well, I think this blog post has been long enough, and for those who aren't Kendo people, and/or not interested in Kendo, my apologies.
If you're more interested in Kendo, then look it up some more and get involved =)
Group meeting on Thursday was quite alright, a little long, a little sleepy, but nothing spectacularly new or exciting, but yet, nothing too boring either.
Went window shopping on Thursday afternoon after the group meeting just because I had nothing else better to do these days before I went home.
Friday, I started house sitting for the Easter weekend because they had to go up to Brisbane to pack up some things at a unit since they had moved their mother into a low-care nursing home facility. Jellica and was re-aquainted easily enough LOL, but I think she has become more socialble than before.
We had a meeting for the volunteers going to the 33rd Australian Kendo Championships (AKC) where we discussed the tasks required by us, the things to expect etc. A rather short meeting really, but I also learnt how to do Shinai weighing/registration, very simple process but rather important for official competitions etc. Minimum weight 39inch shinais must be 510g or more, no if's or buts, if it's not 510g, no pass. Womens 38inch shinais must be 440g. There are specific rules for the Nittoryu Shoto and Dato shinais as well, the Dato must be 37inches or shorter, and weigh no more than 410g, while the Shoto must weight between 280 to 300g, and be no longer than 62cm. There are also tip guages to ensure that they are not too small for safety, where the 39inch/Shoto shinais must not fit within a 25mm guage, and the 38inch/Dato shinais must not fit within a 24mm guage. A fairly simple process, but time consuming though if you have to check 100 or so competitors when each carry at least two, if not more shinais for weighing and registration.
The USYD Kendo club also had a meeting after the volunteers meeting to discuss about the Founders Cup event, on the first weekend of August this year. In terms of organisation, it was pretty simple since the hall is already booked for the event, and now we have people who are experienced in registration/shinai checking, it wasn't a big deal. The marking of the courts (11x11m max, 9x9m min) I also learnt during this weekend, so I knew how to take care of that component too. The biggest concerns left were lunch and medals/trophies. Lunch is still being looked into, with the decision to make it optional on the entry form, and hopefully enough time to ask for the amount of them to be made and paid by the day. Medals/Trophies will be also lookined into, but we expect them to be expensive. Andrew Tan, the current president of the NSW Kendo Association said that the last time his club hosted the Founders Cup, it cost them about $350 for the medals/trophies. It doesn't really seem much, but it is quite a bit when there isn't much profit margin at all already in it.
Didn't do much else on Friday after the meeting, went home, had dinner and then early bed since I had to get up super early to get down to the UNSW UniFit Gym by 7am to setup.
Saturday.
Man, I was tired. Early wake (5:30am) made breakfast (a good sized one), cleaned up, hopped into the car and drove down and found a park. Got there by 7am. Then we started to take all the stuff upstairs, chairs, tables, audio gear. Then setting up tables, chairs, banners/Flags (The Australian Flag and the AKR (Australian Kendo Ranmei) Flag can't touch the ground....), the playing courts, mats for the players, whiteboards, tea and coffee.... and so on so forth. I think we did alright time wise, and weren't running too far behind schedule or anything. Then the opening ceremony before the competition started. Saturday was the individual competition day, with some awesome kendo being played and displayed, but at the same time, some really bad play/not-kendo also being seen too.
In the end, Luke Lee from NSW won the Kyu Individuals, Brett (I think is his name?) Smith from VIC (I think he's from Victoria) won the Dan/Open Individual, and Kate Sylvester from VIC won the Womens Individual events. Our own club members both made it through the pools, but were knocked out in the first elimination round, but great work to Chai (Kyu) and Mark (Dan) for getting through their rounds. Funnily enough, Chai lost to Luke Lee (the Kyu grade winner) and Mark lost to Martino Ellero (who was placed 2nd, after losing to Brett Smith in the Final), so I think they did fantastically well and just had some bad luck. ~Applause~
In terms of play, some really good players, one standout was a I.Matane, with a lightning fast Kote cut, K.Sylvester with incredible spirit, zanshin and kiai, and though obvious he was a good player, Luke Lee. He is astonishing in ability and form, though he has only been playing Kendo for 9 months... admittedly he does train 5-6 sessions a week, but his form, posture, pose, and technique are amazing, absolutely amazing. And after talking to him in person during our lunch break, he is a fanastic person, laid back, very friendly and his view, philosophy on kendo if you like was so simple, it was almost beautiful. Since he works full time, and chose to take up Kendo, he trains hard and as often as he can, but he enjoys every single moment. The tiredness from training, the pain, but at the same time enjoys it for what it is, what it teaches him. The feeling of making that cut and knowing that was a good cut, a scoring cut, that is the high from playing. I think I will try to be more like that too. I currently play, and I feel good after training, because I know I had a good session. I too feel that high, that "Yes!" when I know it is a good cut on someone in jigeiko, even though it doesn't happen very often, but I need to take it further, and absorb it more. More of the spirit of Kendo. It might sound really corny, or lame, but, I guess unless you are a practicing kendo player, you will probably not fully comprehend the emotions and feelings behind it at times. Or you might because you are involved in something else that has similar principles behind it, like another martial art.
After the day had finished, didn't have anything to pack up so went home, had dinner infront of the computer lol (leftovers from Friday night) before an early night. I was really tired from the day, and my knee was really hurting from standing up all day infront of the whiteboards scoring the matches for the audience to see and keep track.
Sunday.
The teams events, Kata and Veterans Individuals.
Teams events are pretty much individual events, but you have to win on points overall. It's not a battle royale situation where it's 5v5 duke it out to the death anything goes LOL. Sometimes I think if it was, we'd get a heck of a lot more interest in people joining, and spectating. Anyway, also some great matches seen, with NSW winning the Kyu Teams, QLD winning the Dan Teams, NSW winning the Womens Teams, and Y.Sano Sensei from UNSW winning the Veterans Individuals. In the Dan Finals, there was an accident where one of the players from QLD had to withdraw and forfeit his match because he landed badly after a bodycheck and actually dislocated his knee..... but QLD still came out fighting and took the match to a very close finish.
The Veterans matches were also really good to watch. Ron Bennett, one of the founding kendo players back in 1962 for Australian Kendo played. Although his age has taken it's toll upon him, and he can't Sonkyo (the crouching bowing position before a match starts in Kendo), he still has strength, spirit and drive. In one of his pool matches, he showed that despite a rather large age difference between him and his younger (but still consdered a 'veteran') opponent, age matters little. His timing and hand/arm speed was incredible, beautiful to see, and delivered a scoring Men cut with no resistance from his opponent. The timing meant his opponent had no defences at all, and the cut landed without even an attempt to block by his opponent. Ron also landed a fantastically timed Debana Kote too, once again using his timing and speed. Fantastic and very inspiring to watch.
The Kata pairs was won I think by South Australia, I'm not exactly sure LOL, but NSW came second. It is really hard to judge Kata I believe, and the judges must simultaneously lift their flags to indicate who they thought was the winner. And majority wins. It is rather subjective, but I guess they have criteria that they are looking for.
Presentations took a while, and then the goodwill jigeiko.
As part of the presentations though, Ron Bennett passed on a peice of history. When Kendo first started in Australia, a Japanese Sensei came to visit and teach Kendo here. He was a very fameous Sensei in Japan, and not many people had the honour of being taught by him or training with him, but he chose to come out to Australia to help Kendo here grow. He gave a Tenegui (the headcloth used when wearing the Men) to Ron Bennett when he was here, so many years ago, with caligraphy on it. The gist of the caligraphy basically says: Blood, Sweat and Tears all flow into one river, the spirit of Kendo, or something along those lines. It is truely a profound statement in that blood, sweat and tears makes everything and anything you do in life worth the effort you have paid, and Kendo is by far no exception to this saying. Ron passed this peice of history, and it is indeed a priceless object, to a young Kendoka, who he believed possessed the spirit of Kendo, and asked him to keep it well, and safe. To hear about it, and then to receive it would have been an incredible honour, and the honour was given to Ben Kelly, who from what I heard, has represented Kendo for every state in Australia (I don't know why he's moving states all the time LOL) but, indeed, he does represent Kendo in Australia by continuing to play at a high level, across the entire country.
Wah. A long weekend indeed. People are going to the beach tomorrow for a Kendo outing. Archery is off because Ben is sick, so I don't know what I'll do. I have to do some laundry at the house in the morning anyway, to clean the bedsheets I used, but after that, I'm pretty much free all day until I get to go home.
Well, I think this blog post has been long enough, and for those who aren't Kendo people, and/or not interested in Kendo, my apologies.
If you're more interested in Kendo, then look it up some more and get involved =)
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