NZKF

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Re: Invercargill Kendo Club Seminar and Grading, April 2005

Over the weekend of 22 April to 24 April 2005, the Invercargill Kendo Club conducted a seminar and kyu grading, followed by a shiai instruction session (the inaugural IKC Chocolate Fish Tournament) on 30 April.
Liz Dutton (Godan) and Sue Lytollis (Godan) of Hutt Kendo Club led the seminar, ably assisted by Invercargill’s chief instructor, Tatsuya Fukuda (Yondan). Twenty Invercargill students took part, and we were also fortunate to be visited by the three senior members of the Aotearoa Kendo Club, Mr Chu (Sandan), Mr Park (Sandan) and Sam Choi (Shodan) for the first Saturday session (the 23rd).

The weekend kicked off with a mock grading on the Friday night to give the ungraded members of the IKC a chance to familiarise themselves with grading procedures. It was also a chance for the more experienced among us to brush up on grading terminology, and for Sue and Liz to get a good look at where the club’s overall skill level currently stood. This was followed by the traditional welcome jigeiko.

Saturday’s session consisted of some very useful instruction in etiquette, basic technique and advanced technique, along with kata and more jigeiko. This was a good opportunity for all of us to brush up on skills that sometimes suffer through geographical isolation. One of the most exciting moments of the day was a short three-person shiai bout between Invercargill and Aotearoa clubs. Tatsuya chose Rayon Mackenzie (ikkyu) and Chris Harvey (nikyu), our two most experienced shiai fighters, to join him against Aotearoa and they did us proud, losing by only one point against vastly more experienced opponents and showing terrific fighting spirit.

Great spirit was also shown later that evening at the Talent Quest held after our dinner at the Bonsai restaurant. There were some truly stirring performances, from 10-year-old Tyler’s haka to Sam Choi’s singing. But Rayon (Darth Welder), Chris (the narrator), and Bruce and Robyn Middleton (Puke Skyscraper and Princess Paperlayer) carried the evening with their hilarious parody of the Star Wars saga. The Korean delegation decided that it was better to hang out with the rest of us in a bar than to brave Invercargill’s Antarctic winds to go sightseeing, and left the next morning with tokens of our esteem.

The next morning was spent on further refinement of skills before the grading, which took up most of the afternoon. Following that came an opportunity for the resident ikkyu to engage in a mock shodan grading to learn what they had to work on when that opportunity arose, which proved very enlightening.

Fifteen students, eight of whom were previously ungraded, were examined on Sunday. The results are as follows:

Grading Panel: Liz Dutton (Godan), Sue Lytollis (Godan), Tatsuya Fukuda (Yondan)
Motodachi: Kumiko Asao (Sandan), Shane Robinson (ikkyu), Dave Rodgers (ikkyu), Rayon Mackenzie (ikkyu).

Grades attained:
Ikkyu: Chris Harvey, Bruce Middleton, Robyn Middleton
Nikyu: Alex Gordon
Sankyu: Peng Tsu-Pei
Yonkyu: Ricky Hartley, Carla Lindsay, Tankurt Mekik
Gokyu: Amanda Brown
Rokkyu: Maria Rodgers
Nanakyu: Robyn Adamson, Neil Godden, Tyler Godden, Jacob Lal, Taylor Margan

Several special prizes were given out at the end of the weekend. Chris Harvey, Robyn Middleton, Tankurt Mekik, Amanda Brown, Carla Lindsay, Maria Rodgers, Taylor Margan and Tyler Godden received recognition for their attitude and spirit, as did Shane Robinson for leadership and organization.

Rayon Mackenzie handily won the Inaugural Chocolate Fish individual shiai on April 30, with Chris Harvey and Dave Rodgers placing second and third respectively. Rayon’s team of Robyn and Ricky (Team R) took out the team section, while Taylor Margan won the junior section. Shane Robinson and Ricky Hartley also picked up prizes for fighting spirit, and Jacob Lal was recognised as the most improved student.

All in all, these results were fantastic, especially given that many of those grading were quite young and/or had only been training for a few short months. The visit south by Sue and Liz gave these students an opportunity that they wouldn’t normally get, that of having a grading without having to travel at least as far afield as Christchurch.
The overall skill level of the club was also raised by this weekend and by the shiai the following weekend. It also provided an excellent warm up for the team of nine or ten that the IKC is sending to the National Camp and National Championships in Auckland in June/July of this year (though of course many of those going will not now be able to grade since attaining ikkyu).

The IKC would like to extend its warmest thanks to Sue and Liz for making themselves available for the seminar, grading and shiai. We hope that the bond between Invercargill and Hutt continues to strengthen and we hope that a similar relationship will now be forged with Aotearoa Kendo Club in Christchurch.

Shane Robinson
President
Invercargill Kendo Club