December 21, 2008
Filed Under Junior Dojo, News, Senior Dojo | Leave a Comment 

End of year

I’m a bit blogged out after catching up on the last few months but I’ve been wanting to blog the end of year gradings because they were a real highlight of the year, seniors and, especially, juniors.  It’s been almost 10 years now so we’ve watched (sometimes helplessly, sometimes with astonishment) as the culture at MVD has evolved, strengthened, weakened, strengthened again or just changed beyond recognition!  This year has been an exceptionally busy year and a strong one.  The junior dojo doubled in size last year and has continued to strengthen this year.  In the senior dojo we’ve lost important members, gained important members, watched previously unassuming members adopting strong leadership roles and enjoyed watching everybody else morf into the roles that suit them.

Since last Christmas we’ve run 2 junior gradings, 4 senior kyu gradings, the national black belt grading and the national high grade grading with Shihan Honmer from Japan.  We entered a team of around 70 in the NZ Nationals, entered teams in tournaments in Newtown, Hamilton, Napier and Papakura as well as the Sabaki Challenge in Auckland.  We hosted the ‘Karate Olympics’ and 2 more awesome match fight nights.  The ladies have had another great camp in Taupo and, on top of that, 31 kids and parents went to Tokyo to visit dojos and compete.  The next person that asks how our home renovations are going may be in serious physical danger!

Understandably we’re a bit tired and looking forward to cracking into the house over the holiday break but more so because we were so pleased with the standard of gradings at the end of the year, at all levels.  I suspect the Japan trip and the Nationals had a big influence on the culture in the kids dojo.  The kids who went to Tokyo came back with a whole new appreciation of how training and competing could look and how much they could achieve if they pushed themselves (because they did!).  The change in the way they approached training was immediate.  The Nats were in Wellington so more kids than ever would normally, were encouraged to have a crack.  I think the competition gave them a sense of where they sit and where they need to get to if they’re going to be any good at this thing!  I also suspect a few special personalities have a lot to do with the kid’s progress.

We have an awesome handful of leaders that have emerged with our high grade colts and there are several kids in the club who value excellence in themselves and others and aren’t afraid to show it!  Unfortunately we find this is a rare trait among NZ kids but it’s also infectious and the results were apparent at the junior gradings and in the weeks leading up to the gradings.  I was most impressed to see kids drilling kata before & after class, to hear they were doing it at lunchtime, at home, and at special Saturday classes Chris put on late this term.  What a difference it made and their behaviour was spectacular at the grading itself.  It bodes so well for next year, we’re really excited to see where it goes!

I’m neglecting the adults a bit but then I rave on about them fairly regularly.  It’s worth repeating what I said at the grading though.  The culture in the senior dojo is on a high with a strong core group who have between them a lot of natural talent and drive.  Not everyone in the dojo has the time (or the obsessive compulsive disorder) to train as much of this group but everyone is benefiting from having the bar continually raised for them.  It’s a wave a achievement and it’s something that’s impossible to force or predict.  I hope everyone who’s training enjoys the ride and recognises that they can play a part by picking one thing they can be ‘best at’.  As we saw at the grading no one person is fantastic at everything that is Kyokushin.  There’s always room for improvement and room for all types to set a standard of their own, whether it be flexibility or strength, kata or kumite, or simply consistency or shere bloodymindedness.  I’m waiting for someone to be the person who decides to prove zenkutsu dachi is significantly different from fighting stance!!!  Maybe it’ll be you in 2009!!?

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