March 1, 2009
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment 

Turning 10

I might as well blog the weekend now ’cause I’m too tired to do anything but type.

What a HUGE weekend!  I counted 62 at training on Friday night including lots of very old faces and guests from near and far.  Shihan Alex took everybody through the basics, the shere volume of which gave us goosebumps.  Basics were nice familiar territory for some folk who hadn’t trained in more than 10 years but came along anyway to help us celebrate.

After the basics all the Shihans, guests from Enshin and Tae Kwon Do and myself took 10 minutes of self defence.  What a treat!  Because time was short each instructor gave an insight into what they have established (through decades of training) as most critical for self defence.  Except for me…  I gave everybody a little insight into our home life by demonstrating how to extract sharp objects or the last Tim Tam from a reluctant toddler (figure 4 from mount).  Hey, do it enough on the kids and you might just pull it off on the street!

We are quite mortified that one of Chris’s special guest instructors had a freak accident  early in the evening and managed to break his leg very severely.  Chris couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t accompany his friend to the hospital so he missed most of the session but we decided much later that night it was kind of symbolic that Chris not be there.  The one thing we personally wanted to celebrate was how, in the last 10 years, the Mt Vic Dojo has become much bigger than just us.   We may provide the venue but we’re surrounded by extraordinary instructors, students, parents and friends who, combined, make the place so special to so many.

I didn’t count exact numbers on Saturday because the kids left before the group pic but I’m pretty sure we cracked 70!  A lot of those who came along on Friday weren’t there so there were even more old friends and travellers to catch up with!  Chris took us through a fun warm up before Shihan Eguchi took the brown and black belts for kata and some awesome bunkai!  Sensei Miyuki took the kids and Shihan and Sensei Takiwa took the coloured grades.  At 10:30 Chris and Sensei Miyuki took a group down to the Mt Vic Festival for a demo before we all had an early lunch in anticipation of Jamie’s fight against Shaun O’Farrell from Brisbane.

Shaun has a few kgs and years on Jamie and is currently training under our own Sensei Troy Freeman.   We remember Shaun fondly for managing to drop an axe kick on Chris during a fight in Melbourne… Chris was the ref!  He was an awesome opponent for Jamie and certainly looked dominant in the first minute of the fight.  However, Jamie’s proved many times that punishment doesn’t phase him and he withstood the big hits and started to chip away at Shaun towards the end of the first round.   First round, draw.  In the second round the tide seemed to have turned.  Jamie kept on chipping away and even got his groove on.  He took the second and third rounds much to the delight of the home crowd.  It was absolutely fantastic to have a fighter of Shaun’s calibre in the dojo though.  I don’t think many others in the room would be volunteering to take Jamie’s place!

The first session of the afternoon was spent in sabaki training.  What an extraordinary difference this focus made to the way everybody moved in sparring.  It was really dynamic and fantastic aerobic training.

The next part of the afternoon was my favourite (maybe a reflection of my attention span).  We rotated in groups around Shihan Eguchi, Shihan Takiwa, Sensei Miyuki, Sensei Troy and Sensei Kawasaki.  Each instructor gave us their favourite fight training in 15 minute segments.  Every single one was an inspiration.

Chris took the last session of the day and challenged a few sensibilities by teaching a very basic shoot and a strategy for closing down an opponent’s offence from mount.  It’s become really vital to us that the students at Mt Vic Dojo appreciate the context of what we do and know what it feels like to be slammed on their back and attacked on the ground.  I’ll admit I was worried it was too much of a leap for members of other dojo at the end of what had been a very traditional Kyokushin training day but after the first 15 minutes of panic stricken looks it was great to see everybody throwing their weight in and, importantly, the attackees instinctive reactions evolving in response to new threats.

Dinner for 90 at the Westpac Stadium was just perfect.  What a fabulous venue!  Pamela bravely took on the horrendous task of going though our boxes of unsorted photos and created a photo show of about 500 favourites!  This played on a big screen most of the evening.

We had asked a few people to speak thinking it would be inspirational for us all to hear individual stories but we were quite unprepared for how overwhelming and humbling it would be to hear what a special place the Mt Vic Dojo has become for many members and their families.   I can’t express how moved we were by the sentiments of all the speakers, by the gifts and by the help we recieved.  The Ranchhod family not only shared their experience but also spent a month preparing a photo album of their personal collection of photos and memorabilia from the past 10 years.  It’s a stunning and precious gift which we will treasure forever.  We also were honoured to receive a special award from the NZKOK and the Dojo presented Chris with a personalised plate… BIG OSU!  Ha ha – Love it!

Tonight we are shattered and overwhelmed and we want to thank everybody who came along, travelled, and supported us to make the Mt Vic Dojo 10 Year Anniversary a weekend we will remember with awe.

Comments are closed.