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!!?
National Black Belt Grading at MVD
Once again we were pleased to host the National black belt grading. MVD had 4 candidates. Sempai Conway & myself (Jill) for Nidan & Sempai’s Estelle & Haines for Shodan. It’s almost faded into a distant memory now but the first highlight for me was being at the head of the run. A fantastic day in Welly & about 50 of us ran down past Te Papa in full dogi doing the full mating call. Ha ha, I confess I picked the route for gratuitous advertising. I saw a group of guys running in dogi when I was 10. They were all HUGE and bald with chests like coffee tables (in my memory) but it planted a seed that finally turned into something when I hit 24 so I always think there may be some skinny kid who will see us doing knuckle pushups on the gravel & will think “that’ll be me!” & history will repeat!
Another highlight was grading with Sempai Conway who started Kyokushin at MVD, Sempai Kapi who runs Hamilton dojo and Sempai Warren Gabb who has been around forever too. All three are big men, big fighters, nice guys and Kapi & Warren run dojos & Conway is a fantastic instructor at MVD. It was awesome to grade in their company. It was even fun when Chris decided Kapi’s partner AND Conway’s partner AND my partner should all attack me at the same time during the self defence. Love those heavyweights!
I can’t really give a commentary on the other candidates because I was so engrossed myself but I can share what an extraordinary experience it is. I was pretty happy with my fitness because I’d been highly motivated to be at my fittest & it did pay off with all but the fighting being quite fun! I crashed earlier than I expected in the fighting but I did have a chest cold so that could be why! It was a 7 hour grading which may be a record but a good supplement (NFS Super-enduremex, okay + Krealkalyn + HMB + Horley’s Replace + carbo shots + pure glucose) did the trick. Why anyone doing a Kyokushin grading would NOT take supplements I do not know! When I got home I was still bouncing off the walls & fine the next day too even though I’d completely lost my voice with the throat infection. Unreal! See me at grading time & I’ll sort you out 
Another highlight was being stripped of my dogi top & being first beaten & then flayed with an obi during Sanchin kata. My eyes went a little rounder when Sensei Rachel McLean started throwing heavy leg attacks in and the whipping made it pretty difficult to concentrate - apparently I was purple but afterwards my skin was zinging! It felt awesome. I think we need a Turkish bathhouse in Wellington!
The fighting was an overall fantastic experience… with a handful of low points. Ha ha. The awesome part of a black belt grading is getting to fight ALL the people! Every time a new person came forward it was special because they’re sharing the experience with you. Pretty much after six hours of hard training you’re at the mercy of your opponent so it’s quite an intimate experience being one on one and finding out exactly what their expectations are of you & them finding out how much you have (or haven’t) got in the tank! We have an awesome community! Big congratulations to Conway, Haines & Estelle, I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did! All the other candidates too. I’m also really grateful to my partner, Richard Parry, for looking after me on the day (Pamela & her ice too) and for letting me all but totally destroy his shoulder at practice. AND I’m really grateful to Chris for being my inspiration. It was only watching his yondan grading that made me realise ‘this is what we do… best I go do it!’
Papakura Tourny
It’s tricky to do this event justice because we personally couldn’t make it to Auckland but our keen team took themselves off and by all reports enjoyed a fantastic event. Congratulations to Sempai Rhendy for organising it all. It’s such a big job!
They tell me there were several styles involved and really good numbers. Otherwise they weren’t very happy with their results, none of them being satisfied with anything less than a win!
I don’t have details of who fought who this time except that Jamie got to have a rematch with Maia who he met and defeated at the Nationals in June. This time Maia had his number, sticking like glue and closing the distance. Jamie couldn’t work it out so it’s one for one now! Can’t wait for the tie breaker!
Napier Friendly Tournament
Just to catch you up on what we’ve been up to since the site went down… we took a team to the Napier Friendly Tournament hosted by Sensei Virgil Troy. Napier and Hastings have big junior dojos plus there were entrants from Tararua and Palmerston North dojos.
The adults division was mostly novice which offered a great opportunity for some of our less experienced fighters including some ‘first timers’. It was a good day for Mt Vic Dojo with a disproportionate number of wins! Being a bit of a last minute decision to go we only had one junior entrant, our son Rubin. It was really cute seeing him line up for the march on between our 6 foot + men!
From my *terrible* memory… Chris Eades won his division, Josh Struthers won one fight but lost his next, Paulo and Gareth, both first time fighters, had to fight each other! Gareth was cool as a cucumber and used his extra reach and strength to floor Paulo several times taking the fight but Paulo, who’d only been training about 3 months proved he’s a scrapper & one to watch.
Zeke and Thelvin ended up fighting off in the final and Thelvin, another ridiculously smooth fighter for his experience, capitalised on Zeke’s injuries and took the trophy. Jamie and the crowd were fortunate Mikaere came down from Hamilton so we could enjoy a really top level Kyokushin fight. Both these guys are at the top of the game in NZ and have a vested interest in staying that way because selections for international events hinge on who has beaten who most recently.
This was Jamie’s day. He really nailed the fight and impressed us with the clinical way he closed Mikaere down. Unusually, it was all over in 3 mins with Jamie taking a first round decision! Can’t wait for a rematch!!!
We owe a huge thanks to Alan Struthers for organising the spectacularly good accommodation and otherwise being the ‘go to man’ for the fighters. It made it a very easy trip for us and the guys… I think it’s likely we’ll aim to take a few more students up next year.
Site problems!
Hi Everyone. Unfortunately our site has been the target of hackers… twice! But we’ve now tightened up security so, fingers crossed, we’ll have no more problems!
I’m currently working on rebuilding the lost content so if you need more info please don’t hesitate to contact us by phone, Chris 027 4444194.
Osu!
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