Welcome
Well, October is almost gone, we are in Term 4 and this is our new newsletter format!
Some people have been having trouble with the emailed newsletters, so we figured we’d try this approach. Links to this newsletter will be available via text, Facebook and email. Hopefully, this captures everyone and makes life easier.
Term 4 kicked off well with great numbers in class. Big thanks to everyone who is bringing more gear to classes – with gloves, mouthguards and bo in class, we are able to teach some really interesting stuff.
On our first week back, almost everyone got to strap into some body armour and trade shots with other people. This gives a great understanding about how Ryukyu Kempo works, and is good for understanding and building resilience to fear and stress.
With the weather improving it was also great to see everyone outside warming up on the grass area – nothing like a bit more space and fresh air.
Organisation Update
There really isn’t anything new to report this month. Things are ticking along nicely and we are working through implementing new ideas into class and in our admin processes.
Admin Information
We are working towards collecting everyone’s contact and membership information. Thanks to those people who have either helped out by filling in the online membership form which you can access using this link.
Printed forms are being handed out in class lease use whichever is easier.
We need one form per person please.
Privacy of Personal Information
Privacy of information is critical these days, so we wanted to give an update on how your data is stored and shared.
- All essential membership is kept in digital format, offline – With the exception of those people using our Teamer channel, all information collected on membership forms is kept offline.
- Paper membership forms are destroyed after the information is transferred to our files.
- We do not share any membership information with third parties.
- You can request copies of any information we have on file at any time – (this is a legal requirement)
What is Teamer?
Teamer is an app used to manage sports teams. We set up a dojo Teamer account earlier this year, but have not been very proactive in using it.
You can sign up for Teamer here and we will begin sending class updates and newsletter notifications via the Teamer app for those who use it.
Upcoming Events
Gradings:
Congratulations to everyone who successfully tested recently. We have handed out most of the results and still have a few people left to test.
We are aiming to offer our next grading opportunity in late November or just prior to Christmas
Final class date for 2024:
Our final class for 2024 will be held on Tuesday the 17th of December.
We might go back in time and make our final class a “Friends and Family” night (like the old days) where the class puts on a demonstration for friends and family members showing what we’ve achieved in 2024 – sound like fun?
Class days and times have not been finalised for 2025 yet. We will provide an online survey to get feedback about preferred training nights for next year.
We expect to begin classes approximately 2 weeks before the start of Term 1, 2025.
Christmas Function anyone?
Would anyone be interested in a class get-together before Christmas? We could arrange use of the hall, or we could use another location – open to ideas and suggestions, also open to help in arranging and running this.
T-Shirts
Now that I have space to focus on things again, I have pulled together a list of people who have requested t-shirts:
Sensei Bron – 1x size 12 Grey
Noriko-san – 1x M Grey, 1x M Black
Elyse – 1x kids M – no colour specified.
Marty – 1x Green, 1x Blue
The shirts will be $45 each and are printed locally. If we order more than 10 shirts, the price will likely come down.
If you would like a shirt, please let me know. We can do the following colours:
Close off date for orders is 9th November!
(Great Xmas gift – hint, hint…)
Class Information
Equipment:
Further to the last update – people should look at purchasing bo and bringing them to class regularly – if you don’t have it in class, it’s kind of hard to use…
Bo Staff:
The first weapons people need will be a 1.5m or 1.8m staff. The cheapest and easiest way to buy one is at Mitre 10 or Bunnings (link for Bunnings) – dowel is about half the price of a hardwood staff, however they do break. If you can afford a full bo/staff, please consider purchasing one as it will be cheaper in the long run.
If you’re under 150cm tall, you need a 1.5m staff: Auckland Martial Arts Supplies sell these ones
If you’re taller than 150cm (or will be in the next couple of years), you need a 1.8m staff: Auckland Martial Arts sell these ones
Please bring your bo to class every night! You will need it.
I look at who’s in class, versus the number of weapons we have available on any night, that is how I decide whether we will teach those weapons or not – if there’s not enough toys, we don’t get to play 😊
Banking Information
For any new students who need the details, our class bank account is:
Bank: Kiwibank
Acct Name: RYUKYU KEMPO KARATE
Acct Number: 38-9012-0728171-00
Suggested Donations are:
Kids / Students: $30 per school term
Adults: $60 per school term
Again, we would also like to shout out thanks to those people who have donated beyond the suggested amounts – it means a lot and we are very grateful.
If you’re a new member and have been attending for 10 classes or more, please consider adding your donation to the account. Feel free to chat with us if you have any questions or concerns.
Social Media Links:
You can find more information and learning material on these links:
General Information:
(We’ll keep this here for people to refer to)
Uniforms:
A few people have been asking where to get uniforms, so let’s look at what the options are:
- Trackies and T’s
Plain black track pants and a plain black or white TShirt are perfectly fine for training – this is the cheapest option. I haven’t checked lately, but if I’m still correct, The Warehouse have budget brand trackies and tees for about $10ea. This is perfectly fine, and for students who aren’t sure they want to invest in a full uniform, this is the best option.
- Dojo TShirt
From time to time we will place orders for dojo tshirts. These will be well publicised and cost around $45 per shirt. The colours available are:
White
Grey
Green
Blue
Pink
Coral
T-shirt prints have the dojo kanji on the front, and big logo on the rear:
- Karate Uniforms
If you wish to have a full uniform, you have the choice of either an all-white or all-black uniform. Check out the links below for places to purchase:
Belts:
Following the donations-based approach, we have a few options for belts
- Belt Library
We would like to establish a “belt library”. The idea is simple. Unless you wish to keep each and every belt you earn, when you’re done with a belt, you donate it to the library and we can recycle it back to another student in the future. At the moment, we only have a few belts of a few colours, so this will take time to build up a stock.
If you’ve got belts you would like to donate to the library, please drop them to us in class.
- Borrowed/Gifted
If you’d like to lend or gift one of your belts to a fellow student, feel free to make those arrangements with the instructors. For example, if ‘Bob’ is an orange belt, and ‘Bill’ is a yellow belt, ‘Bob” can gift “bill” his Orange belt when ‘Bob’ grades to purple. ‘Bill’ still has to test, but he gets to wear ‘Bob’s’ gifted belt when ‘Bill’ passes the test.
- New Belts
If you prefer new, we can order new belts or provide links for you to order them yourselves. Sizing belts can be a tricky affair – it’s really easy to get confused and order the wrong size. We’re happy to help and in time, I hope to buy a set of “test belts” for people to try on for size.
Training Equipment:
The biggest expense for people is always the gear. Remember, we aim to keep this as affordable as possible.
The following gear is needed as students progress:
Beginners:
Mouthguard and gloves – any sports mouthguard is fine. Consult a dentist for further information if you have braces or dental problems. For gloves, we use Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) gloves – these are lightly padded, fingerless gloves and are (unfortunately) one of the most expensive pieces of equipment. Until students have both, and wear them in class, we have to restrict some levels of training for safety reasons.
Bo Staff:
The first weapons people need will be a 1.8m staff. The cheapest and easiest way to buy one is at Mitre 10 or Bunnings (link for Bunnings) – dowel is about half the price of a hardwood staff, however they do break. If you can afford a full bo/staff, please consider purchasing one as it will be cheaper in the long run.
Students under 1.5m tall: Youth Bo
Above 1.5m tall: Regular Tapered Bo