Beginner's nights all right for fighting.

Thanks to all the guys and girls who turned up for the Beginner's Night. It was a massive turn out, I think there were 14, only four short of our all time record. Hopefully we'll see you all back at the club next Wednesday, where it'll only get better and more confusing. If things go to plan there'll be different senior grades taking you next week so it should be altogether a different experience, with a bit of luck we'll get you moving more and getting more involved so you begin to understand what it's all about.

Just a reminder to all that next week will be the first Wednesday of the month, which is 'fees night', £20 for the gainfully employed, £10 concessions. This includes all the Wednesday practices and the two Monday kata sessions. Details of all these are updated on the calendar so please keep an eye on it or add it to your RSS readers [details on the forum on how to do this, feed link below].
Liverpool Kendo Club Training Calendar RSS Feed

The next kata session is on Monday 7th February, so any beginners wishing to attend feel free. Some clubs find it can be difficult to grasp but Sensei believes there is a lot a beginner can learn which can help with the Wednesday night sessions, so come along to Chesterfield High School in Crosby, details in the Training section.

Lastly, anyone who missed Beginner's Night and still wishes to attend, next week is your 'last chance to dance' before our next Beginner's Night at the end of April. Anyone who wants to try kendo can do so but after next week, for the benefit of all the beginners, you will have to wait till our next Beginner's Night. Thanks for your understanding.

Eurokendo Visit

Young Park, the proprietor of eurokendo will be making a visit to the North West next week. He'll be hitting both Kobudokan and Liverpool Kendo Club on Monday and Wednesday respectively. He's a really nice guy and his kendo is also very good so hopefully we'll all get a lot from his visit.

Additionally he mentioned if anyone wants to order any kit he can bring it with him so please check out what he has on offer. He will be bringing his store to the BKA Seminar and Kyusha Taikai we are running on April 2nd and 3rd so it's a perfect opportunity to meet someone who knows a thing or two about bogu.

Beginner's Night 26th January 2011

Just to remind everyone that Wednesday is Beginner's Night. For existing members please try to be on time so we can get ready and please bring any spare shinai you have.

Beginners please be in the dojo no later than 7:15pm so we can go through all the Health and Safety aspects. Please remember to wear loose fitting clothes, tracksuit pants or three-quarter shorts are ideal. For more information click the Beginners link on the website. Just a reminder that your first session is free and if you cannot manage it this week then we will only accept new beginners up to February 2nd [next week]. If you miss these dates anyone wishing to start kendo will have to wait until the next Beginner's Night in April. The 2011 Beginner's Nights are provisionally:

• Wednesday January 26, 2011
• Wednesday April 27, 2011
• Wednesday July 27, 2011
• Wednesday October 26, 2011

Class photo

You may have seen that I've uploaded the Club photograph to both Facebook and our Flickr account. For some reason it still downsampled it. If anyone wants the original picture for printing out it clocks in at 3MB. Send me a PM on the forum with your email address if you wish to receive this version, otherwise you can make use of the links below:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150098444138497&set=o.12481791270

http://flic.kr/p/9bTe2E

Status Update: Liverpool Kendo Club on Facebook

For those that didn't know Liverpool Kendo Club is also on Facebook some of you may check your status update every five minutes and this website, erm, never. However through some arcane jiggery-pokery I have linked this news blog and our Google Calendar RSS to the group. Every time we post anything here it is mirrored on the group so you can still keep in touch with what's going on if you join the Group.

'So DO IT! DO IT NOW!'

LAST REMINDER - British Kendo Association Membership

A LAST REMINDER that everybody should now be members of the British Kendo Association. Temporary membership is available to new starters in Kendo, Iaido and/or Jodo.  This is intended as a cheap entry to cover you while you are deciding if this martial art is for you.

Temporary membership lasts 3 months and covers you for practice in your local dojo. It does not allow you to participate in seminars, taikai or gradings. We expect everyone who is able to participate in the Kyusha Taikai to do so BUT the Kyusha Taikai rules state

All participants must be fully paid up members of the Association for a minimum of 3 months prior to the date of the Taikai and will be required to show their BKA membership at registration.

Which means you may have already missed the boat if you haven't joined up. You will definitely have had to have joined by the end of the month regardless as we expect everyone to be members of the BKA if they wish to continue practicing at the dojo.

Mike has a list of all registered BKA Members, and it isn't pretty. I would recommend everybody make a concerted effort between now and tomorrow to get their membership in order! Fundamentally, your membership is your insurance to train. In a full contact martial art the importance of insurance coverage cannot be understimated. We will NOT risk training with you if you are not fully covered.

You can find all the information regarding membership and online registration on the BKA's website here.

Kit bashing

Next Wednesday we will be taking a club photograph. Sensei suggested you should all be looking to get Hakama and Keikogi before Christmas, this was one of the reasons why. If you didn't and hurry you may still be able to secure a set before next Wenesday. There are numerous online vendors for this and some are listed in our links page. Don't worry though, you will still be allowed in the photograph if you're in a tracksuit ;)

Whilst you are at it I would urge everyone to purchase their own shinai as well. We've discussed this on the forum and recommend you purchase from one of the reputable suppliers in the link page. Local sports shops do stock shinai but we have found them to be unsafe.

We will be getting a new batch of Beginners at the end of January and as we are loaning our own personal shinai, in some cases, there is a severe shortage. The club has some 'club shinai' but these, like our personal shinai, are prone to breakages - Beginners do tend to hit hard. The situation will only be compounded by another 6-16 members turning up on Wednesday 26th January. So please make the investment. We would hope all existing beginners have their own shinai, hakama and keikogi by 26th January.

Additionally you MUST have BKA membership as Sensei pointed out last night. In case you still need to get it there's information here. If you have not secured membership by the end of the month for insurance purposes we will be unable to continue training you!