|
|
A
letter from Terry Riches, President IBF Australia June 2008
I recently visited Adelaide at the invitation
of our South Australian President Mr. Kym Reid. We managed
to squeeze in some martial arts training in between all the
social activities which normally included alcohol.
On the Friday night we visited a Ju Jutsu dojo
for some training, then on the Saturday we had some training
at Sensei Kym Reid's dojo, then we did two gradings for two
Karateka. Both applicants were successful in their respective
gradings. They were Sensei Tracy Ellis to Godan and Sensei
Glen Middleton to Sandan.
Then on the Sunday we had a workshop come seminar
with 14 different schools represented, including visitors
from Queensland showing the Koshiki system of Competition.
I met some interesting people. Some I will mention are, Dante's
son Rick wonderful attitude and a great mind and the Chikara
Budo instructors Tracy and Damien Ellis.
Insurance
A quick word on insurance as many people get confused with
this and think they are covered when they are not. Public
Liability only covers people sitting on the sidelines that
are not already members of your school.
Professional Indemnity covers verbal or written
advice or instructions you give, this is designed for any
errors you may have given or written down in say organizing
an event. Student Accident cover is what everyone needs and
surprisingly not many schools have, obviously covering the
students for gap cover and a must, any one joining the I.B.F.
will get this cover automatically.
Gradings
I have many people inquiring
about gradings for themselves around the country, I tell them
the same thing, "enjoy the journey and don't worry about
gradings, they will come".
Remember "the man maketh the man not the rank".
I would like to finish by thanking a couple
of people, Mr. Kym Reid who organised the training events,
the gradings and the workshop and his work in promoting the
I.B.F. around the country and Mr. Phil Kern who has organized
the website and keeps us from looking like amateurs should
it be left for me to do.
Respectfully yours
Terry Riches
National President
March
/ April 2008 Newsletter
|
 |
Welcome
It's been a busy March. With Easter and holidays etc. it was
even more hectic trying to organize the training day, gradings,
pick-ups and drop-off's at the airport for our guests and also the
time between events.
We started with Terry Riches (President IBF Aust.) flying in Friday
afternoon. Not wanting to just sit around that night I had arranged
for some interaction at Dante's Roccisano's dojo. Glen Middleton,
Terry and I dropped in and we had some interchange of techniques.
Terry was very impressed with Dante's son Rick who had recently
had a knee reconstruction after a training incident in Okinawa.
Thanks Dante for your hospitality and good luck Rick with the knee.
On the Saturday I had arranged for my club to host Glen Middleton
and Tracy Ellis to be assessed for their 3rd. and 5th. Dan's respectively
at the Burragah centre. Congratulations to both. They gave very
polished performances for an hour each including kata's and sparring
with several of my students. Tracy's husband also was in attendance
and impressed Terry with his attitude as he joined in and trained
with my crowd. Terry then proceeded to share some of his knowledge
with demonstrations of various techniques.
Meanwhile Karol Stojko was picking up Tony Fletcher and Anne Aylward
(National President and National Secretary of the Australian Koshiki
Association) from the airport and dropping Anne off at the Warrawong
sanctuary before bringing Tony down to meet us at the club. We had
a great evening with Terry and Tony at a restaurant later that evening.
So thankyou Karol for helping me out and also for hosting the training
day at the Payneham Youth centre.
The Training Day.
After a warm-up we started with Karol Stojko explaining "ki"
and structured some techniques to help us realise its flow and presence
and then moved onto structured routines to improve timing and implementation
of sparring techniques. Continuing on from that we had some sparring.
As you'll see from the photo's soon to be put in the gallery there
was a huge variety of sizes and styles amongst the more than 50
participants.
After a short break we continued on with a demonstration of Koshiki.
I'll point out that at my request for some information regarding
this style of tournament for our members the Australian Koshiki
Association were very forthcoming and at their own expense flew
Tony and Anne over with the equipment to explain the rules and application
of Koshiki tournaments. Both were extremely impressed with the wide
range of stylists at the training day and the obvious respect everyone
had for each other. Several volunteers donned the unique equipment
to give it a try.
Yanni from Jinen Karate Jitsu and Carl from Nagareru had their
go then Shannon of National Karate Academies and Matthew from Peter
Koegst's Karate Jitsu took a turn. "David and Goliath"
in size Shannon threw in some awsome and very powerful kicks. On
the other hand lightweight Matthew was right up his nose with some
brilliant head punches. It was a great demo from them all. It clearly
showed the effectiveness of the safety equipment.
The main thing was that the techniques need to score points and
needed good execution to count. Tony and Anne bought with them several
sets of rules which I gave out and over the next few weeks I'd like
some feed-back please. I hope some of you will take an interest
and consider it as a tournament style. Tony and Anne are happy also
to communicate with any of you keen enough to do so. More about
that later, we'll have some links put up soon. Thank-you Tony and
Anne for coming all the way down from Brisbane to offer an alternative
to the members.
Terry Riches followed up after this with breakfall warm-ups and
continued with some takedowns and finishes. Demand was high so obviously
we went overtime, again. Terry was impressed by the enthusiasm shown,
particularly by one student who would ask him a question on each
technique and then as he wondered around the student would approach
him again. This guy seemed so keen and persistent. "This is
great" Terry thought until he realized he had been talking
to twins Daniel and Matthew from Karol's club.
After the training we all stayed on for BBQ and drinks and got
to know each other and sharing stories.
Tony and Anne flew home that afternoon and Terry the next day flew
back to NSW.
A big day and a great turnout with Peter Koegst's guys, Adam, Jason
and Daniel there to represent their style. Steve Miranda had his
army of students attend and I'm especially impressed by all those
who came down from his Murray Bridge branch, good on you guys. Tracy
Ellis, Dante Roccisano came along and it was good to see Mick Murphy
and his troops. Karol's people were great hosts and plenty of my
students turned up. Thank-you all for making it a great day and
a thank-you to Chris Gillies who on short notice advertised the
event for us. Chris attended and enjoyed himself I think. It'll
be interesting to see what he say's and shows in his e-mail newsletter,
a committed and knowledgeable guy. So now I'll do him a favour.
Does anyone know where his past sensei John Boswell is? Please contact
me.
Insurance.
It appears the local broker didn't want our business. People
who only have public liability and professional indemnity cover
may like to ask their rep what is actually covered. The biggest
worry is if a student is injured and sues are you covered? One local
instructor lost personally $40,000 recently and he had the above
coverage! Don't be slack, ask for clarification. You need student
accident cover. Don't say you teach a style you aren't qualified
in, it could work against you! Check your training environment,
is it safe? Qualifications from a government accredited body will
help you. These are a few things discussed over the weekend with
Terry Riches. In case you didn't know he is a qualified insurance
agent.
Photo's.
I will do what I can to get the photos of the events up as quickly
as possible. We will also set up a link to the koshiki site asap.
Meanwhile just "Google" up "koshiki youtube"
and watch the videos of championships etc.
Inter-club Training.
These training days are there to get you guys acquainted as
much as anything else. I encourage you to contact each other and
visit and share. I am happy to direct you to the right people! We
need more styles so talk to others or recommend clubs to me. There
are those who don't use computers so help them out. Remember if
we have enough members and increase funding, we can help you.
Quite often instructors get complacent about memberships.
Apart from
1. the international accreditation.
2. reduced costs for insurance, coaching, equipment gradings.
3. becoming part of a family of martial artists where principles
have not had to pay at training days.
4. having the chance to share your ideals and style.
5. your students seeing you recognised amongst other martial artists.
6. you being automatically covered (as the principle) with student
accident cover.
Remember:
For less than $2/week you have your photo on a website, a link to
your own site, an outline of where you are and all on an internationally
recognised register.
Isn't it worth it?
Future Training Days.
Great to have so many instructors wanting to give their time
and share at training days. I have tried to keep these days organised
with some sort of theme and dynamic in their nature, we all like
action! Only so much can be done on a day and the ones who bring
in the most are more likely to run the shows, but I will try to
give everyone a go. I have idea's but this isn't about me so feed
back some idea's, offer a place, volunteer to host.
Koshiki.
At every tournament I have had involvement with every "style"
has told me how it "restricts" or "doesn't fit"
with what I do. Take this as a tool. It will help your style, it
will build character, it gives the next generation of martial artists
a place to grow and meet others. Tony and Anne are ready to help
form the state committee and send over volunteers. Are you good
enough to fight within the rules or worried you couldn't cope. This
is a safer Atemi style of tournament than what Karol and I fought
in, no body protection then yet "full body" contact was
allowed. The unique head gear and padded fibreglass chest protectors
(bogu) allow you to show your strength, but the rules help to keep
it under control.
I can only hope that I haven't forgotten anything or anyone. If
so it is not intentional. Please contact me and let me know where
I have erred. My apologies to Kevin from the Toushido Karate club
for getting his name wrong last Newsletter.
Thanks for all your support and watch here for more.
Special thanks again to Phil Kern for putting up the Newsletter
and maintaining the website for us.
Kym Reid
SA President
|
