November 2007
Paul Rudd Sensei
November has been a busy month for St Athan Club. In the first week of the month we marked the official third birthday of the club. The Club is a bit like the Queen, it has two birthdays! Although we opened in September 2004, the club really got off the ground in November of that year with many of the founding members joining, some of whom still train today. This year to mark the occasion we held a Demonstration for the parents to see what we actually get up to on the mat. Demonstrations included; throws, strike and kicking, releases and various weapon defences. Also this year some of our more advanced juniors and a couple of of seniors teamed together to give a short demonstration with swords. The evening to a close with the presentation of trophies to all our junior grades. The trophies were presented this year by the Station Commander, Wing Commander Woods. |
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Following the successful demonstration evening fast on its heels came Pudsey Bear. One week after our presentation evening we gathered in the Dojo to try and raise funds for Children in Need. The idea started as "lets see if the kids can do 1000 throws in three hours." The whole club then got involved with seniors and juniors all throwing towards a combined total. The enthusiasm and effort from all involved was totally outstanding. I was blown away by the commitment of the kids to do so well, they never gave up throughout the night, showing true spirit. To add to their excitement, Pudsey arrived with a camera lady from BBC Wales to film the event. As you can imagine the kids went wild to see Pudsey as we hadn't told them he was coming. Pudsey even joined in and was thrown (gently) by Eddie and the Station Commander, Wing Commander Woods was thrown by Bill. The throwing went so well in fact that we had completed over 1000 throws in just over an hour! So I called a halt to proceedings and gathered the club together and asked if they thought they could make 2000. The response was amazing and off they went again!
After just over another hour, there were one or two signs that one or two of the younger ones were tiring and we all thought that we must have passed the new 2000 target, so we took a short breather and waited on Sensei Jane to give us the new figure. To our surprise we were short of the target by some 85 throws. So not wanting to be beaten, Sensei Jane and I agreed to finish off the target by throwing the club. All club members lined up and were then thrown one after the other several times with Bill counting up the throws. 2000 throws came and went, and as we bowed off all had a great sense of achievement. I will have to think of something really hard for next time as I'm still blown away by the juniors efforts on the night, what a great bunch! The filming of the event was shown on Children in Need Wales set to the sound track of " I get knocked down but I get up again." Thanks to all who took part and supported the event, including those parents who even volunteered to be thrown on the night. It is estimated that we should raise in the region of £700.
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Over and above all the added mayhem of presentations, demonstrations and Children in Need, training has continued. Needless to say, after all the throwing for Children in Need we have looked at other aspects of the syllabus this month and been introducing some of our newer members to ground work. Throughout the month Adam Hodges has demonstrated good behaviour, ability and has not missed a session throughout the month, justly deserving his Student of the Month award. Well done Adam, keep up the good work. That's all for this month. We are all now looking forward to the Christmas break and Sensei Jane and I along with Bill and Eddie would like to wish all at St Athan Club and all throughout Ishin Ryu a very happy and safe Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year. Paul Rudd SenseiSt Athan Dojo |
