Nidan Melbourne

Oh that's just Mother Nature telling you Americans, that this is what we Aussies call every other Summer! 110F (43c) is the record for Tasmania (our southern-most state) back in 2009! our hottest Australia-wide is 50.7c or 123.26f in 2022 from Western Australia. That's National This is the Highest for VIctoria (the state I'm in) For context Australia, our summer is December - Feburary. Which we basically dubbed our Fire Season, as we have a god awful amount of Bushfires throughout the country. Example; I was in a less than savoury location over Christmas Last Year, had 3 Fires in our area. meaning that we were on alert for evacuation to another location. As I was in Rural(ish) Victoria. Rural Locations in Australia are dangerously low for water, and since we are so large of a country. A lot of our country burns.

6/10/26 9:45 - 3:30 Gardening + Fence Painting 4:30 - 6 Yesterdays Exercises

So out of curiosity, who watched the 49'rs vs Rams match that was held at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) in Melbourne Australia? Also who flew from your home country to Melbourne to watch it? What did everyone think of the stadium? I ask because Melbourne is my home town. and curious to see what people thought of the stadium or even the match! I got to watch from a less than savoury location.

5/10/26 Light training today - Pool Rehabilitation Sanchin x 3 Tensho x 3 15 x 25m Laps - 375m 30 x 7.5m Laps - 225m 10 x 7.5m Laps w/ Kicks - 75m 10 x 7.5 Laps w/ Lunges - 75m 10 x 7.5m Laps x 2 w/ Side Steps - 150m 2 x 20 Alt. Knee Raises 2 x 20 Calf Raises 2 x 15 Side Lunges

Where I live in Australia, within' a 5km (3 mile) Radius there is probably a good 10 odd Martial Arts Clubs that operate. I know full well that there is a 2nd club that operates out of the SAME location except different days to us. So there is a lot of variety to choose from, however a lot of new families don't tend to shop around to find the right fit for them.

To me belts are just a useful guide for the instructors to know how much of the curriculum that each student should know. but also for the student to feel like they have some level of recognition and to feel like they making progress. When starting out, people really don't know much about belts and how many there are doesn't really matter. For instance every dojo i've trained at as 9 Colour Belts - White, Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Purple, Blue, Brown + 1st Brown (its a Brown Belt w/ a Black stripe down the middle) + 1 Black Belt. That's what i'm used to, and until I started here at KF I had no real idea to this topic or even how clubs would format them. @RJCKarate was the first to explain to me his clubs belt system, also conveniently he is up in Canberra and I'm near Melbourne. So getting useful information like this is a short flight away. But for us experienced Martial artists, transferring to any dojo should be easy and total number of belts should really be of no concern to us and how we train. Proof is on the Floor!

The typical adults class at my club is 60 Minutes + a 90 Minute Class on a Saturday at the Ashburton Dojo. We don't often train as a whole group unless it just happens to be a rank specific class or just those 2 or 3 ranks (Dan Grades don't count in this equation). As such after a Warm Up, we will break into smaller groups; either by rank OR testing requirements. White Belts or New Students, will generally stay together as a unit until they get promoted to 8th Kyu. For instance the last class I taught; which was the 90 Minute Class. And was a Throws and Break-falls focused class. 15 Minutes: Warm Up Running Total: 15 Minutes 5 Minutes: Break-Falls Basics 15 Minutes: Break-Fall Practice 7 Minutes: Break-Fall Applications Running Total: 42 Minutes 15 Minutes: Throws Basics 15 Minutes: Throws Practice Running Total: 72 Minutes 15 Minutes: Stretching Running Total: 87 Minutes 3 Minutes: Notices + Bow Out Running Total: 90 Minutes

It honestly took those students to tell me to change how I taught

Oh boy will I be! And good to see you again Wado!

When I was running mine, the hardest steps I found were getting the numbers to be able to make it financially viable and then also having the space readily available at a rate that was affordable.

When I was actively teaching; for my junior students I did find that they were enjoyable to teach at 5th - 3rd Kyu as they had some knowledge but enough of a challenge. Yet for my adult students I enjoyed them all from 9th - 2nd Kyu. I found my 1st Kyu + Black Belt Students to be competent and they are often focusing on their grading preparation, so I was having them teach the curriculum to really test their understanding.

If you don't include the Taikyoku Katas; I dislike Seeiunchin the most. far to much shikodachi! If you do include the Taikyoku Kata; Gedan is my least favourite!!! I may complain about how much shikodachi there is in seeiunchin, but I be blank blank blank Gedan has more.

there were only a couple of instructors that I didn't connect with over the years. However what is amusing is that I have run into them after a number of years, I actually connected with them better after that gap. I know full well that some of my students or former students have told me in the latter that they didn't feel like we connected. Having spoken to them after a while, I found out that they only said that because I didn't teach in the way that they learn best.

Hey everyone, Its been a long 12 months since I was last active here on KF! For those who don't know me; I was a member of KF Staff for around 8 years prior to having to step away due to me going through the worst of my life. I won't explain where I went during that time, with the exception of a handful of people here who needed to know. I have been a member of KF for many many years, and participated on KF's 15th Anniversary Live Stream. Still can't believe that was 10 years ago. @Patrick Totally putting my hand up to participate in the next one. To be honest I am glad to be back here and to participate as an active member of this community. Prior to my little disappearing act; I resided in South Yarra (Victoria Australia) and now residing in McCrae (Victoria Australia). I look forward to re-engaging with Friends that I had here, and all the banter that goes on here. and making new ones here.

Would have said we needed a new plague to get rid of people; but then i remembered that we already had that. lol