Hello everyone,
On Sunday, the 14th of November, our club held a variety of events during our training hours, and was jam-packed with non-stop action!
The day consisted of our 2020 Beginner Cohort’s Kirikaeshi Party, followed by an internal Dan and Kyu team tournament, topped off with a bang; our spectacular outdoor club pot-luck BBQ!
Let me just preface this by saying that there’s going to be a lot of content for this post today, so grab some popcorn and pour yourself a soda, because we’re going to be here for a while! Let’s get started on this recap!
2020 Beginner Cohort Kirikaeshi Party!
So, I bet you’re wondering: “what IS a Kirikaeshi party, anyway?” – our Kirikaeshi party is an event our club likes to hold, providing everyone with an opportunity to really push ourselves to our absolute limit, to really try bring the best of our Kendo out! The event consists of doing multiple, consecutive swings non-stop, with 3 sets of 3 minutes, broken into 1 minute intervals with a few second rests in between (hard stuff, I tell you!).
For this Kirikaeshi party, our beginner cohort really showed us their absolute best Kendo performance, pushing themselves and each other to their limits, supporting each other during their sets and their breaks – good job, everyone! It was really moving to see!
I sincerly hope that this event helped everyone refine their Kendo basics, in preparation for the later stages of their Kendo to come!
But how did this event LOOK, you may wonder! Rest assured, we’ve come prepared – enjoy this compliation of photos we took on the day of the event!
Warm-up time!
Our beginner members, practicing their swings before the main event!
Takayama Sensei and Instructor Tom, explaining how the event will play out!
Our beginners listening carefully!
Oops – camera spotted, time for a pose!
Our senior Dan members, acting as their receivers for the event!
The calm before the storm – moments before the first set begins!
It begins! Our beginners swing into action!
The swings start to take a toll on everyone, but they don’t give up!
Abbas, the man with the kiai!
Brett, with a look of determination in his eyes!
Thank you to our senior Dan members, for being awesome receivers for our beginners!
A moment of motivation – our beginner members supporting each other to push through the final moments of this full-throttle event!
Our senior Kyu and Dan members come to spectate the beginners before their respective events begin!
Smile for the camera, Fabian!
The Kirikaeshi party is over, and our beginners cool down and receive some feedback from Fujito Sensei!
What an event that was! It was so great to see our beginner members really show the best of their abilities in this physical training event! I hope everyone had fun participating, and supporting each other!
After the beginner Kirikaeshi event was over, our beginner members were able to sit down and relax, and enjoy the rest of the events lined up for the day! Speaking of which, let’s move on to our next event:
Senior Dan Team Tournament!
Right after our beginner members were finished, our senior Dan members began warming up themselves, for a team vs. team internal competition event!
This was a sight to behold, where the most experienced members of our club clashed against one another in bouts of skill and technique! For those who want a quick recap, for team battles, although it is a team-based competition, the matches are still completed in a one versus one format – each member of either team is given a position, with the individuals of the same position from either team competing against each other in order.
I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that my eyes were glued intensely on each match, through the viewfinder of the camera I was using! Hopefully these images provide an idea of the intensity of what I saw – enjoy!
Fujisawa Sensei, competing and warming up!
More warm up – look at the reach of these strikes!
The Dan Team Competition Begins!
Our beginner members relax, whilst watching intently!
Uh oh – looks like I’ve been spotted!
Jordan, with a fast Men strike!
The moves were too fast for the camera!
Ai-men duel!
Rock on, Jordan!
Two fast Men cuts – who came out on top?!
Wow, movements culminated from experience!
What a fight! Can you also feel the intensity of this match?!
Instructor Tom explains to our beginners how shiai works – also, looks like I’ve been spotted again!
The tension for these matches were definitely explosive, as each cut was full of a strong intent to win! Definitely another highlight of the day! Congratulations to the winning senior Dan team!
Wow, with this much content from the day, we don’t have enough space to cover it in one blog post – continue reading the next blog post for the rest of the events!
End of part 1