We have just been informed by the university where we have been training for the past decade or so that, as we no longer have any university students as members, we can no longer avail ourselves of their facilities.
This is a fair call; all our student members have either drifted away or graduated and this particular campus has never been a fertile recruiting ground.
So it looks like, for the second year running, (thanks to last year’s lock downs), we will be spending the Winter training outdoors.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, though from an instructor’s point of view it can get cold. Bloody cold. Students, of course, have the advantage of being kept warm through vigorous martial activity, so do not notice.
Our favourite training park is not really suitable for open hand or battojutsu, though it can be done. Ground too uneven for mats and not enough light to observe the precision details of the sword techniques. We may end up sharing space in a nearby park with the local boxercise group, where there is an expanse of concrete under good lights. I am sure they will not mind. We have weapons, after all.
Interesting times ahead, as we again adapt our teaching and training to the ever changing circumstances that are reality.
Although, if you run a local business in the south-western suburbs of Brisbane, have suitable space spare for a small dojo and have always dreamed of having an in house martial arts school for your company, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kai Cho