Riverina Kyokushin Karate Championships 2010

Hi guys and girls. It has been a long time since i posted on the site and I intend to get back into it.The Riverina Championships are on soon. It will be held on Sunday the 25th of July at the Yoogali Club. There will be a Sayonara Party at the Bagtown Inn after the tournament. I will blog soon.

Osu

Sensei Frank

Trivia Night and other fundraisers

HI Everyone,
It has been a little while between blogs but I have been flat out, so my apologies. Just a reminder that we need you all to be selling those raffle tickets. We have changed the draw date to Fri April 16th. Also on this date we will be holding a Trivia Night. The last one was a huge success and a lot of fun. I have had many requests for another one so it will be held on the same date at the Darlington Point Club at 7.30pm. We are looking for tables of 10 people at $10 per person. Also, we are looking for businesses to sponsor a table at $100 per table. If you can help get sponsorship it would be a great help. We are currently organising tickets so please get the word out on the grapevine and use your facebook and texts.
Starting this Sunday, parents and students will be holding a barbeque out the front of Bunnings selling sausages sandwiches and drinks as a fundraiser. If you can help us over the coming Sundays please let us know. Even an hour of your time would be greatly appreciated. Or at least come buy a sausage!
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Rosemary Dufour for her tireless work selling tickets on her Sundays off at the Showground Markets. She really is a powerhouse of energy and her efforts are most welcome and important to our mssion to get our students to Spain. Thankyou Rose.
I can assure you that Ledy and Nudge have bee training very hard since their induction into the Australian Team. I have put them through the ringer!! We have also just come back from a Team training weekend in Sydney. I can't remember the last time i was so utterly drained and sore. Make no mistake. We are sending a great Team to Spain and no stone will be left unturned to get them there at their fighting best.
Train hard
Sensei Frank

Decisions: Make many & make often!

I remember as a child all the countless possibilities for my professional future. I wanted to be an astronaut, a fireman, a cowboy, racing car driver and Batman. It never occurred to me that any of those were not possible. The realm of possibility was endless. At any particular moment I would decide that I would become anything I fancied at that time. I was excited. I told mum and dad and my friends what I was going to be and they went along with it. I believed in my heart that I could become what ever I wanted. There was no doubt or voice of reason telling me that I couldnt do what I wanted. When did things change? Was there a moment when someone said "You can't be the Primeminister, Grow Up"? When did I start believing that everyone is right, that I was kidding myself, that I couldn't do most of those things that I so whole heartedly believed that I could? Most importantly, when did I decide to settle for something less?
Most people lead lives that are so far removed from their childhood expectations. Why? It's because we buy into excuses. We buy into the opinions of others. We settle for mediocrity.
You see, the answer to a more fulfilled life is the same as the catalyst that got you where you are now. You made a decision. Somewhere along the line you decided to "get real" and get a "real job". Most people aren' happy with their "real job" and yet feel that this is it for them. That they didn't have a choice. It was what life dished out for them and they just got on with it. I can tell you now that I was in the same boat. I worked at the Bartter plant in many different positions of high regard. I gutted chickens, boned meat, packed meat in cold wet conditions, (which I now have arthritic hands as a momento) and did a bunch of jobs that weren't on anyone's wishlist for how to spend the rest of your life. I realised that I simply fell into line. This is the hand I was dealt and so be it. I settled! I clocked on at 5.30am like all the other sheep, I moaned and complained like the rest of them and basically spent many years being miserable. What saved me was that I loved reading, especially motivational literature by the likes of Anthony Robbins, Norman Vincent Peale and Brian Tracy. I read many of them and slowly but surely something started to grow in me. I started to resist the attitude that I wasn't able to do better for myself. To cut a long story short, It was just after a smoko break that I had made a decision to walk into the change room, hang up my coat, my knives and my beautiful hairnet and I walked out the door of the plant and to the carpark. I got in my car and drove home. I was free. I broke that cycle that had me chained down for so many years. The power was in the decision I made. I started to make more decisions about my life. I liked it. Real power. I could make a decision about anything I wanted. I could change my mind and make a new decision. The possibilities were endless. I could study and become what ever I wanted. It just took a decision and then to act on it. We all have that power. We can do what ever we want. We can better our situation. Don't settle. Don't listen to anyone that may undermine you. There are many of them and their thoughts are toxic if you let them get in. Become that kid again where the possiblities were exciting. They are exciting!! All you need to do is exercise you decision making powers. Make decisions often and change your life for the better.
Sensei Frank

Taking it slow

This year I had the fortune to take part in a seminar run by the BJJ Legend and UFCs original champion Royce Gracie.(check him out on youtube). We trained many ju jitsu drills, mma strategies and ground work, and it was all great. Royce is a very accomplished technician and his methodical breakdown of each technique made them easy to pick up. But for me, the most profound lesson i learnt was his insistance to drill slowly....real slowly. To be honest, i found it hard to slow myself down, as did all the other students taking part. We were hungry to learn. Every time we started racing throught the drills, Royce would stop the lesson and reprimand us for rushing the moves. After a while, i got the hang of it and i noticed that my brain was retaining the sequences without any trouble, and THAT was the lesson behind his repeated requests to slow down. I left Canberra with a new perspective on how i should approach my own classes. We all need to slow down and absorb new information and drill it over and over until we can repeat it with confidence. When students rush their techniques, kata, defence drills they will only pick up a superficial understanding of what they are learning. Learn to take time to break down the steps in a kata, get a feeling for techniques, take notice of your body's movements when sparring and then your learning will be deep and rich, and your understanding for your chosen art will be a rewarding experience. I always say in class that karate is a "study" and it should be treated as such. The more you delve, the more you find. Thank you Royce.
Sensei Frank

Little Dragons

Hi everyone and welcome to my first blog. This week I introduced a new class to our dojo called Little Dragons. The classes were held on Monday & Thursday at 10am. There was a great turnout with 16 kids on Monday and 18 kids on Thursday. The ages were from 3 to 5 years. I must admit that i was nervous but the kids had a great time with Karen and I so all went well. Parents got to join in and that made things easier. I thinks kids are sponges at this age and they picked up way more than some parents expected. It was a rewarding experience and we can't wait till the next class. Until then keep training.
Sensei Frank Cirillo