HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We wish all the Zen Judo family throughout the world a very joyous New Year. May we continue to enjoy many more years in the practice of our art. And may we grow in wisdom as we practice it!

THE FAMILY KEEPS GROWING -- ZEN JUDO SPAIN
Keo Cavalcanti, 6th Dan Zen

We are delighted to welcome a new branch of the Zen Judo family in Europe. Last month, after a three-month period of conversations with us, Sensei Bartolome Canellas Cardona, of Palma Mallorca, Spain, received our support and encouragement to officially organize the Spanish Zen Judo Association (Judo Zen España).
Sensei Canellas is a veteran Judoka and Aikidoka. He brings to the task both the martial arts skills and the wisdom of many years teaching the art of Judo in Mallorca. He strongly believes in the practice that we abide by in Zen Judo and wishes to share it with Spain. We welcome him to the family and wish him well in this endeavor. For those who wish to send Sensei Canellas a welcoming greeting, his address is Bartolome Canellas Cardona, Judo Zen España, Dojo Tanabe,plaza Segovia,no 5, Palma de Mallorca 07005,Baleares, España (Spain). Sensei Canellas' e-mail address is rodriguez@segur.caib.es.

THE FAMILY KEEPS GROWING IN THE US TOO -- ZEN JUDO MISSOURI
Keo Cavalcanti, 6th Dan Zen

The American Zen Judo family also welcomes a new dojo in the U.S. We're delighted to have Sensei Mike Baker on board with us. Mike and I have been e-mailing for a while now. He read Brian Bagot's book and our manual before deciding to join AZJ. Mike has been practicing karate since 1965. In 1990 he started the practice of Judo with Sensei John Ross in Gardena California. His Dojo has affiliations with the USJA and the USMA. We're excited about extending Zen Judo into other regions of the U.S. and we're glad Mike is our first dojo in the Missouri area.
For those who wish to send Sensei Baker a welcoming greeting, his address is:
Mike Baker, 9892 V Highway, Mount Vernon, MO. 65712.
Sensei Baker's e-mail address is bugsy@sofnet.com.

FEATURING ZEN JUDO CLUBS
Starting with this issue we'll be highlighting Zen Judo clubs with the entire family. We invite Zen Judo Sensei to send us a short history of their clubs, along with information on where they meet and when they have workout sessions. It is another way for us to keep the Zen Judo family informed of where Zen Judo is being practiced. And it allows us to know of other clusb to visit when we're in a given area.
This issue of the Wadokan News features the Kenshindoryu Judo Club. My thanks to Sensei Jim Dart for sharing the information with us.

THE KENSHINDORYU JUDO CLUB -
Woodley The club was originally formed in 1994 as Reading Tech Zen Judo Club, with Jim Dart, then Shodan, in charge. From the outset, and up to the present, the Judo session was followed by a Ju Jitsu lesson, using a Ju Jitsu syllabus which Mac had helped to design.
The first session launched with eight fledgling Judoka, all from Jim's Wadoryu Karate club, which had been running since 1988. The club ambled along until 1996, when Sensei Adrian Norris closed Reading Zen Judo as he was moving house, and as a result the Tech club inherited almost fifty junior (children) members. This came as a bit of a shock, as Jim's club had been adults only (and blissfully quiet !) until this point.
A year after Shihan McCarthy's death, the club moved to its current location at St Dominic School, Woodley and, having officially resigned from the Zen Judo Family (for personal reasons), the re-named 'Kenshindoryu Judo Club' affiliated with the International Society of Traditional Judo, in the U.S. and Japan, adding their Combat Judo system to the original Zen syllabus.
Since then, close links have been re-established with both The Zen Judo Family and the British Zen Judo Family Association, resulting in numerous joint courses run each year...
And of the original eight members ? Well, two are now Black Belts and one is brown. One now holds Dan grades in karate and kendo (but not Judo!) and two others continue to train with Jim in other arts. In the six years of its existence, the club has produced nine Dan grades (including three to 2nd Dan), and taught over 150 members at one time or another. It now holds the honour of being the England Headquarters Dojo for the ISTJ.
Club training sessions are Saturdays from 1pm, with a Thursday lesson from 6.15pm opening in 2001. Club Instructors are Sensei Jim Dart 4th Dan ISTJ, 3rd Dan Zen; and Sempais Tom Williams, 2nd Dan; Jo Newman, 2nd Dan; Chris Lambourn, 1st Dan; Andy Lambourn, 1st Dan, Joe Williams,1st Dan and Michael Yates, 1st Dan.

RADCLIFFE DECEMBER COURSE
The Radcliffe Zen Judo Club hosted its two day annual Budo course with a Disco/party in the evening. The event once again was an enormous success due to all the work put in by all the back room people, catering staff, and the guest instructors. Students and Instructors came from Bognor-Regis ,Manchester, Reading, Maidenhead , Boston, and Nottingham.
The instructors were: Andrew Millard, Gordon Lawson, Michael Dickinson and Anne Parker in Judo; Jim Dart in Karate; Gordon McGowan in Tai-Chi; and Brian Morrison in Aki. In Judo, participants practised the Zen Judo syllabus and the John Harding groundwork Kata In Karate we practised the Chinto Kata. In Tai-Chi we were shown the Basic short forms. And in Aki we worked with the Aki-Jo and Boken. Demonstrations were given in Tai-Chi sword Kata by Gordon McGowan and the Muso Jikiden Eishen Ryu ( advanced sword forms) by Brian Morrison. Along with the training the club also offered grading to Georgina Heath, who successfully passed her blue belt test. Congratulations went also to Joanne Yates, who celebrated her 20th Birthday on the ocassion.