ZEN JUDO SPAIN TO HOLD ITS FIRST TRAINING
While we don't have all the details yet, we are informed that Zen Judo Spain is to hold its first international training this month. Sensei Brian Bagot is the invited lecturer for the training. Brian will be presenting the Zen Judo syllabus to Spanish Judoka, including the counters, techniques 2-3-4-5s and Sutemi. Sensei Bagot will be in Mallorca on June 5 and will return to the UK on June 12th. We wish Zen Judoka in Spain a successful and enjoyable time.

KENSHINDORYU SPRING COURSE REPORT
By John Robertson, 1st Kyu Zen Judo Family, 1st Dan BZJFA; john@zenjudo.freeserve.co.uk
I’m sure that those who made the trip to Reading for the Kenshindoryu Spring course on May 12-13 would agree that an interesting and varied weekend of training was enjoyed by all. With senior instructors from a number of martial arts, the sessions covered Zen Judo, Jujitsu, Akido and Karate. The usual high level of instruction and friendly atmosphere typical of Sensei Jim Dart's courses made for a relaxed but busy couple of day’s. Possibly the highlight of the weekend was the Sunday afternoon session by Sensei Ross Mockeridge on practical Jujitsu and groundwork. The session covered techniques from the combat Sombo style, including turnovers, defenses and leg locks. If you missed the course there are still openings for the Summer course at Tenby South Wales, on September 15-16. For more information contact Sensei Dart e-mail: Kenshindoryu@aol.com.

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF ZEN JUDO
By John Robertson, 1st Kyu Zen Judo Family, 1st Dan BZJFA; john@zenjudo.freeserve.co.uk
Felpham Zen Judo Club started back in 1988 and was originally based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. It was formed by Sensei John Wingham (who was then a Blue belt) and assistant Instructor Jo Winslow who held a Black belt. The club moved to its Felpham Dojo in 1991 and for many years had both a junior and senior session on the Thursday and a senior session on the Saturday afternoon. With around 15 to 20 students ranging from white belt through to black and around 6 to 8 adults at one point it was a lively and active club. We were very lucky to have been visited by Shihan Dominick McCarthy on a number of occasions.
When John Wingham by then a 3rd Dan gave up running the club, Jo Winslow now a 4th Dan took over. Over the last few years we have found it more and more difficult to attract sufficient students to cover the spiralling costs of hall hire (mostly due to the close proximity to two large leisure centres) and on December 14, 2000 Sensei Winslow was forced to close down the Felpham club. But we have not disappeared completely as a new fledgling club has been opened along the coast at Selsey just south of Chichester, this club shows a lot of promise and should be easier to maintain. The club is running its second introductory course from which we hope to add new judoka to the club.
One of the things I have noticed as a Senior (Old) Judoka is that as you progress to the higher belts it becomes more and more difficult to find Seniors to train with and when there has been a lack of available training partners, I have travelled some distance to Zen clubs to train. Training with the same Uke all the time is a mixed blessing and we should all take the opportunity to do Randori with other partners so that our Judo doesn’t become stale. To this end I have attended a number of courses over the years which have been arranged by a small number of Sensei willing to share there knowledge, some of these courses have given the attendees the opportunity to learn other martial arts like Jujitsu, Akido, Karate and Sombo as well as Zen Judo. Once the Zen student is able to tell the difference between the Zen Judo syllabus and techniques that are not part of the syllabus and shouldn’t be used on the mat. Then it should be safe and educational for them to broaden their knowledge.
For the long-term future of the ‘Zen Judo Style’ it is important that we don’t turn into a small number of isolated clubs in which our students rise from white belt to Black with no contact with other Zen Judoka from other clubs. If this is allowed to happen then Shihan McCarthy’s ‘Zen Judo Style’ will fall by the way side and politics aside I’m sure that all of us don’t want that. We owe it to our students to make sure that they have the chance to train with like-minded judoka in the future. It would be nice if all Judoka who practiced the Zen Judo style were once again welcome to visit and train at each others club’s, because you never know how long you might have a club in your area, it might be YOU who is looking for another Zen Judo Club. For more information on Zen Judo and Zen Judo Clubs visit www.zenjudo.co.uk

ZEN JUDO GRADINGS IN THE U.S.
There were four gradings at the Wadokan family this May. Two tests were for Sankyu (green belt), and two for Gokyu (yellow belt). Gui Cavalcanti (Keo's son) and Jason Girard (of the National Capital Zen Judo Club in D.C.) tested successfully for their green belt respectively on May 2 and May 7. Nick Desai and Conway Upshur tested successfully for their yellow belt respectively on May 23 and on May 28. All gradings were conducted at the Wadokan with the help of Senseis John McIntyre of National Capital Zen Judo club, and Chris Flinn and Frank Curran of the Wadokan club. Congratulations to all Judoka for their progress in the art.
On a related note, it is our pleasure to inform that Senseis Ed Stockwell and Mark Smith of Innerstairway Zen Judo club in Charlottesville passed their dan grades in Niharate Karate. The testing was helt on April 28, the results were given on May 10, and the belt ceremony was held on May 15. Sensei Mark Smith (Nikyu Zen Judo) was awarded his Yondan rank and Sensei Ed Stockwell (Nidan Zen Judo) was awarded his Shodan rank in the art. Congratulations to both for their dilligent work in Budo.

ZEN JUDO TRAINING -- ASAGEIKO 2001
This year's American Zen Judo Asageiko International training will take place on August 1-4. On Wednesday, Aug. 1, we will be expecting everybody to arrive in Richmond, Virginia. On Thursday, Aug. 2 and Friday, Aug. 3, we will have all-day workouts from 8 am to 5 pm (with the lunch break and two coffee/tea breaks). We'll take Saturday morning (Aug. 4) off to do a little tourism in the area (and for some of us to get over feeling sore...) and will be back on the mat on Saturday afternoon. The training will be divided into two-hour sessions that will deal with different aspects of the art. We do invite Zen Judoka from all over the world to join us for Asageiko. As usual the training is open to all branches of the Zen Judo family.