American Zen Judo is starting
an e-mail news service. It's called Wadokan News.
If you have any announcements to share with American
or British Zen Judo clubs, please e-mail them to
hcavalca@richmond.edu and we'll pass them along.
If you wish to include others in this service, just
send us their e-mail address and we'll include them
in our list.
WADOKAN NEWS August 2000
COLLECTING ZEN JUDO
MEMORIES
This issue of the Wadokan News
starts a new feature. We are interested in collecting
memories of the Zen Judo family. Most families have family
albums and stories that they share. Together these memories
help the new members learn important things about family
life, about what it was like in the beginning and to
discover virtues, values and gifts from the past.
I asked Sensei Mike Healy to share with
us his own memories of Zen Judo in Germany. Anyone else
who has memories from the past 25 years of Zen Judo,
memories of Mac, of training at Love Lane, of people
that meant a lot for the Zen Judo family should feel
free to send them to me. Please share your memories with
us. Those memories shouldn't die with you alone. They
should form a common heritage for all of us Zen Judoka.
ZEN JUDO: THE GERMAN EXPERIENCE
By Mike Healy, 4th Dan; mike.healy@tjrp.net
Imagine the situation. Having tried
a variety of martial arts and found that the way in which
they were taught did not align with your philosophy or
understanding of what the martial arts should be about
one day you discover a style which reflects both. Not
only you but all of your family become so involved in
this that you practice five times a week and, when not
practicing, discuss and consider Judo.
The consequence, for me, was that two
years later I was a first Kyu with wife son and daughter
who were 2nd Kyu and a second daughter who was, despite
health problems, 3rd Kyu. Now at this time I was serving
in the British Army and soldiers get posted. I was posted
from England to Northern Germany. On arrival at my new
unit it soon became apparent that: a) no one in the British
community was practicing Judo in the way that we wished
to (though I commend some of the better Deutsche Judo
Bund clubs to anyone in a similar situation), and b)
that none of us wished to stop. What were we to do? I
contacted my first Sensei, Brian Bagot, and asked if
it would be permissible for me to start a club in Osnabruck,
Germany. He spoke to Mac and the next thing I new was
that I had been granted honorary Dan grade status and
the club was started. We were almost overwhelmed by our
success. We quickly rose to close to 40 members and,
despite people being posted away, managed to maintain
that level of membership for close to four years.
Of course the day had to arrive when I
would be posted back to the UK. Then fate took a hand.
I was in the process of setting up a committee (sorry
Mac) to take over the running of the club when a man
recently posted to the garrison turned up at a training
session and asked if he and his family could train with
us. I asked his background and he said that he was a,
if memory serves, 3rd Dan British Judo Association (BJA)
member with refereeing and teaching experience. I stated
that they were welcome but should understand that we
took a different approach. Part way through the first
session he suddenly asked what out syllabus had to do
with Kyu Shin Do Judo. It transpired that the man in
question, one Andrew Millard whose name will be more
than a little familiar to you, had trained at the same
club as Mac McCarthy, was in fact training there when
Mac was awarded his 1st Dan, and had risen to 1st Kyu
prior to joining the Army at which time he had little
choice but to move to the BJA. During the next few months
Andy and I, along with a number of other Members of my
club visited Mac at a training session in Portsmouth
at which Andrew's grade in Zen Judo was confirmed and
subsequently Andy took over my club when I left. Fate
again took a hand. Almost as soon as I left Andrew was
posted to another part of Germany about 150 Miles away.
Quite remarkably he chose to continue running the Osnabruck
Club, Started another in Hohne and recruited two more
clubs to train in our style. About a year later it was
my great pleasure that my wife and I took Mac and Peggy
McCarthy to Germany to visit the, by now, five Zen Judo
Clubs in turn to train with all of them culminating in
a gathering of all together in Hohne.
And what has become of it all now? Well
there is only a tiny British military presence in Germany
now. I am not aware of any continuing Zen clubs but content
myself in the knowledge that the current technical head
of Zen Judo in the UK would not be involved were it not
for my little Osnabruck club; and that, scattered around
the world are countless individuals who have enjoyed
participating in our style who otherwise would not have.
If any of them read this I would love
to hear from them.
PROMOTIONS AT THE INNERSTAIRWAY
ZEN JUDO DOJO IN CHARLOTTESVILLE
Sensei Ed Stockwell is honored to
announce that Mark Y. Smith and J. Taylor have both successfully
completed their testing last Wednesday July 26th. J.
Taylor has been promoted to the rank of Sankyu and has
accepted his new role as a senior student in the Innerstairway
Dojo. I admire his diligence and commitment to our family
and his. Mark Y. Smith has been awarded the rank of Nikyu.
He has been an integral part of our dojo and has made
himself available to cover classes when needed. I look
forward to learning more from him. To the students of
the InnerStairway ZenJudo Dojo: Thank You -- this testing
was a success because of your participation. This is
what Judo is about. Congratulations!
FINDING OLD FRIENDS
Another new feature of the Wadokan
News is our "finding old friends" section. If you had
a Zen Judo friend and you lost touch with him, send us
a query and we'll put it in the newsletter. Maybe someone
else knows where your friend is or how to get in touch
with him/her. Our first query comes from myself. Does
anyone know the whereabouts (especially the e-mail address)
of Sensei Adrian Norris (4th Dan)? I stumbled across
a copy of the "Zen Family News," the official newsletter
for the Zen Judo family back in the early 1990s, and
there were two articles by Adrian. I believe he was also
the Sensei of the Loddon Valley Judo Club at that time.
Since he visited my club in America I'd love to get back
in touch with him. Please send information to hcavalca@richmond.edu.
FUTURE TRAINING EVENTS
The Asageiko is the annual international
training sponsored by the American Zen Judo family. Every
year we've had the pleasure of having high ranking Zen
Judoka Sensei from England to provide us with a full
day or two of training for all the Zen Judo clubs in
America. This year we're delighted to have Jo Winslow
as our guest Sensei. All Zen Judo families are invited
to the event. It will take place in Richmond, Virginia
(we're hoping to hold it at the Wadokan dojo), on Saturday,
14th October. It will be an all-day event. |