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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Mid-Year Grading

By Nella

On the 26th of June, the Singapore Kendo Club conducted our Mid-Year Grading examinations at the Changi Japanese School Dojo.

During every session, grading will be held in front of a panel of senseis, who will judge and award the level of proficiency displayed during the examination. With that said, one is required to execute the basic and fundamental strikes learnt throughout the course of training. This will be followed by jigeiko and kata for higher kyu and dan gradings, and every aspect is vital in determining your performance for the day.

Congratulations to all participants for their efforts in this grading! :D

Changi dojo on this Sunday morning

Next in line for grading

*Spots Nasution from afar* XD

Our 1st kyu kendokas getting ready to challenge for sho-dan

Suresh sensei conducts the examination for this batch

The next grading will take place in December, and this will be the first for most, if not all, incoming juniors this academic year. Do look forward to it! :)

10:49 PM

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Friday, June 17, 2011

Summer Affiliates Training Camp

By Nella

Affiliate clubs of the Singapore Kendo Club (SKC) had their inaugural Summer Affiliates Training Camp from the 10th to 12th of June! This time, we had the privilege of hosting the camp in our home dojo at NUS! (:

The camp started off with an afternoon training at MPSH6. Now with a slightly different feel as our SMU counterparts are present. After that, everyone got to check in to their rooms at Raffles Hall, which was directly opposite SRC. Our usual evening training awaits with Renata sensei's arrival! Our fellow kendokas from NYP could only join us much later due to their lessons.

The start of our camp!

Kiri kaeshi practice

Renata sensei teaching us about tenouichi

Day 2 greeted us with a morning training session conducted by Wada sensei and Suresh sensei. This was followed by Peter sensei's kihon training, another led by Daphne sensei from SMU and lastly by Suresh sensei from NYP. Of course, with breakfast and lunch breaks in between. Not to mention that we had a fantastic lunch catered by SUN Asian Bistro! The fried rice and fish fingers were completely cleaned from the trays. XD

Demonstration by sensei

More waza practice!

Saturday trainings ended off with a nice supper with senseis once again! With a good night's sleep and a short breakfast, we are all ready for godou keiko on Sunday! The line up for Sunday was similar to that of in SKC. First to come was the Japanese and Beginners' Class, proceeded by Advanced Class/Godou Keiko and finally with World Kendo Championships (WKC) training.

Godou keiko on the next morning

Japanese Class (:

Preparation for Advanced Class later

WKC Training Team

One last snapshot of the day

At the end of it all, most of us would have went through at least 7 trainings in total. We managed to cover the various aspects of kendo as well, i.e. kihon, waza and keiko, and I'm certain that everybody has gotten the best out of the camp in their own ways. (:

Personally, it was awesome to have participated and survived this camp! As you may have noticed, one of the highlights was to be able to undergo training sessions conducted by different senseis from our affiliate clubs in Singapore; each with its own experience to offer. Moreover, Affiliate Camp allowed us to have block training sessions (most evident on Day 2), which truly pushed both our physical and mental stamina to the limits. Most of all, the opportunity to get to know our affiliate members better in and out of trainings!

A big thank you to everyone who have made this camp possible! :D

12:24 PM

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Monday, June 13, 2011

17th East-West Tournament

By Melissa

Following the idea of Japan’s annual All Japan East-West Tournament, where the best kendokas from Eastern Japan and Western Japan pit against each other, to decide the winning side (Eastern or Western Japan), we have our own such tournament in the month of June every year.

We were divided into East and West teams purely based on our local addresses, and with this being my first official tournament, it is needless to say that I was really anxious teaming up with 4 experienced, non-NUS kendokas.

Shimpans briefing before the start of the matches

Lining up in our various teams!

Fighting in a team match feels very different from an individual match. It is the team’s overall performance that ensures advancement, and that requires a lot of team effort and support from each and everyone in the team. Watching your teammates give their best in those precious 3-minute matches really builds up a strong sense of camaraderie.

Jigeiko after the tournament

The East-West Tournament is not so much a tournament to compete and win glory, but more of making friends and getting to know kendokas from other clubs such as SKC, SMU and NYP, which makes this tournament more lighthearted and enjoyable than I expected it to be. Overall, the tournament was a really fun experience and it is something every kendoka can look forward to.

The prize giving ceremony

(Nella: Congratulations to Melissa & team for a job well done!)

Group shot of everyone! (:

3:24 PM

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Saturday, June 11, 2011

2nd NUS Kendo Championships Series 1

By Nella and Anthea

In the light of the new upcoming semester, it is prime time that we look back to one of our earlier tournaments this year--the 2nd NUS Kendo Championships Series 1.

Series 1 was held on the 25th of March, the very event that the new batch of juniors would make their first appearance for our in-house tournaments. After passing the Beginner Course in 2010 and familiarizing ourselves with the bogu, Series 1 was where we could put all our skills to the test in an actual shiai. To our prospective juniors, do read on; this would be an eye-opener to all of you. :)

Let's hear it from our Welfare I/C, Anthea!

"When Chee Fung first announced after training that the juniors would be taking part in the new Inter series, I immediately thought "my god, we're going to be fed to the wolves." Merely two months earlier, the Year Ones had just joined the seniors in their training, and I for one didn't feel very confident about my kendo. However, as they say, the NUS Series is about training yourself in a shi-ai situation to aid you in external competitions, so I eventually mustered the courage to sign up. My nervousness wasn't abated by a "fortuitous" pre-competition schedule which included late faculty exams and an overseas trip - the latter meaning that I would miss the last training before the day itself.

Within 30 minutes of coming back to Singapore I found out that my first match was against Hui Zhen, making my nervousness reach a completely new level because being a senior she would have had more experience fighting in a shi-ai. I had never seen her fight before or had a chance to keiko with her, which only added to my anxiety because I didn’t know what kind of cut she preferred – though in hindsight this perceived “handicap” helped me learn a lot about fighting in a tournament because I’m unlikely to know what my opponent is good at before the match itself.

Anthea scoring a kote point on the right.

I’d heard that Xian Ping, whom I fought my second match with, was good at kote cuts, so I tried my best to employ nuki-men techniques during my fight against her. (Here I have to thank Jiahui and Yonghe a lot for telling me about the existence of such a move before the tournament, if not it would have been much harder for me to score a point.) By the time I got to the finals match, my nerves were so jangled that I forgot the proper sequence for bowing and stepping into the court, causing Peter sensei to ask Melissa and I to re-do the entire process. During the match itself, he also stopped us a couple of times to correct our taiatari methods, among other things. Frankly, up till now I'm still shocked at my progress, having been so utterly worried about the whole affair. Even though Melissa eventually won, I don't feel that I've come up short in this competition.

The nuki-men point
(Left: Xian Ping, Right: Anthea)

Ladies Finals between Anthea (Red) and Melissa (White)

Overall, I’m glad that I took part in the series 1; I'll remember the talk that Shumin gave us, along with her encouragement from the sidelines. I'll recall that it was the first time I fought my friends. Peter sensei's instructions on how to taiatari will stick in my head for good. Plus, I swear I will pay more attention to how I enter the court next time, because kendo's all about rei-ho. And of course, I will keep in mind that it was a great learning experience for all of us juniors."

Juniors girls team with our dearest seniors, Shumin and Belinda!
Polaroid courtesy from Anthea

:)

9:08 AM

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Thursday, June 9, 2011

NUSKK Summer Chalet!

By Nella

The NUSKK Summer Chalet took place from 31st May to 1st June at Downtown East Aloha Chalet!

At 12pm, a group of NUSKK foodies met up at Somerset MRT for a ramen feast at Santouka. We have previously been to Ippudo in Mandarin Gallery as well but this one specializes in Hokkaido ramen!

Ramen Santouka at Cuppage Terrace

The classic Shio ramen

For recommendations, please approach the respective kendokas. (:

Towards the evening, Kenneth and Anthea were waiting patiently near the entrance of Downtown East. This year we have booked the garden terrace which comes with 2 bedrooms and our own kitchen! When everyone has packed their dinner and extra snacks, we finally made our way to the chalet.

Kenneth enthusiastically proposed to initiate his favourite plasticine game upon arrival. To satisfy your curiosity, let's go through the rules of the game briefly. XD

At the start of each round, participants would be given a topic/object which they would have to recreate or incorporate into their plasticine figurines. The theme would then be released to the audience and they would be required to guess the exact topic/object after the figurines were completed. There were many variations to the game nevertheless!

The Best of the Plasticine-Game-With-No-Name
(As quoted from Anthea)

The plasticine craftsmen at work

Jack and Kenneth with their masterpieces

Angry Birds, Rhino and Tom (& Jerry)

Guess a food dish!

Making of a Cheefung! :D
Jack could really make an online tutorial for plasticine moulding 101

Along the sofas near the tv screen, kendokas were entertained by a movie screening from Weber's PS3. Later on, we had a series of card games led by Jiahui and some high level abstract strategy game played by Zehao and company.

*Stares intensely at a Quoridor match

Meanwhile, a mini East-West Tournament was held over Weber's PS3. (Go East! :D) There was also a present giftaway from Gervinn, who bought many awesome souvenirs from his recent trip overseas! Thank you Gervinn!

Oke... loves his milk pan :D

As the night drew further, some of us even headed to Cathy Cineplex for a midnight show! All in all, everyone had a great time so much so that there was barely enough time for any sleep. A round of applause for our dearest Welfare I/C for organizing this fabulous chalet!

Sleeping time? I guess not. XD

We will be back again for chalet some time in the next semester! Look out for more updates to come!

3:24 PM

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Saturday, June 4, 2011

2nd NUS Kendo Championships Series 2

By Nella

NUS kendokas arrived at MPSH 6 on the evening of 3rd June for yet another adrenaline-filled event! A sequel to Series 1 held in March is none other than the next quarter of our internal tournament--Series 2!

Rows of men by the courts

Our belongings lined up by the walls of MPSH as we get ready for the tournament

Kendokas gearing up for practice
The evening started at a comfortable pace as we came down rather early for tournament setups and warm up practices. Most importantly, many had to prepare their hearts and minds in anticipation of the numerous intensive matches to come. After the opening of the tournament by Peter sensei and Weber, first up was the round robin ladies match between Melissa, Anthea, Steffi and myself!

For the four of us, it was our second time in an actual shiai. Every match was a learning experience in its own unique way, especially fighting with those that we have never faced within the tournament before.

The next part was the much awaited men's elimination matches. Like the previous series, there were various exciting matches once again back to back! Not to mention one of which was Jingyang's long encho match again (this time with Nasution). XD We then proceeded on the the finals after a short break. Here are the finalists for Series 2!

:)
As usual, we will end off with free keiko after the tournament! Snippets of photos ahead~.

Everyone's pumped up again for keiko!

Gervinn vs Yonghe

Finishing with the last ippon of the day

Gathering for Kenneth to give out the our brand new zekkens

Now with the embroidery of NUSKK instead of Singapore

A final wrap up

Weber looks like he is initiating the cheer! Everybody hands in!
Special thanks to the shimpans and also to everyone who have helped out to make this a success! Now to train for Series 3 in September! Till then. :D

2:35 PM

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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Affiliate Training at SKC Summer Camp

By Jiahui

On the 27th of May, our kendokas participated in the affiliate training at the SKC Summer Camp. Kendokas from SKC and the various affiliate clubs gathered together to train at the Changi Beach Club Sports Complex.

For NUSKK, the training gave us the opportunity to train alongside other kendokas that we hardly get to meet, except at events such as tournaments or gradings.

The training started off with warm-up exercises, followed by kirikaeshi practice. Then the kendokas proceeded to kihon training. Subsequently, the training moved on to waza and keiko practices.