Peter Morton Academy of Judo Jujitsu Karate: Batemans Bay junior seminar 2003

Batemans Bay junior seminar 2003

30 August 2003

This article appeared in the 2003 newsletter.

Batemans Bay, perfect one day and blowing a gale force wind the next. That is how it was on the day of the junior seminar at the new Batemans Bay Primary School gale force conditions. The old school, at the opposite side of the river, has now disappeared from the face of the earth and in its place a new multi-shopping complex has begun to rise out of the old school's dust.

Everyone found a way to the new venue except for poor old Pete Wilson. He ended up on the wrong side of town, looking at signposts, at the wrong time and unfortunately he parked his new, few-months-old Mercedes van into a car turning right in front of him. He was travelling very slowly and his only damage was a sprained left wrist. The same can not be said about his van, it's going to be a long time in the repair shop.

The seminar opened with an introduction and welcome to out-of-town guests, which was then followed by some etiquette on the opening and closing ceremonies and the academy motto. The juniors were then organised into coloured teams for the day.

Next came warm up exercises, games and stretches, with some tsuki and keri tossed in. Added to this was a demonstration of the correct execution of selected tsuki and keri techniques.

A judo demonstration was next on the agenda. This was a throw-for-throw demo by a couple of the Bay's young and very bendable recent black belts.

After all of this exhaustive activity a seven-year-old asked if it was morning tea yet. He was in luck as he had but a few minutes to wait.

On the subject of food, a well-known Batemans Bay black belt organiser, we can't mention Rod Patrick's name here, had his tongue hanging out all morning in anticipation of cake for morning tea.

Imagine the look on his face and his reaction when, after fighting gale force winds to get to the canteen, he was told that there was no cake and that he would have to wait until afternoon tea for his reward. He had to settle for some fruit. Ha! Ha! Of course we had to keep reminding him about cake for the rest of the day. His stomach would rumble every time it heard "cake".

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With morning tea all but a memory, it was time to get back to some serious work like judogi folding and why one would bother to fold it up at all. This became very apparent as soon as all had done this task. It was time to put this skill to use.

What followed next can only be described as total anarchy. All of the folded judogis were piled up in the middle of the mat. Each team lined up on the edge of the mat and then one member from each team raced to the pile and grabbed a judogi. Once the pile was depleted then a team could steal from other teams. Black belts were worth the most points and those not-properly-tied bundles worth a minus score. Judogis and fifty-eight kids were going in all directions until the time limit was up. Scores were then tallied to find a winner.

After the commotion had died down it was time for some serious breakfalls and pointers on the correct way of hitting the mat. Shihan Eddie demonstrated a shoulder roll on the bare floor, with a few "oohs" and "aahs" coming from the young participants.

Next up was lunch and there was still no cake for our rumble tum black belt cake lover. He really did have to wait a couple more hours, as the cake had not arrived and the ladies in charge insisted on the other food being consumed before cake could be taken. Good move by them.

The canteen was locked up and all returned to the dojo for the Frog half-hour. Frog had the usual tales.

During his talk on opponents, Frog remarked about your opponent that "...he is only as good as I'm gonna let him be". That shows the confidence that Frog has in his abilities and training.

Some of the questions asked were "what belt did you get up to" and "were you ever in a fight". To the latter Frog replied with a tale from his younger days when he was challenged to a fight. Frog said OK, meet me the next day in a certain paddock at 5pm and we will settle this.

5pm came, the crowd had gathered, Frog was there and then the person turned up. All present waited with baited breath. The person came forward with extended right arm and the two shook hands. He knew when to call it quits and that he had meet his match. As Frog says, bullies will not fight on their own. Frog also added that if someone challenges you then don't fight there and then, instead invite that person into the dojo for a bout on the mat.

After Frog's bit, a ten-year-old was talking to Shihan Eddie about titles when he commented to Eddie that "you're called Shyanne, aren't ya?" This broke Eddie up. I guess we have a new Dan title now.

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The honourable Principal and Deputy Principal had demonstrated Hand Grabbing, Walking Side by Side and were about to demonstrate Kidney Karate when, to a quiet dojo, the musical sounds of "The Entertainer" floated through the silence. Yes, a mobile phone was making its presence known. It was quickly silenced and taken outside.

The Basic Steps competition was done in teams and the caller was picked at random from the attending instructors, so it was a real test as teams were not used to the caller.

After all teams had done their best, a call went out for all instructors to form a group on the mat. Even our honourable Principal and Deputy were summoned. What was going on? What were they required to do? They all looked at each other. They were told to form lines. Then the call went out.

"Enemy left..." Yes the instructors were going to give a totally unrehearsed demonstration of the basic steps. This was an experience for some as they are usually the one that calls the moves. It must have been fairly good, as they did not have to do it a second time. They showed that they could do as well as teach.

What could top that little demonstration? Not much, so the agenda moved to more etiquette on bowing and respect for your opponent before and after a bout which then led into the Two Man Attack competition.

A boy and a girl were selected from each team to contest the title and the judge was Soke. He would pick the best boy and the best girl and no correspondence would be entered into. As usual the title was hotly contested.

Now, after their little demonstration of the basic steps, afternoon tea looked pretty inviting and so it was made so. Because the black belt with the longing for cake was in charge he let all the instructors go out first for the break. The rest of the mob followed. Big mistake as this meant that he was the last one out of the dojo.

By the time he got to the kitchen everyone had taken cake and as he walked in the door and said "OK, where is the cake" he was met with the words that it had all gone. There was a split second look of disbelief on his face then he spied two huge slabs of cake on a counter. He was in cake heaven and his day was made. Mind you he had to fight past a few of his colleagues to get his bounty.

With afternoon tea in their tummies the mob returned to the dojo for the last time that day. Presentation of awards took place, the closing ceremony performed and thanks were handed out to all involved. The experience had ended.

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