Merry Christmas to One and All!
First things first – best of luck to all of you who are working hard on essays, studying for and sitting exams over the coming days. The one piece of advice I have to offer for achieving optimal exam result is aim for:
Zanshin (残心) (Bill is known to say this now and again)
It is a term used in the Japanese martial arts. It refers to a state of awareness – of relaxed alertness. The literal translation of zanshin is “remaining mind”
The club sends a fun Christmas e-card to all it’s members – please clickhere to see it and just hit play!
I would like to wish all the club members, past and present a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. It’s been a great year for the club having won the Inter-varsities, we’ve also had the opportunity to attend some great courses, visit some other club and have members from other clubs visit us. I would like to thank all the club members, committee members and our very dedicated coaches for all their hard work – keep it up in 2012 !!
We will be sad to see some of our members go home having enjoyed a one semester exchange here at UCD and we wish them the very best in the future, if you’re ever back in Dublin call in and visit us. So here’s to looking forward to a bright new year where we will welcome some more members to the club, some new some old; another inter-varsities and according to the Mayan calendar the end of the world (which I will personally blame on Phil Ilten and his friends at Cern, that’s what we get for letting the boffins mess around with a Large Hadron Collider in an attempt to emulate the big bang and discover the Higgs Boston particle – and if they don’t discover Higgs, it will still be their faults for proving we all don’t exist in the first place and with that realization there will be a very “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” moment where we’ll all jut pop out of existence!! )
Social Events
Please save this link for the UCD Karate Club Calendar so that you can quickly and easily check upcoming Club Events:
https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ucdkarate%40gmail.com&ctz=Europe%2FDublin
Final Committee Meeting of 2011
The final meeting will take place this Saturday the 19th (I think – need to double check this date with Sarah… honestly I’ve a head like a sieve!!) and all are welcome as it will be a bit of a meeting but mainly a party!! There will be nintendo wii games played while the account books are balanced and the left over food and drinks (and if everyone brings some – the new food and drinks) drank and eaten. The party – errrm I mean meeting will be held in Sarah Finn’s who has kindly offered to host. Her place is near UCD so it’s handy to get to. It would be lovely to see you all there so we can say a fond farewell to all of our exchange students and catch up with those of you who’ve been buried knee deep in books and work all semester. – Also a reminder to committee members, remember my list of things to be done from the last meeting, I’ve got it and I’ll be checking it twice on Saturday, I’m gonna find out who was naughty or nice!!
The Martial Arts Ball
The Martial Arts Ball has been confirmed for the 1st of February 2012 at the Ballroom in the D4 Hotels Ballsbridge, it is a formal (black tie/evening wear) event and tickets are on sale now and are €35 or you can make a €10 deposit to hold your ticket and make a final payment by January 20th. Tickets and deposits are being sold/taken through the Karate club and are open to alumni and friends of club members. The ball is expected to be a spectacular night with ticket price including a wine reception, chocolate fountain, sumo suits, a buffet dinner and a free bus to the Academy afterwards. CAN I ASK ALL MEMBERS TO PLEASE CHANGE THEIR FACEBOOK PROFILE PICTURE TO THE BALL POSTER FOR THIS WEEK. It is really important that we promote this event actively in order for it to once again become an annual one. Any revenue raised from the event will be donate towards the new Martial Arts Dojo which will be built in the current sports centre on the completion of the new sports center. So it would be really beneficial for the club if the event gains momentum and becomes one of the bigger club UCD Balls!
Inter-varsities
The date for the 2012 Inter-varsities in Cork have been announced. They will be held on Saturday the 11th of February in the Mardyke Arena of University College Cork’s sport center – I need to send estimated numbers to UCC letting them know how many will be attending and what categories they will be competing in so as I know that not everyone will be able to make classes before Christmas can anyone who intends to compete please e-mail me stating what grade they are and what they would like to compete in (kata, Kumita, team kata and team kumite) so that I can give UCC the numbers as requested before Christmas so that they can order enough medals etc.
Re-Freshers and Next Semester
Next Semester on the 24th of January we will have re-freshers day in UCD from 10am to 4pm in the Astra Hall of the Student Center in UCD so I will be needing some volunteers to man the stand and let our fellow UCD students know how great Karate is. If you would like to help out just let me know, there’s always a good buzz and a bit of craic to be had helping out on the stand.
Next Semester we plan to have some more movie nights, play a round of crazy golf or two at that nice warm indoor place in Dundrum, do a bit of boozy bowling and of course head to the pub for after training drinks and any other great things I come up with between now and then
Karate Do-Gi’s and other club gear.
The suits are all finally here after considerable difficulties! The beginner ones worked out at €19.00 incl p&p which is actually still a pretty good deal since the cheapest one you can buy in a Dublin shop is €23!! Again sorry about all the delays and issues, I do wish I could report some of the online shops to the consumer affairs authority for misrepresenting costs! The balance of the cost will need to be paid on collection of your Gi and those who have already received them will need to make payment before they head off home to (hopefully warmer – or at least less windy climates)
We also have a good supply of Belts in various sizes (280cm, 300cm and 320cm lenghts) and colors from Orange to Purple for €6. These are available to purchase from the club locker after any training session.
The club has a lovely club jumper/hoodie for sale it’s fabulously warm and cozy and perfectly suited to keeping you warm in the library and the RDS during these cold miserable winter days. They are €25 each and we have a good variety of sizes available in the locker from Small to Extra Large. (please allow attachments and images from UCD Karate in order to see the images below) – they’d make a nice Christmas gift to yourself….
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Christmas and New Years Training
The sports center closes on the 22nd of December at 5pm to the 3rd of January at 7am. Besides this the Sports Center will close a bit earlier than usual some days between now and the 16ht of January. The Karate Club will have training as usual over much of the holiday period any days we do not have training will be announced on the Facebook page so check it before you come to training from now until January 16th. We also might have to move around a bit to other halls so do check Hall C and Hall A if you can’t find us in our usual spot.
Normal Training is in Hall B of the UCD Sports Center from 6-8pm Monday’s and 8-10pm Wednesdays. Come along even if you can only make the second half of the class, one class a week or even a few a month – we’d love to see you there!
Well I think that covers everything until the new year (but I’m sure I’ve probably left something or other out as usual)
So again Merry Christmas to all of you and wishing to see you all in a happy new year,
Your Club Captain,
Elizabeth Treacy
Republished from old blog.