Hello Budoka,  August 2nd 2003

Things are heating up again, Germany is nearly here and so is the London tournament. Most of our senior Budoka will be in either of the two shiai. So good luck to everyone and hopefully we can fill that very expensive cabinet that our clan chiefs saw fit to buy.

Budoka leaving for Bavaria are: Natalie (not so) Priestley, Bobby (beefcake) Rich, Nicola Dillon, Jimmy Warren and Simon Childs.

Budoka fighting in Londinium are: Andy Pragnell, Dimitry Eribuna, Samuel Williams, Tim Slyfield, Danny Murphy, Rafal Sokolowski, Mick Hollebrand and Magic. The last two are new additions to the team. Good luck to everyone…

Danny (coach) Kingston has been present at both the punch-up nights as sensei; is this a sign of things to come I wonder? I just hope he doesn’t start repeating the quotes of his female heroines as he did on Thursday night. For those of you who didn’t have the pleasure, he came out with this most profound and sincere line about finishing and starting. I won’t repeat it, as I don’t wish to intentionally broadcast the fact that someone at the Budokwai idolises T.I.N.A.

On the same night we had a visit from one of the British Squad members, Luke Preston. His performance on the tatami was very impressive he didn’t look like he was doing much but he never left his feet once except when we were instructed to do ne-waza. We all know he was lucky because he never went on with Mark (ikkyu).

Something in the pipeline: I have it on very good authority that Luke Preston will not be the only Judo celebrity that will grace the hallowed tatami. I have heard that very soon we will be receiving none other than Bob Willingham (4^th dan). He has arranged to meet up with our head clan chief, Hachidan Syd Hoare, for an interview.

Did anyone see our Mark Laws (shodan) in The World of Judo Magazine? He wrote an article about his favourite fights. I was quite surprised, as he hadn’t said anything. Look out for the next instalment next issue.

Now for something completely different….

I have noticed that the Budokwai doesn’t have a motto or a saying, official or otherwise. Is it time we had one? Maybe if we had a suggestion from the Budoka, a really good and profound motto, then it might be taken on officially, who knows; why don’t you send them in? I’ll forward them on to Hachidan and the clan chiefs to see what they think.

Can anyone tell me what these kanji characters mean? Hachidan isn’t allowed to tell anyone. There are no prizes, as Ray didn’t heed my warning as to what would happen if he didn’t listen to the masses of Budoka. We think that Ray should have honour and commit seppuku.    

                               道場

Quote of the month

            “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” 

                                       (Napoleon Bonaparte)

sayonara from Sam