21 December Shihan Eddie

Great day... the end of the year BBQ 2002. Another great year and the usual eating, drinking and being merry. We will be back on the 14th January 2003. So here's a few people worth a mention. Look back through this years news and you will realise what fun we've had... Merry Christmas to you all see you in the new year!

	Student of the Year 2002 Simon Whale Everyone knows how hard Simon works. I can't remember if he's missed a class this year! Totally an allround martial artist. Congratulations Simon!
Many thanks Sempai Diana. The backbone of the Dojo. Competently execellent. No one helps and guides the club in the right direction better than D. Many thanks for your help thoughout the year, and what better gift to get than "Let the good times roll"
	Many thanks Sempai Brendon. Once again he's one of the backbone of the club. A+ skills and now a new rank Nidan-Ho. Congratulations and we'll all look forward to you progressing through to Nidan in 2003... personally I can't wait. Thanks again.

17 November Shihan Eddie

21 September Shihan Eddie

Senjo 2002 (National Gradings) was here and what a buzz! Soke Bob Jones, Steve Nedelkos and Renshi Hamish from Austrailia were here. The level of gradings were high. Lightning took a scoop of the awards.

So thats a great strike rate as we only had 11 grading on the day! I hope everyone gets a chance to congratulate Sempai Laura to Shodan (1st Dan) grading she was outstanding. Laura has been training since she was about 8 years old!

So I hope everyone enjoyed meeting Soke Bob and the other guests. Well done to all that graded!

10 June Shihan Eddie

The official public release of Senjo 2002. Yes the Christchurch gang headed by Shihans Eddie, Nick Randle, Sean Purcell and Renshi Nigel Stupples are putting together the NZ national gradings right here in Christchurch. This is a first for New Zealand Zen Do Kai and is going to be exciting for all involved. Check out the Senjo 2002 website www.senjo2002.com02.com for all the information. Senjo is here on 21 September with Bob Jones attending... I told you its going to be exciting.

10 May Shihan Eddie

A couple of my old friends have turned up to training lately and have been regulars ever since.

Sempai Mark, Nidan Ho; Mark was a black belt when I started Zen Do Kai in the early 80's. Mark and his brothers ran a couple of dojos around Christchurch at the time.

Sempai Jamie, Shodan; Jamie is a 2nd generation black belt and trained at the original Sockburn dojo in the early 90's at the age 15 - 16 years old. Now Sempai travels the world on cruise ships dealing in the onboard casinos! wicked, nice to see you again Jamie. He's off again soon but I know he'll be back again!

Chris, Shodan; Chris is a good friend from Viking dojos (Nick Putt). Now that Vikings is closed Chris has decided to come to training after a bit of time off. Welcome to Lightning Chris!

5 March Shihan Eddie

Email from Sensei Chris Power

Hi Guys and Gals

Just a quick note to let you all know that at 16:41 on Sunday 3rd March Louise and I became the very proud parents of a little girl, Holland Catherine Power (9lb1).

We where awoken early Sunday morning, 3:15 to be precise, by Louise's waters breaking so it was off to the hospital for an early morning start.

Both Louise and Holland are well and resting up after the event.

Both Lou and I are ecstatic to say the least.

Chris

Yep it's a great start to the year already! Our good friend Sean O'Connell has landed in Christchurch from Japan and one of the first things he did was give us guys a call. Sean has been away for 8 years now and has extensively trained in Japan mainly Kyokushin where he attained Sandan (3rd Dan). So Sean did a seminar on Full Contact Karate Tournament Fighting... AWESOME. This was the classic hard stuff with real solid karate technique. Sean should be the envy of almost any martial arts practitioner as he is exposed to some of the highest levels of fighting arts in Japan, he has just spent time at the K1 Kickboxing event where he was a English/Japanese translator for people like Mark Hunt the current K1 champ. If you have read his articles in the New Zealand newsletters (August issue) you will realise how informative he is. So thanks for a great seminar Sean we can't wait for you to come back.

L - R Renshi Nigel Stupples, Shihan Eddie Woodford, Shihan Sean O'Connell, Shihan Nick Randle

PS; White Gi, Black Belt with gold writing, Gold stripes on his belt doesn't sound like Zen Do Kai does it… except for the Gold Bushido around neck, he assures me that never comes off!!!