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Dedication and volunteers

12/5/2009

2 Comments

 

Dedication is a strange thing really. In my life, I come across many different types of people. From school teachers to administrators, primary and secondary school students, salespeople and parents. They all have various ways of showing dedication, and to various things.

Some people are dedicated to their jobs, their families and their friends; and all of these are very admirable of course. However, it is not too often that I find poeple very dedicated to an ideal, or a virtue. The majority of the people I encounter do not necessarily lack a moral centre, but they seem to change what is personally important to them depending on who they are with. This is saddening because it means that they lack courage and strength to 'stand up for what they believe in', something that we try and address at the Dojo.

Our Dojo is a not-for-profit club. It relies solely on volunteers to run, manage and organise it. I often see the few people who are involved in this and their dedication go un-noticed or un-acknowledged. Of course these people would not ask for recognition in the traditional sense, it goes against the spirit of humility, an important Samurai virtue. But recognition, acknowledgement and respect can come in many forms. It might be suprising for some to learn that no less than 43 hours a week are volunteered regularly to keep things working and available for the students, and that is on a regular week. Of course more is required when there are events to organise, communications with councils or local groups, advertising or fundraising ventures and such like. All of this is time spent away from the volunteers' own training and development. As has been recognised internationally, the power of volunteers in this world serves as a great example to everyone.

The dedication that these volunteers show every week, every lesson, is amazing. Amazing that they would choose to firstly put others before themselves, and for no other benefit than the simple pleasure of being part of something that enriches and develops people in the traditional Japanese Martial Arts, thus making them stronger human beings. I would personally like to acknowledge everyone who volunteers at the Dojo to help it stay strong and remind others to consider this.

There is no requirement to volunteer at the Dojo, although volunteers are always needed. It is perfectly fine to attend classes, pay your fees and go home, but before you see something wrong or inefficient, or even inconvenient; just take a moment to consider that all these volunteers themselves have lives outside the Dojo, lives consisting of the same pressures and pleasures that you yourself have. Yet despite this, they consistantly make efforts to bring the spirit and technical instruction of the Martial Arts to the mat, and maintain a club and facilities to ensure it is there for you again next week, next month, and indeed years to come.

I would like to suggest that next time, instead of pointing a finger, raise a hand.

2 Comments
Nyree Hunter
13/5/2009 11:56:58 pm

I would like to personally thank Soke, Sensei Darren, and all of the senior students who constantly give their time and effort to teach me and help me along on my way to Fudoshin.
I know how much of Sensei Darren’s personal time goes into running the dojo, on top of the time he spends teaching, and although I know this, as I think we all do, it often goes unacknowledged. Thank you Sensei for caring so much for all of your students.
All of the people who teach us could easily use this time for their own progression, and to pursue other interests, but they choose to take this time and use it to share their knowledge, so that we can all progress and pursue our interest in Martial Arts.
Such a generous gift should be treated with great respect by all of us.
We are very fortunate to have Soke as a constant presence in the Yama Gawa dojo. Many styles these days have heads of the style who distance themselves from their lower rank students to the extent where the relationship between Sensei and student is non existent until black belt. Our Soke gives his knowledge and time to all of us, and never makes himself unavailable to us. A meaningful relationship with our Soke is readily available to us if we choose to seek it out. When Soke is in the dojo, it is a great shame to go home from training without asking him at least one question. As he always says “time wasted in the dojo is time you will never get back.”
A lot of us don’t realize how lucky we are, and sadly take Soke and Sensei Darren for granted without even being aware of it.
I would also like to personally thank Sempai Matthew for the time he regularly gives to myself and a few of the other yellow belts to help us with our progression to orange belt. Last night, as is often the case on a Monday night, after helping teach the kids class, Sempai Matthew spent an hour of his own training time to patiently work with us on our grading requirements. He could have easily used that time to work one on one with Soke on anything that he wanted to, but instead chose to help us out with our training directly before a class that he had to leave early from.
This type of generosity is a very rare and precious thing, yet it seems to be something that comes freely from Soke, Sensei Darren and Sempai Matthew all the time.
Again, thank you for all that you do, and the lessons in not just technique, but in respect, humility, patience and benevolence.

Reply
Kery Unwin
30/5/2009 07:20:22 am

I would like to thank all who have put in the time and dedication to look after and teach my children. Teaching children is not an easy task and most instructors do not have children the same age as mine and this is no easy task. I am grateful for the care and help they give Michael and Alex. I would like to personally thank Nyree for the effort and time she has put in to make this club more successful than it was. You have been a great assist to the club and have brought a caring nature to my children who really miss you when you are not there. I would also like to dedicate my time in anyway I can as a way of saying thankyou to the dojo for teaching my children. As a parent sometimes I feel I have nothing to contribute and are not needed, so if there is anything please let me know. I would like to support the club and as I can't train I would love to do something else and I know their are other parents who feel the same. Something to think about.

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    Darren Ball (Dojo-cho) of the Yamagawa Dojo.

    Darren teaches the classes at the Yamagawa Dojo.

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