It’s been another busy couple of months, not all members get to see what happens between courses so here’s a few updates:
Meetings, meetings and meetings. The UKA has 3 committees and all of them met in October. The exec committee (long term plans) discussed budgets, the long term course calendar and objectives for the next year. The Tech committee (what happens on the mat) met to agree external teacher invites and agree the rules for recognising grades from other organisations. The admin committee (off the mat) met to plan the next advertising campaigns and how to improve the joining experience for new members. All clubs have been invited to join this year’s ad campaign.
As mentioned above, courses have been the dominant topic for the last few weeks. We’ve agreed a high level course plan for the next year and that will go on the website in November, we also sent invites to guest instructors for courses in the next year. Personally, I’ve never seen this process before and it’s not as simple as you’d think navigating a course calendar and waiting for responses and questions from possible guests.
One of the most significant decisions we’ve agreed in the last month and a big step for the UKA. We’ve agreed a payment policy for Shidoin and Shihan who guest teach at other clubs. In summary:
- The UKA will centrally pay time and expenses for the travelling Shidoin/Shihan.
- A UKA club does not have to pay the guest instructor, we hope this makes inviting guests more affordable.
If you’re a Shidoin/club leader that would like to see the policy, or you’d like to get involved in any of the activities above then drop me a line as always, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In November we will send the policy out to all club leads and Shidoin.