Hi everyone,
One more year of Kendo practice together and what a year. Thank you all for coming to practice at HY Kendo.
2023 was a year full of actions!
We were able to organize 94 practices and more than 107 hours of asa-geiko. Congrats on that! We organized our own shiai-oriented WeeKendo seminar for the second year, which was a success based on the feedback we got. It looks like WeeKendo could be here to stay. We were also the initiators of the Helsinki region kendo league which brought back some simple and friendly kendo competition in the capital region. Huge thanks to everyone who volunteered, competed, and helped to make these happen.
This year the club got two returning members Otto and Tuomas. We introduce to Kendo 14 new people among two basic courses. And we welcomed one kendoka coming from Kokkola, Elias. We currently have a record number of 31 members.
We organized two Kyu gradings (in June and December). We also have a new sensei since Merci graded for 6th dan in Spring. Congratulations, Merci!
By the end of 2023 we are stronger of
– 16 new Kyu grades (from 6th kyu to 3rd kyu)
– one new ikkyu; Elias
– three new shodan; Janne, Tatu, and Félix
– one new sandan; Sofia.
– and one new rokudan; Merci
HY kendo is entering its 25 years since creation. And on this occasion, we are thinking of printing a new tenugui to celebrate the birthday. It will most likely be in preorder in spring. We are also planning some other festivities so stay tuned!
In spring 2024, we will try to get better organized around introducing kendo to beginners. Please take 5 minutes to answer the feedback survey (for everyone!) and help us to build even better basic course for the next year:
HY training:
The practice will continue in Porthania in Spring 2024. We will practice with the usual rhythm again in Porthania from Tuesday 09.01.2024 at least until May 31 (31.5.). After May we will negotiate again and try to remain in Porthania.
The practice times are:
– Tue 07.00-08.00
– Fri 07.00-08.00
– Sat 09.30-11.00 (every other weekend)
HY competition:
This year HY went to the SM competition, but we were also the initiator of what we called the “Capital Region kendo league”. It is a cooperation between different clubs in the region to organize short competitive events and give everyone a chance to experience shiai and shinpan. We will meet with the steering group and try to organize 4-5 events in 2024.
If you are curious and want to know more about it, you can find a pdf with graphic elements (in Finnish and in English) explaining how we think this could work and how we will organize the first event here.
And since we are talking about competition… (drum roll) 🥁
HY Kendo will be hosting the Kendo National Championship 2024 in Otahalli on the 10th and 11th of February 2024! We will get volunteer help from the neighbouring clubs (KKTI and Lebudo), but it would be important that some of our own club members are willing to help too. Janne with some of you will organize a live stream, for example.
HY bulletin:
The fall board meeting was held in December. You can find the minutes of the meetings here
In short: We went through the budget of this year. Everything was fine, we spent a bit more than what we got which is okay as long it isn’t every year (already two years in a row). Please do not forget to pay your membership fees. To do this, go to suomisport and click on “maksut”. Many things were discussed, teaching, amount of practice, collecting fees, and competitions. The main change in 2024 will be a small raise of the training fee for normal membership (see below).
Board: Félix, Tatu and Enni will keep their role. Annisia left her seat and will be replaced by Janne. Janne’s role will be taken by Daria.
Puheenjohtaja: Félix Bourgeau
Varapuheenjohtaja: Janne Sala
Taloudenhoitaja: Tatu Blomqvist
Sihteeri: Daria Lyakhnovich
Hallituksen jäsen, ja yhdenvertaisuusvastaava: Enni Pyysalo
Price: In the past few years, we have increased the amount of practice, and Unisport fee has increased too. However, we never changed the price. This has led to a very, very tight budget in the past two years. For 2024, we have decided to raise the fee for normal membership by a small amount of 5 euros / semester. This brings the yearly HY membership and practice fee to 100 euros combined (50e in spring and 50e in fall). This way we can keep the practice times as they are and also keep the basic course affordable to new student members who want to start kendo. We hope you all understand.
Safer space: We are aiming to create an environment where everyone is able to participate in the activities of the University of Helsinki Kendo Club safely, without fear of, for example, inappropriate treatment or harassment. Safe social spaces are defined by human interactions, and each participant has a responsibility to ensure these. You can read our safer space guidelines here and there is an anonymous form if you wish to send feedback.
Basic course: We will have a new basic course in February, the aim is to have HY bachelor and master students. We will go to different events to advertise the club and we will make posters in Finnish. If you want to help, please let us know. If you liked the basic course, please talk about it to your friends!
Calendar: Here you can find the 2024 HY Calendar updated.
Communication: Our main communication channel will remain WhatsApp since it has worked so well (all the WhatsApp channels are linked in the description of the community on WhatsApp), we keep informing our members who do not have WhatsApp by email. We will send 1 to 4 newsletters a year to keep you informed of the main activities of the club.
Thank you all for 2023,
Best regards and see you at keiko!
– HY Kendo club board (Félix, Janne, Anisia, Daria, Enni & Tatu)
You receive this email because you are a member of HY Kendo or a close friend and we would like to keep you updated with our activities. if you wish not to receive these newsletters, please answer this email and let us know. We will remove you from the mail list.
group picture – capital region shiai event #1 – June 2023
group picture – weekendo seminar – August 2023
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