Cendana's promotion

Cendana Auger, 13, joined our class last summer.  She's smart, friendly--and now she is a Kukyu! She wears a white belt with an orange stripe the length of the belt.  Congratulations Cendana, you deserve it!  Cendana, and her family will be traveling to Asia later in the winter.  I wish them a safe trip.  

Of additional note, Joey's pants fit him, though they need a hemming. 

 I have also changed some of the photos of the class around a bit, so the slideshow on this blog should now see a bit fresher.

There is now a link on this blog to the complete junior and senior lists.  If you need a copy to use for notetaking, feel free to click the link and save a copy of the document to disk.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Class, tonight, was unique in a couple of ways:  Sensei Tracey came to class and worked with Amy and Jamie quite a bit--Tracey is expected to recover nicely.  We worked on some variations of seoi nage, some arm bars from the mat, and a unique version of the elbow reap.

We were honored to have Master Julienne Begin, Tracey's Tae Kwon Do instructor, as a guest this evening.  I have had the pleasure to watch several of Master Begin's classes.  She is an extremely talented martial artist, who teaches in both the Waterville and Madison/Skowhegan areas.  Master Begin joined us for coffee after class at the local Tim Horton's.  

I also had the pleasure of promoting my son, Christopher Charlebois, to the rank of Orange Belt this evening.  Chris was wearing neither his contact lenses, nor his glasses at the beginning of the promotion, and so was not sure what was going on as I called him forward to receive his orange belt.  "All I saw was this orange blur coming out of his bag.  I didn't know what he was going to do," said Chris.  Chris took his congratulatory throws in stride even though he had suffered a severe pummeling from both Sensei Jon, and Joseph Larsen earlier in the class.  "There's something about that "Mountain Storm" technique that I don't like, said Chris."

The class is anxiously anticipating the June contests in Southern California.  We will be starting to work on techniques for the kata contest in the next week or two, and will continue to work on our ground-fighting skills.

Welcome

This is my first entry for this blog.  Thanks for checking this site.

I'd like to use this entry as an introduction to my jujitsu class.

I teach a jujitsu class for both children and adults in Waterville, Maine.  The classes are held at Champion's Fitness, located at:

30 Elm Plaza

Waterville, Maine  04901

Classes are held on Monday and Wednesday evenings and run from 6:30 to 7:30 PM for junior students, and 6:30 to 8 PM for senior students.

The prices for the class are set by Champions, my host.  They currently run $29 per month for junior students and $39 per month for seniors (16 and older).

Shoshin Ryu Maine is a member school of Shoshin Ryu Yudanshakai.  The Yudanshakai is a non-profit corporation with the mission of supporting instructors and schools teaching the art of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu.  The organization charges a small, yearly membership fee to help cover the cost of insurance for students, instructors, and schools.  

I do not make my living teaching the art of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu.  I'm a physician, and make my living caring for my patients.  I teach jujitsu because I love the art, and I love to teach.  At Shoshin Ryu Maine, we do not charge students to test for, nor receive promotions.  As a result, it usually costs much less to learn jujitsu at our school than other commercial academies.  A motivated student can begin learning jujitsu in our class for the cost of a three-ring binder (for notes); a uniform (usually less than $40); the annual dues for the organization (this year, $25); and the monthly fee charged by Champion's (as noted above).