North Island Kendo Championships 05 June 2022

Rembuden Kendo Club members competed at the New Zealand North Island Kendo Championships on 05 June 2022. Team Rembuden were:

Martin Lee (6th dan)

Rob Challies (4th dan)

Max Lee (2nd dan)

Zac Chai (1st kyu)

Chiaki Lin (1st kyu)

Max started the day well coming 1st in the Junior Championships. Congratulations also to Chiaki who came 2nd. In the Men's competition Rob defeated Max in the early rounds and then proceeded to the final, eventually getting 2nd place. In the Team Championship Rembuden came 2nd place. Rob and Chiaki got fighting spirit awards for their efforts.

The Rembuden Team was a mix of experience this year. The results were very good considering Zac and Chiaki's lack of shiai experience (the weekend's shiai was their first ever). Both of them developed over the course of the weekend - which was great to see.

I competed in the Team event so we could field a full team. I am happy I was able to do a good job for the team and match their effort and passion. We had a good team spirit and I look forward to these members continuing to develop and fighting together again in the future.

Finally thanks to Long who travelled with us as unofficial team photographer and cook.

COVID has disrupted training so everyone was not really in the best condition. Nevertheless it was good to see some friends and old faces at the tournament. Kendo was the winner on the day.