AKR Annual Conference and Meeting of AKR National Council

Saturday, 20 and Sunday 21 October.
The AKR conducts an annual conference, followed by a meeting of AKR National Council in October each year. The purpose of the occasion is to review, develop and improve. The meeting was attended by Delegates from state and territory affiliated kendo association, AKR Board Chairmen and the AKR Executive Committee.

Standing: Brian Balshaw (SAKA); Joachim Semmler (ACTKR); Andrew Tan (NSWKA); Chris Panagopoulos (VKR); Dr. Kevin Humphrey (QKR).
Seated: Russel Lawrence (Jodo Board); Yakov Macak (Kendo Board); Dean Hawthorn (Vice President); Richard Ward (President); Chris Goltesos (Secretary); Ramon Lawrence (WAKR); Marcus Lee-Steere (Iaido Board). Dr. Khay-Lin Teoh (Treasurer) was absent for photo.

Important decisions were made at the conference and meeting. Many members may be interested, so some of the outcomes are listed below. If you seek further details, the full set of the AKR Manual of Documents (our policy and rules) is available to be downloaded here.

AKR Grading Rules updated.

The rules have changed and are effective from 21 October 2007. Download the current version in PDF format.

AKR introduces Coach (Instructor) Accreditation scheme.

To better serve our members, to protect and assist sensei and instructors, a scheme has been introduced to train, develop and accredit those members who perform in teaching roles.

The first steps are:

• To automatically accredit all currently active members who were also previously (recently) accredited in the Australian Sports Commissions (ASC) National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS).
• Introduce a new AKR Accredited Instructor level "E" for entry level instructors.

AKR Accredited Instructor level numbers will coincide with those of the NCAS, so a member who was an NCAS Level 1 Coach, will become an AKR Level 1 Instructor. Following that step, AKR re-accreditation will have the same requirements as the NCAS.

The new AKR Accredited Instructor level "E" is for new instructors. Accreditation requirements are - must be successfully assessed as completing the ASC Beginning Coaching General Principles Course, or equivalent; accept and sign the ASC Coaching code of behaviour and accept and sign the AKR art specific safety document.

The ASC Beginning Coaching General Principles Course is available to be completed and assessed online, details are on the ASC website.

Beyond those actions, AKR plans to re-commence the art specific Level 1, 2 and 3 coaching courses. More will be advised on that as it develops. More details here soon.

AKR Manual of Documents and other resources.

These are now freely available to all members from the AKR website. All have been updated to include these and other changes.

AKR National Sports Injury Insurance Scheme.

An "in principle" agreement was reached for the AKR to arrange nation wide sports injury insurance for members. If the idea proceeds, the AKR scheme would, we expect, provide cover for our members where-ever they are and replace the insurance schemes that many states currently administer.

AKR Policy changes.

In addition to the above, National Council agreed to alter many of our policies, a list of those that may interest members is below. Any questions on any of these changes should be directed to your state or territory kendo organisation.

1.4 Membership Policies for Competition and Grading Examination Eligibility

1.4.1     Competition
Only life members and affiliate members whose membership fee and the relevant art fees have been received by the AKR are eligible to participate in AKR National Competitions.
A member whose fees have not been received prior to 30 November is ineligible to participate in AKR National Competitions held in that membership year.  Effective from 01 January 2008.

1.5.4 STANDARD RULES FOR DAN and KYU EXAMINATIONS

EXAMINER’S DAN LEVEL, REQUIRED NUMBER OF EXAMINER'S AND CONSENT CRITERIA

* Special Treatment
For 4 Dan or higher Dan examinations, if there are insufficient numbers of qualified and suitable examiners as stipulated in the Standard Requirements in 8.1 and 8.2, then the number of the examiners may be reduced to 5.  In this case, the consent of minimum 4 examiners shall suffice for the decision of passing.

• APPLICANT

Applicants for an Examination shall be affiliate members or life members of the AKR or a member of an overseas FIK affiliated organisation.

The applicant shall have the following periods of practice:
(For this purpose the respective AKR National Championships will be regarded as being one year apart).

Members of 60 years of age or older may have a practice period of 2 years after granting of 5 Dan before attempting 6 Dan.

1.7       Fee Structure

1.7.0     Introduction
Membership Fees and Grading Registration Fees are the major source of funds for the Renmei and are set by the National Council, usually at the recommendation of the Executive Committee.

The Membership fees consist of a Membership Fee plus a separate Board Fee for each art practiced.

Each Affiliated Body is required to send all monies collected on behalf of the AKR to the AKR Treasurer within 30 days of collecting it.

Membership fees are due on 1 July each year. (A month earlier than previously).

All fees paid by 31st July will gain a 10% refund or rebate to the Affiliated Body. (The 5% level for August payment is discontinued).

2.3.2 Kyu Grading Requirements and Procedures

• Beginners should be training for 5 (Previously 6) months or more prior to their first grading examination. Other applicants should spend 5 months or more between grading's.
• The examiners qualification, size of examination panel and consent criteria is detailed in the AKR Standard Rules for Grading.

It is not necessary that the applicant be promoted one grade at a time. If their ability warrants, and by agreement of the examiners, the applicant may progress by more than one grade to a maximum of two grades. i.e. 6 kyu to 4 kyu. However, to obtain 1 Dan, the applicant must have held 1 kyu for 5 months or more.

Examination subjects are as follows:

2.3.3 Dan Grading General Requirements

• Refer to common rules between all arts listed in Section 1 para 1.5
• Examinations for Dan grades shall be conducted by the Kendo Board at the National Championships and at such times and places as determined by the AKR in conjunction with the Kendo Board.
• The applicant shall have the following periods of practice:

Years for time in grade will be calculated from month to month i.e. March to March (regardless of what date in March). For this purpose the AKR National Championships will be regarded as one year apart.

Examination subjects are as follows:

(2) Nippon-Kendo-Kata shall be examined as follows:

Comments or suggestions to webi@kendoaustralia.asn.au
Copyright © 2007 Australian Kendo Renmei Incorporated.