Beginners

To start Iaido or Jodo as a beginner you will need to contact inquiry@kendosa.asn.au for information regarding session times and course dates.

To start Kendo as a beginner you will need to participate in one of our beginners' courses which run from the beginning of each University semester.

Here in Adelaide there are two Kendo beginners' courses run in parallel as of the start of each Uni semester. One at Flinders Uni on Wednesday nights from 7:15pm to 8:45pm, which will start on March 2nd 2011 (This is held at the Main Gym at Flinders Uni, at the end of Registry Road). The second is at the Adelaide Uni Thebarton Campus on Monday nights from 6:30pm to 8:00pm, which will start on February 28th 2011.

Both courses will run for 8 weeks and it is mandatory that you start the course by the second session (FU 9th March, AU 7th March) as no new attendees will be accepted beyond these dates and the next beginners' course will not start until July next year. It is also necessary for participants of the beginners' course to attend at least 6 of the 8 sessions to be viewed as successfully completing the course thus allowing for successful integration into our more senior classes.

Both courses are interchangeable (i.e if you miss a class at FU you can make it up at AU and vice versa), to that end you are also more than welcome to attend both courses at the same time (the more training you do the faster you will progress).

Before the course you are welcome to come along and have a look at any one of the four training sessions held here in Adelaide.

The cost of the course includes membership to the club as well as the state and national associations and is due at the end of the second session (giving you the ability to come along and just have a go at the first two sessions). The fees will vary depending on your student status and age and are outlined on our Membership page.

On top of that the main cost is that of equipment, a shinai (bamboo sword) $35 from the club, a kendogi (uniform) approx $50 and bogu (armour) which the club can loan to you for a small fee ($10 for uni students and $20 for everyone else per semester).

All you need to bring along to the first beginners' session is yourself, wearing clothing that you are comfortable training in (pants that don't fall under your feet as you'll need to slide them a lot) and no jewellery please (including watches, this can be dangerous when training), if you have a shinai you can bring that along with you as well otherwise we can provide this.

Please contact inquiry@kendosa.asn.au to let us know that you are interested in attending the next course.