A new beginning

New Year's Dive
Naturally, the first item in the new year is the New Year's Dive at Loosdrecht. What a great happening it turned out to be with a remarkable turnout, both participants and spectators at this wet spectacle.
In advance I was quite skeptical but I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams that so many people would come.
In my opinion, one thing that convinced the doubters was the attention from Burning Heart and certainly the video on which Jerry and his daughter Chloë could be seen on Facebook with a test dive the day before. Of course, they made it appear that the cold was actually not that bad, but upon inquiry, they had been quite cold. A big compliment goes to Chloë who, together with her father, spontaneously rushed into the water of the Loosdrechtse plas and did the same again a day later during the actual New Year's dive. Through a house, which was adjacent to the lawn, asked for power for the warmers, people thanked still. Thus, during and after the dive, excellent hot sausages and delicious pea soup could be enjoyed, which rightly went in like hot cakes. Nick Visser, the sausages tasted great and there was little left over afterwards I believe.
Not least the compliments for Daphne and Jerry who made this dive a real success. Just to see each participant in the specially made shirts was a wonderful sight that has been on my mind for a long time.

Dojo
You may have noticed but these days painting work is being done on several areas of our Dojo. Certain areas needed a new coat of paint. Our urgent request is therefore to place weights and the like not against the wall but on the appropriate brackets. There are numerous so please make use of them. Also, in the actual Dojo quite a few suspension brackets have been provided with a new attachment eye. After about 5 years of heavy use, there were quite a few signs of wear. They are those things that are not noticeable but if action is not taken the possibility of accidents exists.

Krav Maga
In the new year there has also been a change in personnel. Koos Cuijpers, who gave the lessons of Krav Maga, has unfortunately ended these lessons in consultation with Jerry due to lack of interest. Personally I find it a great pity that Koos had to stop because he is a man you could always count on and he is very pleasant to deal with.

Burning Heart Instant Defense
As a replacement, an old acquaintance of ours, Mike Konstantinides, has started his successful Instant Defense. As he says himself in his promo: a No Nonsense Reality Based Self Defense System. This class is scheduled on Wednesday nights and just read fresh off the press that next month Monday nights will be added because of the many enthusiastic responses on Facebook as well as in Jerry's personal email.
Another change that has quietly taken place is the Judo event at Burning Heart. Since a few weeks the judo classes at Burning Heart are taught by Stijn Taling. A young man in whom we have complete confidence and who has been the right hand of Danny Bokkers for years. Started with the New Gentle Way as part of our Dojo. Danny Bokkers was and is a more than capable Judo teacher. However, there is more to his job than just teaching. That's where things broke down and we said goodbye to Danny Bokkers. As a promotion, everyone, member or non-member, may take our Judo classes for free during the month of January '17.

Until my next blog
Dick