Written by Dhanish Dangkomen
To herald the twilight of another eventful year of kendo at Melbourne University for 2013, MUKEN hosted its annual End of Year Dinner on Thursday, November 28th. This time, the dinner took on a new role in hosting our very own Awards Night, honouring certain club-members for their endeavours and contributions over the past twelve months.
The function was held at the White Tomato, a Korean barbecue venue on Bourke Street. MUKEN was allotted our own private section on the upper tier, in a balcony-like section at the rear of the shop and overlooking other diners. It was a cosy setting, with memorably quirky-lavish decor - redbrick and plaster walls with pinned-up zodiac posters, against an ornate embossed-metal ceiling. Gold-chrome ventilation hoses hung like steampunk elephant trunks over the pungent, smoky portions of meats grilling on circular grilles.
There were five or more tables of revellers, with four or more people to each table, for a warm and raucous night. Drinks flowed - both golden Hite ales by the jug-load, and little cans of Korean grape drink, with fruit flesh inside.
MUKEN Social Representatives Cheryl Low and Vivienne Tran busily tallied scores and managed the food orders whilst the club-members dined. Only once the votes for the non-serious title awards were counted did they tuck into their own meals.
At the end of the night, Chairman Viet Hoang stood up to announce the awards. Non-serious award-winners received a macaron and a rousing cheer from the crowd. Each recipient gave a knowing smile at how appropriate their title was. (The main possible exception to this was Meera Chandrananth, who gave an incredulous laugh and declared, “How is my kiai scary?!”)
The awards and recipients were as follows:
Earthshaking Fumikomi - Andrew Lam
Most Original Kiai - Viet Hoang
Scariest Kiai - Meera Chandrananth
Most Fragrant & Best Dressed - Kaman Wong
The Suffocator - N/A (Award removed due to the possible emotional trauma it might inflict upon the recipient, to be recognised for having the most pungent “biohazard” kendogi. This was voted upon, but the winner shall never be known!)
The Early Riser (highest attendance to morning training)- Tony Shearer
The Sweep-you-off-your-feet (most consistent cleaner of the dojo floors) - Aidan Dang
The Flash (speedy footwork) - Kenji Sugimoto
The Battered (most significant bruises) - Yaya Bonggotgetsakul (A fellow kenshin quipped that her win ought to have the subtitle, “according to Facebook statuses”.)
The Imaginary Shinai (always practising suburi, anytime, anywhere) - Jularaj Suthibutr.
The serious recognitions for personal growth and exemplary standards within the club deserved less ephemeral fare. As such, these recipients took home a wide-format card certificate bearing their name, award and a certification by our Sensei Yakov Macak.
Order of Merit
Most Outstanding Improvement
Jiho: Son Nguyen
Chuken: Andrew Lam
Fukusho: Thomas Mendelovits
The dinner concluded with Sensei Yakov giving some words of reflection on the year, thanking everyone for their continued commitment, and welcoming bigger things and a renewed competitive focus for 2014. Among specific names mentioned were the Committee, fellow Sensei Kenji Sugimoto, and instructor Andrew Lam for their hard work.
The night began at 7.30pm and with dinner ending well before the expected 10pm, the MUKENers milled around while to chat in the upstairs dining space whilst the payments were being finalised. Soon, we filed out together - some heading home, many marching together towards further plans for dessert, still carrying the strong smell of grilled meat in their hair from the dinner meal.
Thank you to all who came for dinner, and thank you MUKEN for a glorious 2013.
Labels: awards, end of year, social
