Vale Larry Mahaffy

-

 


It is with great sadness that I pass on the news of the passing of Larry Mahaffy.

Larry was not a Nanseikan member but he was a regular visitor to our dojo. He started Kendo late in life but had a rare passion and commitment for the art. He understood implicitly what it represented and how it fitted into his life. For a time he practiced with his son Finn at MBK-Kenshikan Dojo. Throughout his battle with cancer he continued to practice undaunted. During Covid lockdowns he regularly and enthusiastically attended our online Zoom trainings. 

My last text message exchange with him was at the end of May and we were making plans for club members to go to his house and train with him, at whatever level he felt able to. He said the doctors had exhausted all treatment options. His last text was, 

"I'd love to think I could manage a bit of suburi (walking around the block has been a struggle of late!) Stay warm!" 

Two weeks later I texted to invite him to attend dinner at our Kangeiko, and I didn't hear back. I was a little concerned but thought he probably had months to live so didn't think much of it. It was at the end of Saturday's training, when everyone was excitedly cooking said dinner after a long, cold day of training that I checked my phone and got the following message:



So to any Kendo person reading this who knew Larry, offer up some of your training to his memory, as Anna requested. He was a warm, intelligent human being who attacked with all his energy and never put himself in the centre of things (hence my unforgiveable lack of a good photo of him), but instead quietly made every gathering richer for his being there. 

The photo at top is of Fujiwara Hironobu sensei's visit to Nanseikan in July 2017. Larry would always insist on being at the back, or holding the camera, because he was 'not really a Nanseikan member'. Larry I think everyone else in the club would agree with me, you really were. We will all miss you greatly. It felt like our friendship through Kendo was only just beginning.






Larry Wallace Charles Mahaffy

1966-2022

A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Larry Wallace Charles Mahaffy
will be held at St Barnabas Anglican Church,
800 Waverley Road, Glen Waverley
on Tuesday 5th July 2022 commencing at 2pm.








Comments

  1. Richard Ward1:26 pm

    Sad. RIP to a nice bloke, Larry. Condolences to Anna, Finn and Ronan

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nishimura sensei's Kendo HIIT routine

-
Image
Former All Japan champion, and star of his own NHK documentary , Nishimura Hidehisa produced this workout routine for the All Japan Kendo Federation last year during the early stages of lockdown. It's an excellent HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) routine, sometimes called Tabata Training after the coach who invented the idea. Basically it has been theorised that you get better results in terms of fitness and overall body strength from short, intense and focused workouts, than you do from extended workouts. Some say it is also beneficial for improving endurance and longevity . There is even some evidence to support that it kickstarts mitochondrial function , that you're exercising at a cellular level. That's pretty amazing. Whatever the research says, it is very easy to feel the positive effects of interval training and it has several other benefits: PROS It doesn't take long, so you can fit it into a busy schedule   You can do it by yourself   You can do it almos
Read more

Kendo dummy

-
Image
If any of you are good with your hands (or your mum or dad is!), you might like to try making this kendo dummy. I haven't made one but it looks good and the detailed plans are free to download. http://www.bestkendo.com/HowtoDummy.html b
Read more

Results and pics - 2008 VJKC

-
Image
Another great Victorian Junior Kendo Championships today. The standard gets better every year. This year we had two divisions, 14 & under and 16 & under. Unfortunately only three Victorian dojo were represented, Nanseikan (of course!), Fudoshin and Ballarat. Firstly thanks to the shinpan who came along today: Gary Oliver, Khay-Lin Teoh sensei, Richard Ward, Jason Widdy and Andrew Lam. Thanks also to all the parents for bringing their boys (and they were all boys this year, more girl-kendoka needed!) as well as supporting their kendo throughout the year. Last but not least, thanks to Tony of UMKC, who took all the fantastic photos below. All pics are (c) Tony Shearer. Straight off the 14 & under matches were high quality. Newcomer Yuichiro Sato of Fudoshin won his first match in his first ever taikai against Thomas Goh, also of Fudoshin. Sato (red) scoring men against Thomas Goh. Poor Thomas didn't fare any better in his next match against our own Mr Weber. Geoffrey won
Read more