First things first. Huge, Massive thanks goes to my wife Vicki(Vic) for her support of my Aikido, not only for myself but for my kids.
Vicki also pours her heart into the dojo as well; she is a patient Aikido widow.
Vic has never said that I shouldn’t go to a class, in fact Vic is the [...]
Well I got my black belt, I’m very pleased and honoured to get it, as I really felt I could of done better, but it’s all a journey.
I am now a new type of beginner, and I’ll be working hard in each of my subsequent gradings to improve my standard and work towards that “perfect” [...]
Well, Saturday was a full day of Aikido, in the morning helping in Kids class; then in the afternoon I did my grading for Shodan (1st Dan Black Belt).
I made some mistakes, recovered from some of them, and blundered through some others; the stuff I was worried about went fine, the stuff I was confident [...]
It’s been a busy year since our holidays in Japan.
I lost my dear dear Mum to Cancer in February, after a relatively short period in hospital.
My Brother and Sister came over from England, but were too late to see her alive.
It has been the saddest time of my life since she left us.
I think of her everyday…….
I [...]
Wednesday night I did two classes, first class was a full on Irimi Nage Ni class, I was matched up with Chris, a strong 2nd Kyu brown belt, by the end of the class I was wrecked, I was considering bailing for the night, but I needed to get into the demo training groove.
Second class [...]
After the grading the following Monday is a “Dojo Holiday” so no classes, first class back was Tuesday night for me.
I had bought a brown belt from QLD Martial Arts Supplies on Monday in anticipation, hoping not to jinx it mind you
I walked into the Dojo and Sensei presented me with my certificate [...]
After two weeks continuous of grading training I went for my brown belt (3rd Kyu) on Saturday 24th June.
Jim and I partnered up, Jim was first Shite, and we were called up first out of the two pairs for 3rd Kyu.
That meant that I had my back to the crowd and nearest Sensei, it’s probably [...]
It's been a while since I last posted, a friend reminded me today, thanks Matthew
Well, since I last graded and passed 5th kyu I have graded and passed 4th and Jun-3rd kyu, that then meant I had 3 months to prepare for 3rd ky (Brown Belt) grading in June.
Since my last post I [...]
Went back to Aikido again last night, after the kids class, we did Katate-Mochi Shihonage Ni and Yokomen Ikkajo Ni, these both really gave me a work out, but I didn’t feel worn out until the end of the night.
I find the hard part with doing the techniques is once you think you have mastered [...]
I went back to Aikido on Tuesday 14th Feb, after being away for about a week and a half with work and social events.
Talk about losing fitness, I was worn out about halfway through.
We did a Shomen-tsuki (to the head) Irimi-nage technique, similiar to the 5th kyu grading but it felt better than how I [...]