Welcome to South Austin Aikido

Jusr a reminder.  This weekend our friends at Alamo City Aikido in San Antonio will be hosting a seminar with Hiroshi Ikeda Shihan of Boulder Aikikai, December 7th - 9th.  This is a wonderful opportunity for our Aikido Community to see Ikeda Sensei in Central Texas and aikidoka of all levels are encouraged to attend this awesome seminar.

Our dojo will be open during normal hours on Sunday, December 9th.  Some of our senior members will still be in town and will teach class on Sunday.  If your schedule permits this weekend, come in and enjoy some training with our senior members.

We will have a special training session this Saturday, December 1st from 10:00AM to 12:00PM (noon). This two hour training session is specifically for Shodan test preparation and all senior students (3rd kyu or higher) are welcome to participate.

The Thanksgiving weekend is quickly approaching and with it comes a long weekend.  Whether you are working, traveling, spending time with family or getting an early start on holiday shopping, South Austin Aikido wishes you and your family a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

Please note that South Austin Aikido will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but will be open during our normal schedule on Sunday, 11/25.

We will have a special training session this Saturday, November 17th from 10:00AM to 12:00PM (noon). This two hour training session is specifically for Shodan test preparation and all senior students (3rd kyu or higher) are welcome to participate.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a seminar with Ikeda Sensei in Livermore at Jim Alvarez Sensei’s dojo. The seminar was simply incredible! We worked the entire weekend on connection and use of mind and body to lift our partners. We practiced these principles from a series of attacks including katadori, katatedori ryote mochi, kosadori, yokomenuchi and shomenuchi. As if that weren't enough to get my head spinning, we used the jo for practice as well! It was a great experience and really got my mind flowing with ideas to bring back for our training here at home.

I also got to hang out for the weekend with my friend Sunny Skys Sensei from Fremont, who was gracious enough to pick me up at the airport and tote me around to parts of the Bay Area I still can’t figure out.

I had a great time with all of my friends from the Bay Area and look forward to my next trip back there. Thanks to Jim Alvarez Sensei for allowing us to test in his dojo and for hosting this great seminar.

This past weekend, Denné, Violina and I traveled to Livermore, California for a seminar with Ikeda Sensei at Jim Alavarez Sensei’s dojo. After a great day of training on Saturday, Denné tested for shodan.

Denné began his training with his Dad in Chicago many years ago, so this day was a long time coming, but all of his hard work and preparation certainly paid off. Denné looked very solid in his technique and movement. His weapons take aways were very good and his kumitachi and kumijo were very impressive as well.

This adds one more yudansha to our ranks—with three still to come next month. Way to go Denné, you did a splendid job in representing our group!