Thursday, May 27, 2010

May Testing Results

Dustin Pefley__________3rd kyu
Dan Hansen___________4th kyu
Josh Ketcham_________4th kyu
Andy Solberg__________5th kyu
Ingrid Connally_________6th kyu

Kamilla______________4th kyu
Sean_______________4th kyu
Dominic_____________6th kyu
Ethan_______________7th kyu
Scott_______________7th kyu
Mason______________8th kyu
Sennen_____________8th kyu
Brian_______________10th kyu
Kenneth____________10th kyu

Congratulations on some fine testing! Everyone looked really focused and sharp. Keep up the forward momentum in your training!

Origami Project

During the month of May all of the youth from our dojo, as well as interested adults made a variety of colorful origami shapes and animals including cranes, boxes, helmets, hearts, flowers and amazing geometric balls. Everyone who participated learned a lot about fine hand movements, focus and following directions. The goal was to make 400 pieces of origami and we most likely made it half way there, which was great for our first attempt!

Today Vince Sensei and Randy Onitsuka lead a group of 16 youth and their parents to the nearby Veterans Hospital on a very important mission. We presented the veterans with several origami and shook their hands thanking them for their service to our country. I was a rewarding and meaningful experience for everyone. The veterans seemed happy to see young martial artists and receive the wonderful origami made especially for them.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this very special and successful community service project.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Break out of the Box

Good day fine people! Just got back from a great Aikido seminar in Monterey California. Going to seminars is a great way to “break out the box”. Speaking of seminars, we are going to a bunch of them coming up. Some of the seminars are internal ones with our black belts teaching, and some of them are Guest instructors from foreign lands to bring us totally different perspective of the Art of Aikido. Stay tuned for the ones that you can do, schedule them into your life, and challenge yourself to “step out of your box.”

This week at the Dojo:

***Monday, Today: it is Train at Your Level Day in all of the classes! Get informed, get better! And say; YES I CAN!!

***Monday, Today: Beginner’s Rally 12 noon and 7pm up to the rank of 5th Kyu. Be here and know exactly what you need to progress.

***Tuesday: Momentum day= we got through the curriculum stuff in an intense and fun way for the month of May. 5pm: youth, teens, and family class. 7pm for the adult program.

***Wednesday: Testing and demos at 5pm youth, teens, family class. 7pm for the adult program.

***Thursday: Origami project: We will meet at the Dojo 4pm and all go over to Veteran’s Hospital by 4:30pm to share with some of the elderly Vets the origami we have made for them. This means we still have today through Wednesday to make more of our beautiful origami! All members are welcome to make origami, and go to the presentation.

Other Announcements
The Dojo will be closed Monday, May 31st for Memorial Day.

Internal seminar featuring our Black Belts June 4th and 5th. This is a biggy! Check out the flyer.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Origami and...

Hello fine people. We did an awesome job cleaning the Dojo on Saturday! Thanks to everyone who helped! Cleaning is a great practice to get grounded. If you feel that you are running around in your life, and your mind is a little scattered. CLEAN SOMETHING. Cleaning the Dojo in Japan was always an important part of the energy of the Dojo. In June, the new Karate Kid movie is coming out. I hope they include cleaning in his training.

This week at the Dojo:

***all this week we are making origami that will be presented to Vets at Veteran’s hospital on the 27th of this month. Please help us make some beautiful origami.

***Wednesday: it is TRAIN AT YOUR LEVEL DAY in all of the classes.

***Wednesday: Intermediate seminar for the ranks of 4th and 3rd Kyus.

Next week

1. Monday is TRAIN AT YOUR LEVEL DAY IN ALL OF THE CLASSES
2. Monday is the Beginnner’s rally up to the ranks of 5th Kyu. 12noon, and 7pm
3. Tuesday is Momentum Day: We will go through the curriculum at 5pm youth&family and 7pm for the Adult class.
4. Wednesday is testing and Demo Day: 5pm for the youth and family, 7pm for the Adults

Set a goal for the week and flow with it, clean, stay grounded, and be happy! Vince Sensei

Monday, May 10, 2010

IF...

Good morning fine people! If we think something is possible, then it is no longer impossible! When O’sensei created Aikido he must have had some of that kind of energy. Let’s tap into some of it to make this week an awesome week!

This week at the Dojo:

***Thursday: Train at Your Level Day in all of the classes, get better!

***Thursday: Advanced seminar for the ranks of 2nd and 1st kyus at 12noon, and 7pm

***Thursday: 7:30pm for the last half of class we will focus on Randori Practice.

Saturday: BAR-B-Q for the whole Dojo!!!!!
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
We are gonna arrive at 9:30 am and clean the whole joint in a systemic way to make this Dojo the cleanest and best Aikido Dojo on the west coast! Bar-B-Q starts at 11:30ish and the Dojo will supply the grub, but if you would like to bring something, please do. All members and their family are encouraged to participate. We wear clothes that can get messy, and train doing boken cuts for about 15 minutes and then go to town!
Cleaning is a big part of Aikido! I constantly did it in Japan at the original Dojo.
Things that we need that you could bring to make the cleaning and BAR-B-Q go faster: extension cords, battery drills or screwdrivers, vacuum cleaners, rakes, and a good attitude and good posture and body mechanics. It’s gonna be a blast! Don’t miss it. Sign up in the sheet on the bulletin board so we know how much food to buy. Thank you, Vince Sensei

Ps; we have Japanese boken and jo’s in stock while they last. Adult size and youth size

Ps ps; Internal seminar June 4th and 5th

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

April 2010 Testing Results

Adult Program
Lonnie Klaich_______________1st kyu
Susan Cameron_____________4th kyu
Anton Schevchenko_________4th kyu
Patrick Nolan_______________5th kyu
Alan Roach_________________5th kyu
Donald Fells________________5th kyu
Donna McNeil_______________6th kyu
Igor Hvenstic_______________6th kyu
Juan Godinez_______________6th kyu

Youth Program
Claire______________________3rd kyu
Tom_______________________3rd kyu
Kai________________________4th kyu
Presley____________________6th kyu
Andrew____________________8th kyu

Congratulations to everyone who tested! Keep up the great focus and training!

Monday, May 3, 2010

What's the Angle?

Hello fine people! What a beautiful day it is! Today I would like to talk about “the angle of attack”. In any of the practices in Aikido we want to be aware of how we are approaching the nage so that the practice we are doing will make sense. Awareness of the position of yourself, and your partner is paramount. You can practice the angle and positioning with stuff outside the Dojo too, for example going to the supermarket and walking through the crowd without ever bumping into another person’s energy. WOW! I can’t wait to go shopping!

This week at the Dojo:

*Monday, Today: It is TRAIN AT YOUR LEVEL DAY in all of the classes.

*Monday, Today: Parent’s meeting at 5pm, e are going to discuss THE ORAGAMI PROJECT; a practice in caring.

*Monday, Today: Teen’s Deshi Meeting at 4:30pm (our first training!)

*Monday, Today: Adult’s Deshi meeting at 6pm, creating and maintaining the culture.

*Monday, Today: Black Belt seminar at 12noon, and 7pm (regular class is still going on at that time!)


*Tuesday: Youth Deshi meeting at 4:30pm (our first meeting and training!)

*Saturday: Sempai Training after regular class 10:40am. Good stuff on the way!!

Look for the Origami project flyer at the Dojo! A way to send out positive energy into the community! And build hand dexterity skills.


Look for info coming about our internal seminar on June 4th and 5th. Great teaching, and Black Belt tests!


Let’s have a magnificent week!! Vince Sensei