Following on from the success of last year’s Spring Seminar we again will hold a major seminar in Christchurch at nearly spring time. We hope you will join us for great training with superb guest instructors!
The curse is “may you live in interesting times” – unfortunately we do. Christchurch has been hit by a damaging series of earthquakes since 4 September 2010. I am conscious that we hadn’t put out a magazine for some time but recent events have left us little ability to concentrate on matters other than earthquakes. So for this issue we concentrated on the quakes and the effects on our people at Aikido Shinryukan Canterbury.
The initial quake on 4 September 2010 and which began this series was measured at 7.1 on the Richter scale. It actually caused relatively minor damage and no fatalities. We congratulated ourselves on our building standards and preparedness. We learnt about new items such as “liquefaction” [a mix of sand, water and mud which rises to the surface and has blanketed swathes of the eastern suburbs], and “munted” [ie broken by the EQ].
Editor – Terry Mah
Whoa! The year-end grading is just less than 5 weeks away and we’re still settling down from the awesome seminar by Yamashima Shihan! To all the people grading next month, all the best, focus on getting the basics right, and enjoy the grading – but the most important thing is, after all your focus on practicing the grading techniques, DO NOT STOP TRAINING after the grading because that’s when it suddenly clicks that your understanding of Aikido has improved and you’ll enjoy your training more. Ed.
Editor – Terry Mah
We started 2009 with a blast – we were blessed with the honour of hosting Masuda Shihan again for the whole month of February – training was awesome as usual and fun at the same time. And now, we’re in the midst of preparing for the mid year grading. The weather is getting colder so make sure you warm up properly and enjoy your Aikido.
Editor – Terry Mah
Where has the year gone! Well, our Aikido year was fun while it lasted! It has been an eventful year for ASC which started with hosting Masuda Shihan for a whole month; then the mid-year grading; Andrew Sensei was hosted by Club Aikido, Singapore for their grading & seminar in August; Gary & Logan attended Kimori Dojo’s annual seminar in Nagoya; ASC’s Spring Seminar with Yamashima Shihan in September; then Andrew, Irene, Shane & Miria jetted off to Tanabe for the IAF 2008 right after the Spring Seminar; and finally our year end seminar & grading with Takase Shihan followed by the awesome Dawn Training. This year, ASC is proud to have graded 4 Sandans, 6 Nidans, 5 Shodans, 83 Kyu grades, and 109 kids. What a year, eh!
You all deserve a great X’mas break and I’m sure you’ll be looking forward to another great Aiki year ahead.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Editor – Terry Mah
Well, winter is truly upon us and the mat’s really cold, especially for the 6:30a.m. classes! But we still have the hard core Aikidokas turning up, which is super great enthusiasm! After an awesome “batch” that has just graded, we are now in the midst of the next series of proficiency tests to prepare for the November grading. Awesome! Keep on Aikidoing!
Editor
Time really goes by when you’re having fun with Aikido. It was only a few winks ago that 2008 started and now, we’re looking forward to, and preparing for, our mid-year grading. This time around, it appears that we will have a record number of yudansha grading! All the best!
Editor
