We can develop our aikido by doing a bit of judo. Neil Adams could do tai-otoshi a bit. In this clip he can be seen using the turn of his hips to push and pull, just as we do in most of our techniques.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0BAmgezQWg
Notice the coordination of the leg that sweeps around and back, the drawing hip and the pulling arm; and the pushing hip and arm with the hand in the most powerful position.

Congratulations to those who successfully graded. The club now has Sal and Grant as ikkyu, while at the other end Richard and Andrew now have their initial commitments recognised with gokkyu.

With further commitment and training we look forward to continued improvement and our club's first dan grades.

grading thursday

Heads up to our irregular trainers. We'll be grading on Thursday. If you can do ukemi, tai-sabaki, suburi, and a couple of grip releases you're a 5th kyu. Scroll down for the grading syllabus to refresh your memory. Come and get recognised.

Training Follies

Random video shots from a training night can be viewed from our google+ account here.

Training starts on 15 January

Happy new year!

The first class of 2013 will start on Tuesday 15 January, 6 pm.

We train twice a week on tuesday and Thursday as usual. If you are interested in training, just turn up to one of these classes and we'll sort you out.

Training for the rest of 2012

Giles has returned from China, but will fly to Perth at the end of November. Here is the training schedule for the rest of the year.

November:
3rd week: 13th and 15th (twice a week)
4th week:  20th and 22nd (twice a week)
5th week: EITHER the 27th or 29th (to be decided).

December:
NO classes.

January 2013:
We should expect regular twice weekly classes from the start of the month, the date of which is to be decided.

So there you go folks. Milk it.

Starting a martial art

This excellent article, written by a wood craftsman, is yet the best guide I have found on how to embark on martial art training.
A.