On April 13-14, Several Aikido of Charlotte students and instructors headed to the 2012 Atlanta Friendship Seminar taught by Y. Yamada Shihan, President of the USAF. We are pleased to announce Steve Brandon’s promotion to Ni-Dan (2nd Degree Black Belt). It is a rite of passage to test in front of over a hundred aikido practitioners at a major USAF Aikido Seminar. Steve performed well and rose to the challenge!
Why I said Yes to Aikido
I was recently asked by Weiner Sensei why I said Yes to Aikido. For complete transparency, at time of writing I am only a few short weeks into my journey and simply learning the foundational skills that will build in the years to come. I met Sensei one weekend afternoon in 2022, we didn’t know…
Modern Day Otomo
Let’s discuss a Modern Day Otomo. In an Aikido dojo, you may hear different terminology identifying a certain student, instructor, or group of aikidoka. Such as Uchideshi, Sotodeshi, Kenshusei, Sempai, & Otomo. Otomo is a Japanese tradition among martial arts masters. It is very often confused with Uchideshi (private disciple) because it is often one…
Is Aikido a hobby?
One of the internal questions I ask myself weekly is how do I keep my students engaged in Aikido? First, it’s probably important to classify what Aikido is and what it means to people. Some may call it a hobby. Well by definition, Hobby means, “an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.”…