Editors Note: This is the seventh in an eight part series discussing past seminars at our school. The entire series can be found under the video category.

Speaking of Wagener Sensei, these next four videos were recorded in January 2004 at the UNF dojo.  (And yes, I know I promised videos of Ed Di Marco Sensei in my last post. I’m showing these a bit out of order in light of our June 19th seminar. You were planning on attending, weren’t you?)

The 2004 seminar was an amazing experience, for several reasons. First, of course, was the expert instruction we received, not just from Sensei, but also from the several talented yudansha visiting us. I have, for example, a clear recollection of a certain bokken kata, which unfortunately is not captured on video. I was training with Linda, a black belt from the University of Florida Aikido Club. The technique exposed my sword arm to ikkyo, which led, imperceptibly, into something altogether different. For me, it was a glimpse into the possibility of Aikido, and was a heady realization for a newly minted third kyu.

Another reason, among many—the party afterwards. Allow me to set the scene. We’re at Buca di Beppo, about fifteen of us, exhausted from training, and crowded around a huge circular table, the kind you might find in some cheesy Arthurian set piece, in something called the Pope Room, which in the context of Buca-land is a cross between the Italian Pavilion at Epcot and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. We ate and drank and generally cut loose.

In short, we had a blast.

But you’re not reading this for the stories. You came here for this:

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And this:

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Good stuff. See you on the 19th!