About a month ago Torrance Cox of The S.o.M.o.T Project contacted us with a proposition: For a few hours of your time, help me show some deserving young men what Aikido is all about. A quick Google search told me everything I needed to know. From their website:

The S.o.M.o.T Project (“Saving our Men of Tomorrow”) provides life altering and Christian training for young men to escape from poverty, and to transition into becoming equipped for life to lead their families, churches, and communities.

Their mission is to mend relationships between father and son, and also to expose young men to opportunities they may not normally experience.

Of course we wanted to participate.

This past Saturday Dmitry, Ashton, Scott, Kevin, Buck and myself taught a two and a half hour Aikido seminar, starting with ukemi, and finishing, appropriately, with Chiba Sensei’s 8 count bokken kata. It was an amazing experience, for a worthy organization, with enthusiastic and eager participants.

We’re so grateful that Mr. Cox thought of us; it is a relationship we hope will continue.