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New Students
Joining the dojo this
month are Mark Harvey, Ryan Szesny, Becky Yerkes, and Ashley Campion.
A warm welcome to you all.
Visitors? We Love Visitors!
Interested in visiting sunny Florida? Need a break from the snow,
hail, and/or significant other? (Kidding!) We've hosted
visiting aikidoka from our sister Aikikai dojos in Australia and France,
as well as from our stateside brethren in Boston, Atlanta, and Rochester. Just drop us an email to let us know when you're coming.
More Website News
As we mentioned in our
March newsletter, our new web address is
AikidoCenterOfJacksonville.com. To help spread the word,
however, we've reserved the address
FindYourCenter.net, and created a nifty new school flyer.
Pretty cool, huh? (You can also find the flyer on our website.)
Now you'll have something in hand to share with your astonished
co-workers after you've dazzled them with your feats of aikido derring-do.
Orlando Bound
It appears there is
some interest in a summer trip to Orlando, where we could train with Ed
Di Marco Sensei at Lake County Aikikai.
While there, of course, we could partake of the local diversions, such
as, say, Islands of Adventure, and the
best damn rollercoaster this side
of Cedar Point. Not that I'm biased. If you're interested,
let us know.
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Camping Trip at
Huguenot Memorial Park
Fifteen adventurous aikidoka
 dedicated themselves to a weekend of camping, training, and
marshmallow roasting at Huguenot Memorial Park, an expansive
wooded retreat
just north of Jacksonville. Arriving Saturday afternoon, our intrepid aikidoka set up camp and prepared themselves for the evening class.
Taking ukemi on the beach presents special challenges, but also special
rewards, as we were all treated to a spectacular sunset. Following
class, our very own Survivorman,
Buck Pittman, built a fire, which we were glad to have, since the
temperature would drop to, oh, about -25° over the course of the
evening. Buck also whipped up a gourmet venison stew which, after
much cajoling, he agreed to share the recipe. Here goes: Step 1 –
Track and kill a deer. Step 2 – Call Buck. The next morning,
we trained to the rising sun, ate pancakes and venison sausage, and
parted ways. We had a blast. (And it was great seeing
Meredith again who, despite thumping yours truly with a convincing shomen strike, was also gracious enough to entertain my utopian theories
of education. You should check out her blog.)
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Technique of the Month - Nikyo
(1) Uke grabs Nage's
shoulder, from a kneeling position. (2) At the moment of contact,
Nage retakes the initiative with an atemi to Uke's face. (3)
Changing hanmi, Nage breaks Uke's balance by cutting her center.
(4) Again changing hanmi, Nage applies nikyo, with the intent to control
Uke's center. (5) Nage continues by pinning Uke to the mat, applying
pressure just above the elbow.
(6) Nage completes the technique with a nikyo joint lock.
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