Aikido Uke's Wanted!

[printcraft]

Hello all,

We looking for new students so I'm getting the word out.

Aikido is a self defense martial art you can find out more about it
at the link below: MEN AND WOMEN ARE WELCOME.
My wife attends as well, she's 1/2 my size and can put the hurt on me or anyone there with these techniques.

Aikido - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Classes are in Kokomo, Saturday afternoon.
Welcome to Club Fitness 24"]Welcome to Club Fitness 24[/URL]
The Dojo is in the Club Fitness 24 Hour Gym. Link above.

If you are interested in attending or just want some more information or to come and watch PLEASE let me know.
Send me a PM and I will get you Mr. Bledsoe's phone number if you would like to call him directly to discuss.

Here are a couple of youtube videos to give you a feel. There seem to be 100's of them.

YouTube - REAL AIKIDO - Master techniques
YouTube - Excellent Aikido Demonstration
YouTube - Aikido Applied Techniques

It is fun. You don't need to be a spring chicken to do it either.
If you have any questions for me please let me know and I will
do my best to answer.

Thanks

Dave

 

[Ness2k]

I'm in Kokomo once a month for ING drill, and would love to see this. I'll be there this weekend, so can you PM me details? If we get released in time, I could swing by.

 

[RogerB]

Wow this brought back some memories. I trained with a Yoshinkai dojo out in Mountain View, Ca. several years ago. Trained in alot of hand to hand, various weaponry as well as classic sword work.

Was alot of fun until a newbie did a number on my rotator cuff. Still though a lot of good memories. Might have to come watch this some time.

Where exactly is this dojo?

 

[printcraft]

Ness2K PM sent with your information. Thank You!

...............

Where exactly is this dojo?

Welcome to Club Fitness 24"]Welcome to Club Fitness 24[/URL]

Class is held at Donnie Michael's Karate Dojo which is inside of
the Club Fitness 24 hr. Gym. The link has the map page of the gym's website.

It's on the southside of Kokomo at Alto Rd. and US 31 there's a
new Starbucks out front.

 

[42769vette]

so many forms so little time. i wish i could take more. classes

 

[jmb79]

printcraft,

Unfortunately, Kokomo is too far from me.

Do you know whether Aikido instruction is being offered by anyone in the Indy metro area?

Thanks.

 

[printcraft]

printcraft,

Unfortunately, Kokomo is too far from me.

Do you know whether Aikido instruction is being offered by anyone in the Indy metro area?

Thanks.

jmb try this:

Tiger Lily Eastern Arts | Aikido in Indianapolis | HOME

Found this on a quick search. I do not know them personally however.

 

[spasmo]

I have to plus 1 for Donnie Michaels... He teaches Shorin-Ryu though. I may know the Sensei you are speaking of by face but can't picture by name.

If you need a form of karate in the Noblesville area, I highly recommend American Black belt Karate Academy. That's the dojo I go to! We teach Isshinryu there. This is where I earned my black belt.

 

[printcraft]

I have to plus 1 for Donnie Michaels... He teaches Shorin-Ryu though. I may know the Sensei you are speaking of by face but can't picture by name..................

Donnie is a great Sensei and a great guy! As well as Sensei Eddie Bethea.

 

[printcraft]

Still looking.

Scheduling changes.

Classes are SATURDAY AFTERNOON at 4 PM.

 

[rhino]

I have to plus 1 for Donnie Michaels... He teaches Shorin-Ryu though. I may know the Sensei you are speaking of by face but can't picture by name.

He (Donnie Michaels) must be one of Eddie Bethea's students, yes? I don't know him, but then I've been out of the loop since 1983 or so.

 

[printcraft]

He (Donnie Michaels) must be one of Eddie Bethea's students, yes? I don't know him, but then I've been out of the loop since 1983 or so.

Yes Donnie was a student of Sensei Bethea. I believe Donnie
has been in this for 20+ years so if you were about 83' then that's
a good 20+ years and he might have been starting about that time.

Bethea's Dojo is down the street from my shop. He's a great guy.
I've helped with tournaments (score keeping, setup, teardown) when
Sensei's Michaels and Bethea put on tournaments. The next one
for region 2 is May 9th at Taylor High School.

The tournaments are pretty fun to watch. Especially the little kids.
They kick butt!

 

[rhino]

You probably know a good friend of mine then, Tom Ward, who is a student of Mr. Bethea (since the very early 80s). I saw the Shorin-Ryu Shorinkan emblem on Donnie's website, so there must be a significant connection, if not a direct instructor/pupil relationship.

I was on my way out in 1983. I started in 1974 when I was nine years old, a few months after Tom W. started (he was a freshman or sophomore in high school, I think). Kids in classes were unusual then.

From about 1977 through 1982 or so, I was at almost every tourament in central Indiana. I've had my a** whipped by a lot of different people!

I'm not sure if Donnie is a student of Sensei Bethea. I believe Donnie
has been in this for 20+ years so if you were about 83' then that's
a good 20+ years and he might have been starting about that time.

Bethea's Dojo is down the street from my shop. He's a great guy.
I've helped with tournaments (score keeping, setup, teardown) when
Sensei's Michaels and Bethea put on tournaments. I think the next one
for region 2 is May 9th at Taylor High School.

The tournaments are pretty fun to watch. Especially the little kids.
They kick butt!

 

[printcraft]

You probably know a good friend of mine then, Tom Ward, who is a student of Mr. Bethea (since the very early 80s). ..............

The name sounds very familiar. I don't believe I have met him however.
I think he was at the Awards Banquet in Feb. at Grissom.

 

[printcraft]

GREEN BELT!

My wife received her Green Belt in Aikido last weekend!

She's a 5th Kyu. We only formally test for green and black.
White - Green - Brown - Black
Sensei will award you brown when he feels you have earned it.
We don't have the rainbow belt process like Karate.

 

[Lucas156]

Sounds fun. I reached black belt level in Hapkido a related martial art but then my work hours have kept me from it. Unfortunately Kokomo is too far away.

 

[printcraft]

Sounds fun. I reached black belt level in Hapkido a related martial art but then my work hours have kept me from it. Unfortunately Kokomo is too far away.

Very fun.

Mr. Bledsoe also has a black belt in Hapkido as well.

 

[rhino]

That's the way karate was years ago too.

In the early 1970s (at least in the school where I started), I think the yellow and purple were added as intermediate steps. Americans like "instant" gratification.

I still remember being puzzled by the variety of colors the other schools awared to their students when I would attend tournaments in the 70s and early 1980s. Then I realized that some of them were charging money for the test each time, which bothered me then, but now I understand it was a business. That business paradigm was pioneered by the commercial Tae Kwon Do schools and now seems to be pretty standard, with the subsequent addition of contracts and "programs."

Learning of a school that goes white-green-brown-black is refreshing to me. My school in the 1970s and 80s also had a policy of the formal testing ending at a certain point (I think it was purple belt). The idea was that you were always being tested any time the instructor was watching you, so you couldn't just coast until the test night rolled around. I think the idea still has merit, although it's certainly not as fiscally advantageous.

When I moved on to other things in life, I was an ikkyu and the sempai of my school as well.

My wife received her Green Belt in Aikido last weekend!

She's a 5th Kyu. We only formally test for green and black.
White - Green - Brown - Black
Sensei will award you brown when he feels you have earned it.
We don't have the rainbow belt process like Karate.

 

[Lucas156]

Very fun.

Mr. Bledsoe (Sensei's Sempai) also has a black belt in Hapkido as well.

He may know my instructor Todd Miller or senior instructor Brandon Sieg then. They run GMA in Martinsville and Todd also teaches at Depauw University. Is he through US Hapkido federation or Korea Hapkido Fed.? or do you know?

 

[KokomoDave]

Mike is still around? Cool. He knows me well!

I just got a flyer from Garry Howard Sensei down in Brazil,IN that Haruo Matsuoka Sensei (5th Dan) will be at the American Aikido Institute July 31 thru Aug 2.This is a once a year event that features Matsuoka Sensei from Steven Seagal Shihan dojo.Yes,that Steven Seagal Shihan!