tyrone.id.au
Of course I passed. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but I did feel good about the grading.

That's put down to excellent preparation. I was trained by 3rd Dans for the two weeks leading up to the day and I trained hard with my fellow aikidoka. We all passed and now we wear the brown belt.

Things will level out for me a bit now. I can only grade now at Sogo Shinsa which is every three months.
The next will be in March 2004. That will be 2nd Kyu grading and June 2004 will be 1st Kyu.

Both those gradings will be exactly the same as what I did for 3rd Kyu. I just have to preform better each time.
Sensei will probably nominate different techniques but the compulsorys will not change.

Looking forward to the future. OSU.

tyrone.id.au
My Grading was excellent.

I felt like everything went really well. My ukemi felt good, I was thrown strongly but I landed well and didn't feel and pain.

I know I was a bit sloppy with some techniques but it was ok. I didn't hesitate or stop, that's the main thing.

Monday I will go to the dojo and find out if I passed. OSU.

tyrone.id.au
Second week of Grading training is almost over.

I have had some good training from a 3rd Dan most of the week. We have been working hard on renzoku and I received some tips from Sensei on proper ukemi. Sensei said I am bending my leg as I flip over. I have to work on keeping my leg straight or else I'm setting myself up for an injury.

I feel good about the grading. I'll let you know. OSU.

tyrone.id.au
I have progressed through my first week of Grading training.

I have encountered many techniques that I have never done before. Basically, variations of what I already know, so Sensei doesn't necessarily teach them to us. He will say the name of the technique and we have to think about it, putting it all together in our heads based on what we already know.

It's an intimidating way of training because I suddenly feel like a beginner all over again.....hesitating, looking at my feet and thinking about it all in my head before moving. I feel slow and uncoordinated with my movements.

Training with some of the seniors, they start calling techniques that they want to practice. One guy called a suwari waza technique that left all of us confused. It was a version of irimi nage which was so hard to do on the knees. No one could do it properly and they asked Sensei to come over and demonstrate. Even after Sensei showed us, we were all left scratching our head.....I hope he doesn't call it at the Grading !!!

Generally I feel good about the whole week.
I have another week of training and then the Sogo Shinsa on 20 December 2003. OSU.

tyrone.id.au
The dojo birthday demonstrations were great.
I enjoyed the self-defence class and I think it's a shame that we don't do more of it.

We covered a version of shiho-nage and nikajo which were very practical and very effective. My wrists can vouch for that, nikajo is a killer any way you do it !!!
Another technique we did was almost like kotegaeshi but instead of turning the wrist over you just hold the wrist in place and drive down. That probably isn't a very good explanation, but it definately works. A very simple move that I will always remember. We also did a choke hold which was like a version of the classic sleeper hold but done from the side of uke instead of directly behind. Very, very effective. There were many red faces in the dojo after that session.

It's good to see aikido put in a practical light. I love doing kata but it's important to know how to adapt those techniques to the real, modern world.

Grading training has started for the Sogo Shinsa on 20 December 2003. I had some good instruction from a 3rd Dan on the Ushiro techniques. He showed me the footwork all broken down into steps which has helped me a lot. It's all in the footwork, isn't it?

I have always found with my training that if I have a problem, just forget about my hands and think about the footwork and my hip movement. Once that part clicks the handwork comes naturally. It's so easy to forget about my feet and when that happens, the technique falls apart.

I have plenty of training ahead for the next two weeks as I prepare for 3rd Kyu.
My first level of brown belt. OSU.