Schools and Education Award Individual Award

Derek Eastman has been sharing his Aikido skills and maintaining the sport’s proud traditions for 50 years. He has taught thousands of pupils at Basingstoke Aikido Club - which he started over 40 years ago. In his nomination, one of his long-standing pupils says that “From a martial arts perspective, he is a national treasure’.

Photo and blurbo courtesy of the BBC

Overheard

"Another guy said to me in a pub, 'I understand you do that (he then did some stupid hand blade chopping actions) stuff?'
I asked him if he thought I was deaf and dumb and speaking their language.
He said, 'No no, which do you think is the best chop of the lot?'
I replied, 'Pork chops during the week and lamb chops on a Sunday.'"

-Henry Ellis

Overheard

"Over the years one gets asked some stupid questions, I recall one student asked, 'Sensei! What would you do if someone came behind you and hit you on the head with a bottle ?'
I replied, 'Fall down.' "

-Henry Ellis

New Schedule for The Hut Tx

Class times for 2009 are now Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7pm to 830pm.

Bon Voyage

The Chadster has left the building.
Chad ninja'd out last Saturday morning with his father, a loaded truck with his possessions, and one Chihuahua sitting in the front seat.

He's got a job offer he's accepting up north in Washington State near enough to Joe Anderson to start practicing at his Aikido club. Ah, I can hear the two bickering already. ;D

We were hoping to give Chad a proper send off, but he crashed after a couple days of packing and woke up on departure day. Don't worry Chad, there was a lot of beer we had to finish without your assistance, and the ladies we brought for you were disappointed, but after 10 minutes they started saying "Chad who?" ;D

Beau M.

All,
Over the weekend Beau got hit by a car. I spoke with him a little while ago, and he was crossing the street with a friend when he suddenly wakes up in the hospital with a broken shin bone (that now has a titanium rod in it) and a cracked cheekbone. Turns out the driver who hit Beau is under age and driving someone else's car too boot.

Anyway, Beau is recovering, and he's in room 513 over at Parkland. The visiting hours for that section are from 8am to 8pm, and Beau is amiable to having visitors.

First Chad gets into an accident with his motorcycle, now Beau gets hit with a car. If one more thing happens to another student of The Hut Tx it can only mean Ninja's are out to get us. ;D

Dojo T-shirts

The Dojo T-shirts for The Hut Tx have been ordered and will be arriving Friday of next week, the 17th.

Ukemi at 45 mph

Yesterday Chad was riding his motorcycle with a "passenger" on the back, when a car cuts him off and he's forced to hit a curb doing about 45 to 50 mph. After hitting the curb the motorbike is doing an unsteady wobble that Chad could have corrected, but having a passenger on the back makes righting the motorcycle impossible. The bike and it's passengers get thrown.

Chad does a left sided forward ukemi, and coming out of the roll his right palm touches the ground and becomes one of three items on his body with road rash. By coming up on his feet he sees his passenger about to slide past him, but he quickly grabs her and keeps her out of the way of traffic. His Harley though is another story. It gets run over by two drivers that never stop, but the third car ran over the front wheel and pulled over to offer assistance.

In the end, Chad has road rash on his right palm, left knee and right buttock. His passenger has bruised up hands, and rashes on both palms, but neither suffered any broken bones. This is one of those times where applying art to your life can actually save your neck.

See ya in class Chad. :D

Less is Waaaay More

"Necessary......one action!"
-Kenshiro Abbe

Kyu Grading

Congratulations go out to Dan Shelton who attained the rank of 5th kyu on Aug 18th 2008.
Keep practicing. :D