Friday, August 30, 2013

Friday, August 30, 2013 session at the JICC multipurpose hall

Being the last session of the month of August,I was looking forward to beginning the month of September in style and I got more than what I bargained for.

Naoki Sempai came along with a pretty & jolly Japanese lady by the name of Misaki(I hope I got the name correctly)who informed me that she began practising Aikido back in Japan though it has been five years since she last practised Aikido seriously but from the way she did Ukemi and the other attacks/techniques during the session,she has not lost her 'Aikido touch'.

After going through a warm up session including Mae & Ushiro Ukemi from both Suwari and Tachi Waza respectively,Naoki Sempai guided us through the following attacks/techniques:

-Katatedori Shiho Nage(Omote & Ura).

-Shomen Uchi Ikkyo(Omote & Ura) and a version of Uchi Kaiten Nage.

-Yokomen Uchi Shiho Nage (Omote & Ura)with Ura featuring two versions and Irimi Nage(which was the session's show stopper for me).

-Tsuki Kote Gaeshi and Ikkyo Omote respectively.

Before the session ended,we did Randori on some of the attacks/techniques we learnt and that was the time the fit & unfit were seived....I guess we should have more of Jiyu Waza/Randori especially during the Friday sessions.

NEXT SESSION:TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER 3 @ THE JICC CONFERENCE ROOM

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 session at the JICC conference room

It has been quite a while since I saw such a huge turnout for an Aikido session on a Tuesday but I guess Aikido is becoming quite popular in Nairobi.....or is it because Karate are not accepting any newcomers for now.....hmmmm time will tell.

Anyway,the good news is that Matthieu PAZAT Sensei is back in full swing after a well deserved vacation in France.

Daniel Sempai kicked off the first part of the session with warm up exercises followed by Mae & Ushiro Ukemi in Suwari Waza as well as Mae Shikko.

The attack he took us through was Shomen Uchi Ikkyo (Omote & Ura).

PAZAT Sensei took over the rest of the session where he broke down the basics of Ai Hanmi Katatedori Ikkyo in both Omote & Ura and as always I learnt something new thanks to Sensei.
I usually have a bad habit of going for Uke's elbow (while executing Ai Hanmi Katatedori Ikkyo Ura)before unbalancing Uke and I am glad Sensei pointed that out and I was able to learn something new.

Sensei also took us through the basics of Tai Sabaki which is very important especially when executing an Ura technique.

NEXT SESSION:FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 @ THE JICC MULTIPURPOSE HALL

Sunday, August 25, 2013

UPDATED CONTACTS FOR NAIROBI AIKIKAI KENYA ASSOCIATION

I managed to set up an email & twitter account for our newly formed association.

EMAIL: nairobiaikikaikenya@gmail.com

TWITTER: @nairobiaikikai

FACEBOOK: Aikidokenya(remains the same)

Since most of the times I am unavailable on cell phone due to unavoidable reasons,we shall decide among ourselves whose/which cell phone number will be used as the association's main contact number.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Friday, August 23, 2013 session at the JICC multipurpose hall

Eureka!!! We finally have it!

Before I get into the details about what we finally have,here is a breakdown of what went down during the session:

Daniel Sempai kicked off the session with some great body workouts that had everyone sweating before he took us through the below mentioned techniques:

-From the Katatedori stance it was Uchi Kaiten Nage Omote & Ura respectively.

-From the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance it was Juji Nage.

-Hanmi Handachi Shiho Nage.

The rest of the session was used in going through the draft constitution and we finally managed to pass the constitution(hence the eureka exclamation at the beginning of this entry)and even elect members to the Executive Council who are as follows:

Jason KIBE-The Chairman.

Sammy MWAKIO(myself)-The General Secretary.

Benedict KIYAGA-The Treasurer.

Daniel AREBA-The Technical Director.

All the members of the above mentioned Executive Council were elected unanimously and shall commence their duties effective
immediately.

For those who will have any queries or any comments kindly use the following email address for now: mtandao@techie.com

Once again a reminder for those who are new to our association that we have a google site(www.nairobiaikikai.com)that has a link to our Nairobi Aikikai blog and the personal blog of our former Sensei.You can also find a brief history of Nairobi Aikikai,a link to the Wroclaw Aikikai homepage and snapshots taken during the seminars that were conducted by Piotr MASZTALERZ Shidoin during his visits to Kenya.

NEXT SESSION:TUESDAY, AUGUST 27 @ THE JICC CONFERENCE ROOM

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 session at the JICC conference room

I found the warm up session already underway led by Daniel Sempai which I must say was a sweaty work out which included Mae and Ushiro Ukemi from both Suwari Waza and Tachi Waza respectively.

Jason Sempai took over the rest of the session and below is what he took us through the stance being Ai Hanmi Katatedori(the Shomen Uchi attack being from Ai Hanmi too):

-Irimi Nage in all three forms(Jodan, Chudan & Gedan).

-Shomen Uchi Irimi Nage(Omote & Ura).

-Ikkyo(Omote & Ura).

-Sankyo(Omote & Ura).

Lifting Uke by the chin was a momentous task especially for those who were performing Irimi Nage for the very first time but with constant practise I believe it can be done.

NEXT SESSION:FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 @ THE JICC MULTIPURPOSE HALL

Friday, August 16, 2013

Friday, August 16, 2013 session at the JICC multipurpose hall

Douglas Kohai was incharge on this particular Friday and after warming up ourselves and some Mae & Ushiro Ukemi we got down to business with the following techniques/attack all executed from the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance:

-Ikkyo Omote

-Sankyo Omote

-Shomen Uchi Ikkyo Omote

The remainder of the session we held a brief discussion on the proposed constitution for our soon to be formed association and we went through some of the contentious issues and Sarah Sempai informed us that she shall be mailing those on the mailing list an updated version of the constitution.

NEXT SESSION:TUESDAY, AUGUST 20 @ THE JICC CONFERENCE ROOM

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 session at the JICC Conference Room

Last Friday being a public holiday and having no Aikido session,I was quite eager to arrive in good time and give myself a good body workout before the clock struck 17:00 hrs.

I arrived just in time and together with two newcomers,we had fifteen minute jog around the "dojo" before the two hour session which consisted of the following basic moves all executed from the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance:

-Ikkyo Omote.

-Nikyo Ura.

-Sankyo Omote.

-The shorter version of Nikyo.

Apart from the above mentioned techniques,we did basic warm up exercises,Mae and Ushiro Ukemi as well as Shikko.

NEXT SESSION:FRIDAY,AUGUST 16 @ THE JICC MULTIPURPOSE HALL

***N.B.KINDLY NOTE THAT AS FROM YESTERDAY,BOTH AIKIDO SESSIONS WILL BE ENDING FIFTEEN MINUTES EARLIER(@18:45 HRS).MR.FUTAKI INFORMED US YESTERDAY THAT THE NEW JICC DIRECTOR WOULD LIKE ALL MARTIAL ARTS SESSIONS(BOTH KARATE & AIKIDO)TO END AT 18:45***

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Sammy's class

Time flew.I loved it.Sam is a great teacher,especially for beginners.

After an intense work out,about an hour long,he took us through the Aihami Nikio basics
Then katatendori nikio,a simple version of sankyo.Can't remember the name of the third move.

I've noticed our numbers are reducing.There was only one newcomer in this class.
I noticed the same thing on Friday.
Not sure whether to worry or not.

Friday is Idd ,no class.
See you on Tue.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Friday, August 2, 2013 session at the JICC multipurpose hall

Naoki Sempai took us through the two hour session which consisted of the first four basic Aikido moves namely:Ikkyo,Nikyo,Sankyo and Yonkyo.

Before going into the techniques,we had a brief warm up session followed by two versions of Tai no Henko.

The following were the techniques he guided us through all being executed from the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance:

-Ikkyo Omote & Ura.

-Nikyo Omote & Ura.

-Sankyo Omote & Ura.

-Yonkyo Omote & Ura.

For once I decided to wear jeans during the two hour session to get a feel of how uncomfortable it is to do some techniques wearing jeans.Damn was I uncomfortable!

NEXT SESSION:TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 @ THE JICC CONFERENCE ROOM