January 2012

Student Enrollments

Please welcome Kathleen, Frank, Stephanie, David, Alex, Scott, Chris and Galyna to our adult class, and Ever to our kids' class.

Train hard and have fun!

Student Promotions

Our congratulations to Kevin for passing his 2nd kyu test, and to Keanna, Luc, and Isabella for passing their 5th kyu tests.

And in our kids' class, congrats to Darius, Bryce, Brantley, and Brynn (yellow belt), Gracie and Brady (green belt), and Vanessa (green belt/black stripe). Sensei is very proud of you.

Train for Free!

Help us grow the school. When you refer a student, you train free for the month.

Interested? Talk to Dee or Jerry for more details.

Aikido Center of Jacksonville, through the years

Our Twenty Year Anniversary

This year is the twentieth year of our dojo's founding in 1992. We're humbled and grateful to have had the privilege to teach Aikido in Jacksonville for so many years. And to celebrate, we have a few ideas going into 2012. We're thinking about a friendship seminar in the spring, and in the fall, we're already planning a special 20th anniversary seminar.

First, however, a few words to mark the occasion. Our newer students may not realize this, but there was a time in Jacksonville when there was hardly any Aikido instruction available. Along with T.J. Cooper Sensei at Westside Martial Arts, our founding instructors were pioneers for the art, each helping in their own way to establish Aikido locally. The flowering of Aikido we now take for granted is in many ways due to the dedication and hard work put forth by our earliest students. We would all be poorer but for the efforts of Curtis Rosiek, Chris Rozett, and of course, Dee Sensei.

It may also interest you to know that several of our students have gone on to start their own successful schools. Autrelle Holland teaches at Tribe-K Martial Arts, Brett Jackson teaches Aikido to children in Pleasanton, California, and John Miller has expressed some interest in starting his own dojo out west. We are, of course, proud of everyone.

If you'd like to learn more about the early days of our dojo, and the beginnings of Aikido here in Jacksonville, head on over to our blog, where we've posted a comprehensive history.

Thank You

Dee and I wanted to extend our gratitude to several members of the school. First, thanks to all our students who have helped us around the dojo. Your efforts have meant a great deal to Dee and myself. Also, a special thanks to Maggie, who is organizing an Aikido demonstration with the Girl Scouts on March 16, and who has graciously taken it upon herself to spearhead several of our dojo initiatives. Thank you.

And lastly, our thanks to Karen at Klefman Creative, Inc., who not only designed the website, but also the newsletter you're reading now.