General Chat & Info Board

Here I am again.
Big thanks to Hannibal for the quick reply. 🙂
A friend has been bugging me to join her for some Taekwondo classes (hope I spelled that right!). So, I’ll probably end up giving it a shot.
Thanks again for all the help!

Anonymous said:Hanibal, thanks for getting back to me.
I actually found the club's page online based in Omaha, but it doesn't mention anything about age groups. If they're strictly for adults, I don't want to show up looking like a total kid. Do you think they might have sessions specifically for my age (15)?
Also, this might sound a little silly, but I read somewhere that training is done in sweatpants and barefoot. For some reason, I have a huge aversion to being barefoot. 🙄Is that a strict rule, or is it okay if I wear socks?
Those are my two main questions.
Does anyone else on this forum train there? If so, could you tell me a bit more about what it's actually like?
Thanks!!!

You can train in socks or a gi—honestly, whatever works, as long as the gear is comfortable. We take students starting at age 12, so you're definitely old enough to join. You can check out www.aikido-columbus.com for more details and their phone number, or just drop by a session to see what it's all about before deciding. We’re starting a new group on February 1st.
Best,

Look, Lattice, I already told you—Larry Sullivan37 is solid. He’ll explain it all to you himself.

Jerry Thompson said:Look, Lattice, I already told you—Larry Sullivan37 is solid. He’ll explain it all to you himself.

:Listen, if I don't step up, who will? Someone needs to push Aikido in Chicago—you can't just let the status quo sit there forever.

So, how late does that club up north actually stay open? And how many of you are even here? Is it just a bunch of rookies, or what?

Jerry Thompson said:So, how late does that club up north actually stay open? And how many of you are even here? Is it just a bunch of rookies, or what?

Aikido in Springfield? We’ve been practicing the "way of harmony"—more or less—since 1998. We used to train at the local police station, specifically in an atomic shelter over in the Sienjak district, and later at the third Math High School. For the last three years, we've been operating out of the downtown municipal hall—about 1,300 square feet. No proper locker rooms, unfortunately—but nobody gives us grief. We pay our dues on time, so the local officials like us just fine and we're happy where we are. As for membership, it fluctuates. You might see 20 to 40 students—though if you know anything about Aikido, you know how fickle that can be—but you can always count on about 20 serious practitioners. Given the facilities and the size of Springfield, it’s actually quite decent. Interestingly, people regularly drive in from towns as far away as 37 miles rural outskirts and neighboring counties. It’s a wide spectrum—from total amateurs prepping for Shokyu to semi-pros working toward Shodan. That’s pretty much the long and short of it. Check out our site www.aikido-springfield.com (it needs some work, but the webmaster does this for a living, so free time for polishing isn't exactly on the menu; still, we exist online, and if you search for Aikido Springfield, we're the first hit). There are other Aikido clubs in town, though only one is truly active right now. We haven't really established a rapport with them—I offered to swap seminar visits, but they never showed up to any of our sessions with Dobroslav, and they haven't invited us to theirs either, so I stopped bothering. Their style is "traditional samurai" or whatever—it's what they have plastered on their Dojo entrance.
Best regards from Springfield!

Larry Sullivan37 said:Aikido in Springfield? We’ve been practicing the "way of harmony"—more or less—since 1998. We used to train at the local police station, specifically in an atomic shelter over in the Sienjak district, and later at the third Math High School. For the last three years, we've been operating out of the downtown municipal hall—about 1,300 square feet. No proper locker rooms, unfortunately—but nobody gives us grief. We pay our dues on time, so the local officials like us just fine and we're happy where we are. As for membership, it fluctuates. You might see 20 to 40 students—though if you know anything about Aikido, you know how fickle that can be—but you can always count on about 20 serious practitioners. Given the facilities and the size of Springfield, it’s actually quite decent. Interestingly, people regularly drive in from towns as far away as 37 miles rural outskirts and neighboring counties. It’s a wide spectrum—from total amateurs prepping for Shokyu to semi-pros working toward Shodan. That’s pretty much the long and short of it. Check out our site www.aikido-springfield.com (it needs some work, but the webmaster does this for a living, so free time for polishing isn't exactly on the menu; still, we exist online, and if you search for Aikido Springfield, we're the first hit). There are other Aikido clubs in town, though only one is truly active right now. We haven't really established a rapport with them—I offered to swap seminar visits, but they never showed up to any of our sessions with Dobroslav, and they haven't invited us to theirs either, so I stopped bothering. Their style is "traditional samurai" or whatever—it's what they have plastered on their Dojo entrance.
Best regards from Springfield!

Is that perhaps the club run by that Orthodox priest and another gentleman? 🤔

By the way, when is the next seminar with Dobroslav scheduled? 🙂

Larry Sullivan37 said:Aikido in Springfield? We’ve been practicing the "way of harmony"—more or less—since 1998. We used to train at the local police station, specifically in an atomic shelter over in the Sienjak district, and later at the third Math High School. For the last three years, we've been operating out of the downtown municipal hall—about 1,300 square feet. No proper locker rooms, unfortunately—but nobody gives us grief. We pay our dues on time, so the local officials like us just fine and we're happy where we are. As for membership, it fluctuates. You might see 20 to 40 students—though if you know anything about Aikido, you know how fickle that can be—but you can always count on about 20 serious practitioners. Given the facilities and the size of Springfield, it’s actually quite decent. Interestingly, people regularly drive in from towns as far away as 37 miles rural outskirts and neighboring counties. It’s a wide spectrum—from total amateurs prepping for Shokyu to semi-pros working toward Shodan. That’s pretty much the long and short of it. Check out our site www.aikido-springfield.com (it needs some work, but the webmaster does this for a living, so free time for polishing isn't exactly on the menu; still, we exist online, and if you search for Aikido Springfield, we're the first hit). There are other Aikido clubs in town, though only one is truly active right now. We haven't really established a rapport with them—I offered to swap seminar visits, but they never showed up to any of our sessions with Dobroslav, and they haven't invited us to theirs either, so I stopped bothering. Their style is "traditional samurai" or whatever—it's what they have plastered on their Dojo entrance.
Best regards from Springfield!

Best regards from Chicago...

Larry Sullivan37 said:Aikido in Springfield? We’ve been practicing the "way of harmony"—more or less—since 1998. We used to train at the local police station, specifically in an atomic shelter over in the Sienjak district, and later at the third Math High School. For the last three years, we've been operating out of the downtown municipal hall—about 1,300 square feet. No proper locker rooms, unfortunately—but nobody gives us grief. We pay our dues on time, so the local officials like us just fine and we're happy where we are. As for membership, it fluctuates. You might see 20 to 40 students—though if you know anything about Aikido, you know how fickle that can be—but you can always count on about 20 serious practitioners. Given the facilities and the size of Springfield, it’s actually quite decent. Interestingly, people regularly drive in from towns as far away as 37 miles rural outskirts and neighboring counties. It’s a wide spectrum—from total amateurs prepping for Shokyu to semi-pros working toward Shodan. That’s pretty much the long and short of it. Check out our site www.aikido-springfield.com (it needs some work, but the webmaster does this for a living, so free time for polishing isn't exactly on the menu; still, we exist online, and if you search for Aikido Springfield, we're the first hit). There are other Aikido clubs in town, though only one is truly active right now. We haven't really established a rapport with them—I offered to swap seminar visits, but they never showed up to any of our sessions with Dobroslav, and they haven't invited us to theirs either, so I stopped bothering. Their style is "traditional samurai" or whatever—it's what they have plastered on their Dojo entrance.
Best regards from Springfield!

Is that so37 miles? Well, that sounds decent if people are traveling from all over to get to you. How big is that space of yours, actually? Looking at the photos on the site, it doesn't look like it could hold nearly that many people. And tell me, do you have instructors? Or is it just you running the show? If you don't mind me asking. If not, my apologies. 🙂

Jerry Thompson said:Is that so37 miles? Well, that sounds decent if people are traveling from all over to get to you. How big is that space of yours, actually? Looking at the photos on the site, it doesn't look like it could hold nearly that many people. And tell me, do you have instructors? Or is it just you running the show? If you don't mind me asking. If not, my apologies. 🙂

You can find some photos from the last seminar in Chicago on www.aikidozg.com (check the photo corner and look for the "Chicago Seminar 2006" gallery).

Megan White4 said:Is that perhaps the club run by that Orthodox priest and another gentleman? 🤔

By the way, when is the next seminar with Dobroslav scheduled? 🙂

Best regards from Chicago...

Oh, Megan—you come over for lunch and still haven't realized who you're actually picking a fight with. I’m not just the high priest of rock and roll; I’m the Ayatollah of pop with a rap beat to boot. You can go ahead and keep thinking about those 🙂 priests.

It’s a priest running that other club—honestly, just typical.

Jerry Thompson said:Is that so37 miles? Well, that sounds decent if people are traveling from all over to get to you. How big is that space of yours, actually? Looking at the photos on the site, it doesn't look like it could hold nearly that many people. And tell me, do you have instructors? Or is it just you running the show? If you don't mind me asking. If not, my apologies. 🙂

He can't even hold it together for one round—let alone two. You know what they say: twice is just double the trouble.
When it comes to instructors, I guess I’m technically the only one—but honestly, everyone in this Association acts as an instructor to me. That's why I love working with beginners; they're still untainted and actually sincere—unlike the rest.
It’s those reactions—the ones that force me to second-guess my entire approach every single day—that actually teach me anything. I've got another two or three instructors in the works—gotta settle some business at the Association first before I head out to a remote outpost in Afghanistan for a long 180-day stretch. Ask whatever you want; there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. 🙂 .

Megan White4 said:Is that perhaps the club run by that Orthodox priest and another gentleman? 🤔

By the way, when is the next seminar with Dobroslav scheduled? 🙂

Best regards from Chicago...

Well, business as usual—I'm looking at late May—but if things go sideways for Dobroslav or any of us, we'll just pivot on the fly.

Larry Sullivan37 said:Oh, Megan—you come over for lunch and still haven't realized who you're actually picking a fight with. I’m not just the high priest of rock and roll; I’m the Ayatollah of pop with a rap beat to boot. You can go ahead and keep thinking about those 🙂 priests.

🤔 ..... fair enough, though those were some decent lunches.

Just looking at these Strava photos. Megan White4, you were easily my favorite at the New Year's bash. But I have to wonder—which one of those people is actually buff? Anyone?

Jerry Thompson said:Just looking at these Strava photos. Megan White4, you were easily my favorite at the New Year's bash. But I have to wonder—which one of those people is actually buff? Anyone?

http://www.aikidozg.com/index.php?id=4 Participated.jpg (last photo) Bujin is the one standing there in the hakama—it's definitely not Dobroslav.😉

Megan White4 said:🤔 ..... fair enough, though those were some decent lunches.

Look, buddy, that was amateur hour. Between AllRecipes and some Kraft Heinz, I’m pulling together much better meals now.

Larry Sullivan37 said:http://www.aikidozg.com/index.php?id=4 Participated.jpg (last photo) Bujin is the one standing there in the hakama—it's definitely not Dobroslav.😉

Yeah, I thought so too. I totally screwed up. 😉

Jerry Thompson said:Just looking at these Strava photos. Megan White4, you were easily my favorite at the New Year's bash. But I have to wonder—which one of those people is actually buff? Anyone?

Well, I'm only in one photo....🤔 .... Perhaps that's why I look the best; I wasn't shoving myself in front of the lens, just staying in the background the whole time. 😁 ....

🙈

Should we perhaps move this discussion elsewhere? 🤔

Let's migrate over to the Aikido thread; mods, feel free to relocate these posts whenever you can... 🤔