Friday Night at a new Dojo 12/14

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, and Trey

The Walk: as usual.

Ukemi: Ukemi went well. No big falls. Soon.

Releases: Per usual, with Randy.

Techniques:

Sensei Tim broke the news that he wants both Trey and I demonstrating soon. No sense as to how soon that might actually be.

In respect of that announcement, we did some work on demonstration etiquette.

We also did some work on techniques. Trey and I both worked on the first 5. My 5 were ate 3-step distance as opposed to the usual 1-step distance. So, we had to introduce Trey to 3-step attacks. He picked it up very quickly.

Aftermath: Major kerfuffle has occurred. Our previous sensei, Sensei R., wanted to get away from the stress of running a dojo. So, he turned the dojo over to a local judo sensei over the past few months. Things occurred Wednesday that resulted in the aikido program having to a find a new home immediately.

Friday night was our first night in the new location.

Everything is different.

The mats are different, and far less springy/comfortable. The surface is far less stable. The covering over the cushioning material tends to move a little and that makes the footing a little peculiar at the moment. It caused a bit of trouble throughout the evening, but we will adjust.

It seems to be a little more slick. When we work on ukemi, we're all sliding some after the fall. In the old place, we would generally stick once we hit the ground. Some of us were sliding 6-8 inches after landing.

The times that we have access to the training space have changed, too. We now have Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. As opposed to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening plus Saturday morning. It's going to make it easier for my wife to make it more consistently, but I'm going to be getting fewer hours in.

Speaking of which, we need to get a training recorder set up. We had a nice computer program at the old place. Need to see about some sort of program or something for the new place. Web database or something?

Half of the monthly dues for training are now going into a mat fund. I'm tossing around ideas for a semi-portable base upon which to place the mats during training. Something to add a little spring to the mats, but not enough so that they fail. They need to be stackable so they can be moved out of the way. they need to be light enough to move. They need to be stable enough when in position so they don't move away from each other.