February Winter’s End

I cannot believe that is the second month of 2026 gone past already. February seems to have gone by really quickly and now the snow is melting fast too! Unfortunately it seems to have brought the influenza along with it. February was a quiet month, lots of people have ben busy with work, singing, skiing - we had a few new people come along for trials. No one has committed to become a member yet, so the adult classes stay the same for now. We practiced some really good techniques and dynamic aikido this month, variations on Nikkajo, Hijiyate Kyokunage without hands! and a look at Ikkajo, Nikkajo, and Sankajo.

The kids classes in comparison have been doing amazing. Nearly full every time! This month the kids mainly focussed on achieving their badges with badge challenges every class this week. I was really surprised how quickly some of the students were able to pick up the skills. It is amazing to see that represented on their arms. Some students put in some serious extra effort to learn the skills at home - it was very clear their improvement when they came back to class. I hope the videos I have posted have been helpful.

This year we are already getting really busy. We have an online class planned for this month, the adult grading at the start of April and I have a beginner course planned for three days in April too. We are also going to finalise our plans for the October trip to Tokyo to meet the visitors from Nottingham - it looks like they are not going to be able to make it up to Hokkaido to visit our dojo. On the plus side, some members have told me they might come and see us on their own instead!