[Aikido] Aikido: Welcome and Welcome Back

[Sean Flynn]

Dear Everybody,

   Aikido practice begins at 8 p.m. on Tuesday the 2nd of September.  We'll 
be meeting in our normal room, the Multipurpose Room that is located 
upstairs in the main Gym building, by the running track.

   We'll be practicing at the same times as last year: Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
and Sundays from 8-11 p.m.   For those of you who are new, I recommend that 
you try to come to class at least twice per week.  And don't worry if you 
have to come in late every time due to a class conflict or if you have to 
leave early most nights.  You are students first, and that is totally 
understandable.  Just try to come as often as you can and for as long as 
you can.

   We're very fortunate that this year Professor Fumiaki Shishida will be 
spending his sabbatical at Vassar and teaching us Aikido.  Professor 
Shishida is an 8th Degree Black belt, and one of the two highest ranking 
practitioners of the Tomiki style of aikido.  He will be arriving Sept. 6th 
and should be at the practice on Sunday Sept 7th.  Several of the New York 
City area aikido sensei have asked that Shishida teach on Saturday 
afternoons so that they can train with him regularly.  So, be expecting us 
to add a 4th practice time to the schedule, although this class may be 
restricted to those of you who have more than just the basics down already.

   Finally, a few other things.

         First, the club web site is now greatly expanded.  I commend David 
Chiu for getting it started and keeping it going.  Good job, David.  Check 
it out at http://vsa.vassar.edu/~aikido/.

         Second, Professor Marco was kind enough to set up an aikido club 
mailing list.  Please go to http://lists.vassar.edu/mailman/listinfo and 
sign yourself up.

         Third, I'm planning on taking as many of you as want to go to 
participate to the aikido events at the Arnold Battle of Columbus 
(ABOC).  This is the world's largest martial arts competition, with over 
9,000 athletes and 2,000 referees and officials.  Something like 40 
different martial arts will be having within-art competition.  Plus, there 
are forms competitions open to all arts.  It's a really fun weekend and 
this coming year it will be held March 5-7, 2004, which happens to be the 
first weekend of Spring Break.  So, no academic pressures.  We can keep 
costs down by driving there on a Vassar bus, and Sensei Moe Stevens will 
give us free crash space.  So expect a fun, low cost event.  The ABOC 
weekend also features gymnastics, power lifting, and body building 
contests, and has one of the world's largest sports fairs.  It's a really 
fun time.  Check out, http://www.wuma.com/aboc/.

         Fourth and finally, I need a volunteer or two to help promote 
aikido and get aikido listed as an event in the Empire State Games.  For 
any of you who would like to work on your lobbying skills and political 
abilities, this is an ideal project.  If you think you'd like to try the 
project out, come see me!



Your Sensei,

Sean Flynn

Yours truly,

Sean Flynn
Assistant Professor of Economics
Vassar College
124 Raymond Ave #424
Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0424
USA

Telephone:      845-437-5209
FAX:            845-437-7576
E-mail: flynn at vassar.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vassar.edu/pipermail/aikido/attachments/20030831/6c9f916b/attachment.htm