From Sunday July 29th – Saturday August 4th we will all be converging at the Dolce Seaview Hotel and Resort in Galloway, New Jersey for another stellar week of Aikido and luxury. Hosted by Yamada Sensei and guest instructor Osawa Sensei, along with the USAF Technical Committee and other USAF Shihan and instructors, we will celebrate our 4th year at this outstanding facility. After the New Year, the summer camp committee will circulate more information both through this newsletter and the USAF Summer Camp facebook page. So mark your calendars and stay tuned for further updates! See you in 7 months and 6 days…
Save The Date – USAF Summer Camp 2012
December 23, 2011 by
New York Aikikai’s Christmas Seminar & Testing Information
December 8, 2011 by
8 December, 2011
Dear Aikidoka:
New York Aikikai will be hosting its annual holiday seminar on December 17th-18th. Information about this great event can be found through the link on their home page, www.nyaikikai.com.
If you, your student or your friend will be testing at the NYA seminar, please be aware that all test payments will be collected separately from the seminar fee payments. That is, all seminar fees will be payable to NYA, and all dan test fees will be payable to the USAF. For the seminar fee, NYA will accept cash, checks, or credit cards, which will be charged at the time of registration.
Please be prepared to make 2 payments if you will be testing, with your test payment in cash or by check made payable to the USAF. If you would like to pay with Mastercard or VISA (not Amex or Discover), you will be asked to fill out a credit card form authorizing the USAF to charge your card at a later date – your card will not be charged on the day of your test, but rather at a later time from the USAF office.
In addition, please remember that all dan applications need to be typed. They are available online through your instructor or dojo-cho in a fillable pdf format. There are 4 forms for shodan, and 2 for nidan and sandan. Shodan is $200, nidan is $250 and sandan is $300. Please come prepared with your paperwork and payments ready to be handed in. With the number of seminar participants and dan tests, this will help the process remain as efficient as possible. It’s always an exciting day, so your help with this will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for passing on this important information. See you next week.
Sincerely yours,
Laura Pavlick
Director of Operations
New Resource Available to USAF Dojo-cho
November 30, 2011 by
USAF Dojo-cho and instructors were recently asked to submit information regarding their dojo insurance carriers as well as their direct billing companies. This information is now available, and a detailed email has been circulated to all Dojo-cho. This is the beginning of the new resource center for USAF instructors where we will share, based on our own experiences, not just information regarding insurance and billing companies, but also where we shop for dojo supplies, who are our web developers or logo designers, our favorite kids class games, Q&As, and much more.
Members of the USAF Board have undertaken extensive research into insurance options for USAF dojo. While no solution has been found yet that can cover the broad spectrum of our needs, we are talking with a company right now about a few possibilities and a brief questionnaire may be circulated shortly.
As the success of this new resource is based on our group participation, thank you to all who provided the information which helped launch this exciting project. We each hold much knowledge based on our own personal experiences teaching Aikido and running a dojo, and exchanging this will create a wealth of information while supporting each other in our shared endeavors.
Dan Promotions 5/16/2011 – 9/15/2011
October 6, 2011 by
Dan Promotions
Test applications received and dated between May 16, 2011 and September 15, 2011
Shodan
- Daniel Addario – Jersey Shore Aikikai
- Jeremy Anglin – Litchfield Hills Aikikai
- Patrick Chen – Muso Aikido
- Hilary Hess – Aikido of Champlain Valley
- Linda Hovan – Granite State Aikido Club
- Benoit Jolicoeur – Aikido de la Montagne
- Sergey Kushnir – Aikido of Central New York
- Vincent Lecomte – Aikido de la Montagne
- Paul Luukkonen – Toronto Aikikai
- Lawrence McLennon – Aikido Institute of Newfoundland
- Ezzard Neri – Toronto Aikikai
- Ronald Oltmanns – Aikido of Denton
- Sunil Pasi – Northern Virginia Aikikai
- Jeff Rotondi – Aikido of Ramapo Valley
- James Russo – Suffolk Institute for Eastern Studies
- Ross Setlow – Albany Aikido
- Anastasia Shiba – Newport Beach Aikikai
- Samantha Taitel – Aikido Center of Dover
- Chuck Teubert – Lenape Aikikai
- Matthew Wavro – Aikido of Red Bank
- Jennifer Yabut – Jersey Shore Aikikai
Nidan
- Heath Atchley – Aikido of Northampton
- Zbigniew Bloch – Toronto Aikikai
- Stefan Dromlewicz – Framingham Aikikai
- Krista Gile – Aikido of Northampton
- Neal Harrison – Newport Beach Aikikai
- Lois Miraucourt – Aikido de la Montagne
- Alexander Perry – Aikido of Champlain Valley
- Benjamin Polikarpov – Toronto Aikikai
- Jamal Teymouri – Albany Aikido
- Brian Tobin – Toronto Aikikai
- Carla Wells – Newport Beach Aikikai
Sandan
- Joao Alcantara – Newport Beach Aikikai
- Jesse Earl Brown – Naka Ima Aikikai
- Charles Dubois – Aikido de la Montagne
- Vincent Hauser – Austin Aikikai
- Debi Hron – Aikido of Champlain Valley
- Steve Kopka – Midwest Aikido Center
- Takayuki Koei Kuwahara – New England Aikikai
- Jason Pepe – Aikido of Champlain Valley
- Jason Perna – Aikido of Center City
- Stefan Pisocki – Diamond State Aikido
- Henry Rauchweld – Aikido of Ramapo Valley
New Years Promotions
October 5, 2011 by
Dear USAF Community:
I hope this finds you all well and looking forward to the quickly approaching change of seasons. It is hard to believe that it is already time to consider promotions for the New Year.
Yamada Sensei has reviewed the list of instructors and we have contacted those who he is suggesting for promotion this coming New Year. I would like to remind the instructors that, if you have students in your dojo or any who may have their own dojo or club, it is your responsibility to submit their names if you feel they are qualified for a New Year’s promotion. Please keep in mind that in addition to the time requirement, we will also be reviewing the seminar attendance portion of all paperwork. The paperwork and fee for all promotions by recommendation for 5th dan and higher are due in the USAF office no later than November 1st. Promotions by recommendation for 4th dan and below can be submitted by December 15th for New Year’s consideration. Please remember that 5th dan and higher can only be submitted at this time of year, but 4th dan and below can be submitted throughout the year. All instructors should have access through their password and login to the USAF website to access the necessary forms.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely your,
Laura Pavlick
Director of Operations
