Aikido of San Leandro is the home dojo of Patricia Hendricks Shihan, the head of California Aikido Association (CAA) Division 1. This year marks the 35th Anniversary of Hendricks Shihan opening the dojo. The Anniversary celebration coincided with the semi-annual CAA Training/Meeting. We flew out to visit for most of the week (19-25 Feb).
Wednesday Morning Class
As soon as we arrived for the 6:30 AM class on Wednesday morning, we were told that all of the dojocho would be doing a demo on Saturday as part of the Embu-kai during the celebration. Liz and I had also volunteered to assist Yvonne Thelwell Sensei (Aikido of Arlington) with her 6th Dan demo on Saturday. Before the end of the day, I’d also volunteered to take ukemi for John Nguyen Sensei (Dojocho of Aikido of Fairfax). It stacked up to be a pretty busy week!
Keiko on Thursday/Friday
On Thursday and Friday, we spent quite a bit of time practicing at Hikari Dojo (thanks Jumonville Sensei!) in preparation for Thelwell Sensei’s test, my demo, and Nguyen Sensei’s demo. In addition, we had a chance to practice with Dave, who is an old friend from Aikido of Arlington. We had a great time getting ready for Saturday! One of the things I miss most often, now that we’re running a dojo, is taking ukemi for others. I also miss practicing with the folks from AoA!
Saturday!
On Saturday morning, we started the day at the ASL dojo. We then caravan’ed over to Chabot Park for outdoor weapons class. Hendricks Shihan taught until around 12:15-12:30. We drove back to ASL where the Embukai started at about 12:45.
Embukai and Testing
The Embukai lasted several hours… LOTS of really good demos… The kids/teens did a fantastic set of demos, and during the course of the afternoon we got see some of the best Aikido I’ve seen in 22 years of practice. Many of the demos are available for viewing on Facebook. We were proud to participate in Yvonne Thelwell Sensei’s Rokudan Demo. Shown to the left is Thelwell Sensei, wearing a blindfold, being attacked by Liz.
The Party!
After Embukai… Everyone set up for the pot luck. Unfortunately, we had to leave a bit early, as we had a long drive back to where we were staying in San Rafael. This is one of many reasons why we believe it’s important to belong to a larger Aikido community, and in the end, this is why we felt strongly about remaining as members of the CAA. As members of the CAA family, we have access to such a great community of dedicated Aikidoka. We’re part of a planet-wide family.
