I just got back from Kevin Choate sensei's seminar at Aikido of Tamalpais, and I thought I'd write a few words.

Choate sensei was great -- I thought his class was very, very enriching, and he has a wonderful, light-hearted teaching style that I enjoyed. His techniques ranged from the powerful to the subtle -- all of them very educational.

A lot of the techniques that we worked on today were from very powerful grabs, probably in part of his ukes who seemed to be working him really hard today. They gave Choate sensei absolutely no flack. When I had the honor of being his uke once in front of the class, he kept telling me, "Strong is OK." (I tend not to grab too hard -- not my style, I guess.) One man named Christopher must have whacked Choate sensei at least twenty times throughout the day. (I got the opportunity to work with Christopher once, and he was a great uke -- a LOT of intent and power!) I thought it was great to see such intent and commited attacks and to see Choate sensei himself having to deal with them was very, very educational indeed.

Choate sensei is very approachable and seems a very light-hearted man. When I totally inadvertently and unexpectedly did a cartwheel as an ukemi from one of his throws (kids, don't try this at home), he said, "Man, I'm feeling I'm going to get my butt kicked here!"

We worked on many principles with ikkyo, iriminage, and tenchi nage including connection, marubashi, and spirals.

(Geez -- why's it always so hard to remember everything you did in a seminar?)

Choate sensei emphasized that although you may not "get" the technique today, there will be some day that it'll be effective and natural to you. Maybe not today, maybe not five years from now, but "some day."

I had a great time at the seminar today. The training was fierce, fast, and sweat-inducing -- I had a really good workout. The people at Tamalpais was, as always, great fun to work with, and I really love their mat!

Jun