From the eye of the storm

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[Brice Biggerstaff]

Howdy, I'm Brice Biggerstaff from Houston, Texas.

I began studying Aikido in Tomiki style 18 years ago. I didn't know anything about Aikido other than I had heard that it had some sword work in it and my oldest daughter wanted to do something with swords - she was reading sword and sorcery fantasy at the time. I was determined that all the kids would learn some self-defense (I'm an old ex-Marine, so I thought I already knew enough ;) ). So I enrolled the younger two in Judo and the oldest and myself in Aikido. Same mat, same time. The youngest lasted two years in judo, the middle one four months, and the oldest two weeks... I stayed. To give her credit, she did come back for a couple of years in high school and then got practical experience as an EMT.

My Tomiki sensei got laid off after a couple of years practicing and had to move out of town to get a job and I didn't feel qualified to take over, so I started hunting another place to practice. I found one in the Aikido Association of America organization and began practicing there. Began teaching in 1997 as an assistant instructor and tested for Shodan in 1999 before Toyoda Fumio.

I recently left that dojo to start a class and am now affiliated with the Aikido World Alliance of Sato Sensei, Rokudan Aikikai.

My assistant instructor and I teach traditional Aikido and Aikido for Law Enforcement Tactical Training as developed by Richard Price Sensei of the AWA.

I am currently ranked Sandan.

[Janet Rosen]

Interesting history! Welcome to aikiweb, the virtual "after-dojo bar" (or cafe if you prefer)....pull up a chair...

[mickeygelum]

Welcome...Who and where did you train "Tomiki style " ?

[Brice Biggerstaff]

Thanks Janet, I will pull up a chair and sit a while.

Mickey, I started training at a rec center in Clear Lake Texas under Dave Boshevsky (sp?) Sensei. The class was affiliated with Karl Geis' organization.

[akiy]

Hi Brice,

Welcome to AikiWeb and thank you for your introduction.

-- Jun

[Brice Biggerstaff]

Thanks, Jun. And thank you for keeping this running.

[Janet Rosen]

Bruce, I just have to add that I chucked reading your intro because a catchphrase in my house (the history of which is murky) is "Hi, we're Archie Bell and the Drells and we're from Houston, Texas..." so I have to ask: can you do aikido just as well as you walk ? (with a big grin and tongue planted firmly in cheek)