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Can we? Maybe? Should we? Perhaps? Maybe just one? Oh, let's just do it! Is it possible? Wait... What? You're kidding me! Seriously? Ok! Let's go! ...by a stroke of last-minute good fortune, Amjith and I made it to the Oct 2010 Western Region Aikido Camp in Vista, California (affiliated with the Aikido Association of America).

Kirsten Simms and Jeremy Neff

A camp differs from a seminar in that a camp has multiple instructors. In this case, we had (right to left) Toyoda sensei, Nakayama sensei, Katz sensei, MacBeth sensei, and Dyer sensei. It was spectacular!

There were a few exams held during the camp: Mike Hackett and Alan Sweeten for Shodan, Jeremy Neff for Nidan, and Rick Berdini for Yondan! Congratulations to everyone for a great test!

For Alan's Shodan test, he had to demonstrate "five arts" on various techniques. For example, he had to do a minimum of five different techniques against a stomach punch, a minimum of five different techniques against a grab from behind, etc. Then, he had to defend himself against attacks from a wooden sword (trust me, it will hurt if that thing makes contact with you!), and then demonstrate his jo (wooden staff) skills through a 22 movement kata. After all this, he had to defend himself against four attackers to show the test committee that he can use his aikido to successfully defend himself.