#TeamUniSA Profile: UniSA Shodokan Aikido Club

Kirralee Thomas

2020-07-30T11:22:09

Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Kenji Tomiki. It is a predominantly defensive discipline which involves blending and taking your attackers balance and using their momentum against them.
The UniSA Shodokan Aikido Club offers practice in self-defense, fitness and competitions with the opportunity to meet new people in a safe environment. The club is open to all members of all abilities and fitness levels.

How many members?

We have 17 members both old and new.

What has your club been up to in the past 12 months?

We have attended many events in the past 12 months including two Inter-University Shiai’s, the Kodomo-No-Hi Festival and UniSA Sport events! The last couple months showed an interesting change and events were postponed or conducted virtually.

What have been some of the clubs achievements in the last year?

From those events we could attend, we had a lot of success. Both Anna Nguyen and Tom Bereny won their Randori events in the State Shiai and placed top three in the Australian Championships. One of our Teachers, Binh Tran became the Men’s Australian Aikido Champion. Anna Nguyen is the current Australian women's champion. She was a uni student at the time of this accomplishment, however has since graduated and is the current President of the club. Many students also achieved their Shodan Ranking (Black Belt).

How has your club adapted to going online?

Luckily Shodokan Aikido is a contact sport but can also be practised independently. So, we quickly changed to online training sessions via Zoom. This worked well as it allowed us to still socialise and maintain fitness virtually. It has been an interesting time practising together online, but it has made us more grateful for the time we can have training in person at Pridham Hall.

What is your favourite part of being a UniSA Sport club member?

The best part of being a UniSA Sport member is being able to have the opportunity to experience different sports and learn different skills. Especially in Shodokan Aikido, there is the opportunity to make new friends and have a deeper understanding of martial arts and its philosophy. The club is celebrating its 25th year as a UniSA Sport club and has a wealth of experience amongst its instructors with Andrew Sensei creating the club and continuing to welcome and teach new and existing students.

What's it like to be at a Shodokan Aikido training session?

Please check out our video for some awesome highlights, you can see this on UniSA Sport's Facebook page.

How can you join us?

It is easy! Please send us a message over Facebook, Instagram or through our email (shodokan.unisa@gmail.com). We are looking forward to seeing you.

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