Training update for 2012. We are training at Melbourne University on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Fridays in the Mirror Room in the RMIT gym. Details are on the far right of the page. Come check us out on the 10th of February at 5.30pm.

The club has relocated to back on campus. The new venue is in the Mirror Room, inside the gym. Drop by a training session during the break. We are still holding classes!

Training for the club starts on the 8th of February at 6pm. Hope to see all of you at the MC Hub

The club has relocated to the Multicultural Hub. If you don't see us at the old place, have a look at the address on the right

Training for the RMIT aikido club continues until the 25th of November and starts again on the 8th of February next year

Yes!! Finally I managed to get the website under my control. Hope you are having a good holiday, Christmas and New Year. The club is not running at the moment, but we will be back in 2010. First training session will be on the 9th of February at 6.30pm. Come and have a look at a class if you are new or are interested in the club

Well, we hope everyone had an amazing summer holiday and it is nearly time for term to start. Training has commenced for the year, so whether you are a black belt or thinking of taking aikido for the first time, please come down and pay us a visit.

Spring is here and the warmer weather is the perfect time to be training and shaking off the last of winter. We are going to hold our annual trip to Bon Beach Dojo for training On Sept 23, a sunday. It Will be a morning and afternoon training session with lunch thrown in. It has always been heaps of fun and you learn alot so if you would like to come, please talk to the committee members during a training session. Thanks!

Semester 2 has started but beginners are still welcome to join anytime. However, please note that training for Thursday, 26/7, has been canceled so that members can attend a special event coming up at the main dojo in Clifton Hill. (100 Hodgkinson St Clifton Hill in the Baptist Church Hall). Sugano Shihan will be taking dojo training from Wed 25th to Sat 28th of July. Training times will be Wed, Thurs, Fri evenings from 6:30 to 8:30pm and Sat morning from 10:30 to 12:30pm. The cost has not been finalised. Regular training at RMIT will resume the following Tuesday 31/7. Please check our mailing list for more details. Thanks.

Welcome back to another year of training, and apologies for long silence. If you are already a member, be sure to subscribe to our mailing list, so that you can be updated on all events. We are holding our annual combined training with Melbourne Uni this coming Tuesday, and we will go out for dinner after, so please come! There is also an embu, or demonstation, at Clifton Hill Dojo this Saturday and it is a special day of training there. Please check our mailing list for more details.

We have now come to the end of another academic year. Thank you to all members for their support this year and everyone who has pitched in to get the club running.

Have a safe summer holiday break and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Special Training Day Featuring two of Victoria"s most senior yudansha: Ray Oldman Sensei: go dan, IAF Aiki Kai Aust shidoin and assistant area representative for Aikido Victoria and Geoff Savage Sensei: go dan, IAF Aiki kai Aust shidoin and area representative for Aikido Victoria. This special day is open to all members of Aiki Kai Australia and should be viewed as an opportunity to prepare for future gradings and Sugano Shihan"s summer school in Launceston Tasmania. When: Saturday 11th, November. Where: Clifton Hill Dojo. (100 Hodgkinson St Clifton Hill in the Baptist Church Hall) Training schedule: 11:00am - 12:30pm (training) Oldman Sensei lunch 2:00pm - 3:30pm (training) Savage Sensei Cost: Both sessions $25 or $15 hardship/student One session $15 or $8 hardship/student

Combined training session with Melbourne Uni next Friday (Oct 13), it starts at 5pm and we will probably go for dinner after. The location is at East Stadium, which is up the stairs in the sports centre on main Parkville campus. There are two sports centre buildings; this has the squash courts, table tennis etc (the other building has the gym equipment and the swimming pool). I think it is near where tram 108 turns on the corner of Swanston and Elgin. Please attend if you can! PS The mailing list is down at the moment, sorry folks.

Upcoming events - Bon Beach training this Sunday, starts at 1030am sharp, so please come 10ish to do your own warm up. The address is 41 Bondi Lane, Bon Beach station. For those coming from the city, we are meeting at 845am at Flinders Street station, on the platform for the Frankston line. The train leaves at 856am, to arrive at bon beach at 945am. We Will try to wait around the first couple of carriages, so see you there and don't be late! Also, an upcoming training session with Melbourne Uni, details to follow.

The club held a training session and social night with the Melbourne University Aikido Club. The turnout from both Aikido clubs was excellent and we are considering having more joint training sessions in the future. Training with other clubs provides the opportunity for all Aikido practitioners to train with different people in different environments. Some dojos are train at a really fast pace while others are less rigerous yet just as intensive.

We just had our first training session tonight for 2006 which is an unusually early start for the club. Attendance was very low given that most students are still on holidays. Good to see some new members keen enough to join the club already.

Aikido is a modern, non-competitive martial art, or budo, developed in the late 1920s by Morihei Ueshiba (O-sensei) as a result of his martial studies, religious beliefs and philosophy. The main influences of modern aikido come from classical martial arts, namely aiki-jujitsu and a range of sword and spear schools. Physically, it makes use of joint manipulations to neutralise an attacking opponent

While fitness is not a requirement to practice aikido, a degree of flexibility helps the student receive techniques without injuries. A typical class consists of warm ups, breathing exercises and techniques that improve one's coordination and flexibility.

With its roots in armed combat, weapons training is practiced in aikido both for historical reasons and their relation to hand techniques. The weapons used are the jo (wooden stick), tanto (short knife) and bokken (wooden sword).

Morihei Ueshiba had many students over the years who went on to establish their own schools. The main ones today are:

* Aikikai (mainline aikido): Established by Ueshiba's son

* Yoshinkan: Established by Gozo Shioda, a prewar student

* Ki-aikido: Established by Koichi Tohei

* Iwama style: Established by Hitohiro Saito

* Tomiki aikido: Established by Kenji Tomiki and the only style to hold competitions