The Redlands Aikido Yuishinkai club was founded in March of 1992 by Sensei Thom Hansen under the name Cleveland Aikido. At the time, the club was affiliated with the Ki Society, as were most of the Aikido Yuishinkai clubs today. When Maruyama Sensei came out of seclusion in 2002, The Cleveland Club joined Aikido Yuishinkai Australia, as did most of the Ki Society clubs.
The club was situated at the Redland showgrounds on Long Street, Cleveland Australia, until December of 2007 when it was forced to relocate due to the demolition of the building where it was located. In January of 2008, the club relocated to the primary school hall in the neighboring suburb of Thornlands.
Thom Sensei ran the club tirelessly, through good times and bad. Always the first to get to training and the last to leave, he generously donated large amounts of his own time and money creating an environment that spawned an immeasurable number of Aikido practicioners. Thom also ran the Pullenvale club and students of his have gone on to open other clubs in the suburbs of Capalaba and Mango Hill. While there are possibly more, these are the ones of which we are currently aware given the sheer number of years that Thom taught is vastly longer than that anyone who now trains at the Redlands Club.
Again in 2010, the Club returned to Cleveland, and trains in the Cleveland High School performing arts Block, a stones throw from where it was originally located. It was shortly after this that Thom Sensei retired from Aikido.
The club was then renamed for two reasons: The first was in case the club ever needed to move out of Cleveland again. The second and more important reason was that for eighteen years the Cleveland Aikido club had been very much the child of Thom Hansen Sensei. Through those eighteen years he was the glue that held the club together. We felt that out of respect to him a name change was required, as this was the end of an era, and to preserve the work that he had done.
Our Club is now run by people that are either long time friends of Thom Sensei, or those that he has taken from their beginnings of Aikido through to their Black Belt grades.
The Clubs head Instructor is Michael Karkkainen Sensei, 4th Dan. Michael Sensei teaches Classes on Monday nights and has a knowledge of Aikido that few others have. Both he and Thom Sensei have been friends for over twenty years in their journey of Aikido together.
Redlands Aikido is Located At Cleveland State High School, on Russel St, Cleveland. We train in the performing arts block every Monday and Wednesday night from 6.30 pm until 8.30 pm. Our instructors have Blue Card accreditation.
The closest carpark to the Performing Arts block is located directly opposite Haggup St. The school's location is on the map below and once you are in the carpark, the photo will show you where our block is located.
We train between the hours of 6.30 and 8.30 pm every Monday and Wednesday night. Please feel free to join us anytime, everybody is welcome!
We are here
Michael Karkkainen Sensei, 4th Dan
Monday Night classes at our Dojo are taken by Michael Karkkainen Sensei. Michael Sensei is a 4th Dan in Aikido - he has been practicing for over 20 years.
Michael began his AIkido training at the Griffith University Club under Michael Williams Sensei in 1985, just before Maruyama Sensei's first trip to Australia. Michael helped Williams Sensei run weekend workshop classes in Byron Bay which were such a success, Williams Sensei went on to become a full time Aikido Instructor.
Williams Sensei asked Michael to follow him in relocating to Byron Bay to help set up the club there. After several temporary Dojos, they were finally able to build 'Goshin-Kan' which was opened by Maruyama Sensei in 1991 and now serves as the headquarters of Aikido Yuishinkai Australia.
In 2005 Michael moved to Adelaide and began training with John Ward Sensei (a legend in his own right), and ended up co-teaching with John Sensei at the club in Unley.
In 2009 Michael returned to Brisbane and began to Train at Cleveland Aikido with Thom Hansen Sensei. When Thom retired from Aikido, Michael was asked (actually begged) to be the head instructor, which he was more than happy to do under the name Redlands Aikido.
"Take your training seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously"
Clem Sturgess Sempai, 1st Dan
Clem holds the rank of 1st Dan Black Belt. Clem began his training in Aikido at the Cleveland Aikido club, and has a background in Shotokan Karate. It was through a chance encounter while looking for a Karate club that Clem discovered Aikido through a gentleman named Colin Staples (please see events.)
Upon Discovering Aikido, Clem realised that this would be the Martial Art that he would pursue for the rest of his days. It is the non-combative nature of Aikido and the journey of one's self that Clem finds both challenging and fulfillling in equal parts.
"In Sports and other Budo, the older you get the harder it becomes. For me I realised that in Aikido, people get better as they get older. This is something that I can do to keep both my mind and body healthy well into my old age."
Craig Boyd Sempai, 1st Dan
Craig started his Aikido journey with Robbie Kessler at the Cairns Ki society Dojo and once graded to black belt went forth to explore the world ( well western Queensland anyway.) After some years of travel he has come to call Redlands Aikido Dojo home.
Craig feels that Aikido is a great dynamic art, and finds the techniques are always a challenge as you are always finding new ways of improving them. It also has many other great life lessons to teach as well, that can transfer into improving and assisting most things outside the Dojo, from personal relationships , through to playing jazz!
Craig has also found applying the Aiki principles very useful in his professional life with contract negotiations and conflict resolution. He feels at this time his main focus at this stage is cultivating the ability to respond dynamically to any situation.
"Prepare to be un-prepared!"
The Philosophy behind our fees structure is as follows: Aikido should be about Aikido, not about accumulating money. Because of this you will find that it is less expensive to train at Redlands Aikido than at any other Martial arts club...period! There are no membership fees, no grading fees below Black belt and no other shameless ways of parting you and your money. Our structure is as follows:
Full month Program ($40 per month)
The full month program lets you train for as many nights a month as you are able for just $40. There is no better value than that anywhere.
10 Lesson Block Program ($70 Dollars for 10 lessons)
The 10 lesson Block program lets you pay for 10 lessons in advance . When you use those 10 lessons is up to you: they never expire. This program is designed for those that are only able to train on an intermittant basis and do not want to be bothered with haveing to pay each night that they come.
The Casual program ($8 per lesson)
The Casual Program is for those who just traion on a casual basis or are still making their mind up on the level to which they are prepared to commit to Aikido.
Redlands Aikido is committed to the sharing and spreading of Aikido. To such ends, we offer the following special offers to those who help in the sharing of Aikido:
Family Rate:
The family rate applies to multiple members of the same family who train at Redlands Aikido. For each additional family member who trains beyond the first a $10 discount is applied to both the Full Month Program and !0 lesson Block Programs. This means that a family of 3 that trains on the Full Month Program would pay only $100 per month: $40 for the first person and $30 for each of the next 2 people after that. The same family using the !) Lesson Block Program would pay $190 per 10 Lesson Block instead of the usual $210.
Friends Special:
When you introduce a friend to Redlands Aikido and they pay for either their first month on the Full Month Program or their first 10 lesson Block, you also recieve what they have just paid for absolutely free!
Service Member Special:
For members of the Police, Fire or Ambulance Services and Nurses, a special rate applies to the Casual and 10 Lesson Block Programs. This is both to help accomodate shift work and to give something back to these womderful people who give so much to us all everyday!
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FEE STRUCTURE
