Thanks to the hard work of Stephanie, Maurice, and other officers, we have gotten the club reinstated as an active USF organization! We have requested to have our training schedule in the USF REC Center re-established for January 2013. Chances are we won’t have the full schedule we had last year “on the mat”, but we do expect to have our old space and time a couple days a week. Stay tuned for schedule announcements!

Also, congratulations to Mike Schnake for passing his shodan test. Mike has been training for over 20 years, and has always been a staple member of USF Aikido!

USF Campus Rec has been changing the rules to do away with all martial arts clubs like ours – and they have finally succeeded in deactivating our club and removing our access to the Recreation Center. If you call and ask about us, you will be told that we are not holding classes.

However, it’s not true! Over the summer, we will be holding outdoor weapons classes in front of the Campus Recreation center on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7pm, Fridays at 7pm at Barry and Meredith’s house, and Sundays at 2pm also at Barry and Meredith’s.

This is a temporary situation. Training will continue, and the Club will continue. We will move to a permanent off-campus facility, and change the USF Aikido Club to a different category so that it does not require access to the Campus Rec facility. Pay attention to the Club Facebook page for announcements and details.

The actions by Campus Rec are motivated by politics, bureaucracy and ambition – but not by any actions of the Club, and not by any responsible consideration of what is best for USF students, or for providing a diversity of activity options for students beyond large, traditionally Western competitive sports. Our Club has been growing, and we look upon this event as an opportunity for us to grow to the next stage. We hope you’ll join us for the adventure!