Friedl Sensei at Aikido Northwest, Portland, OR
February 2-4, 2001

Contributed by Craig Fife*

On the weekend of Feb. 2-4, 2001, Aikido Northwest in Portland, Oregon hosted a seminar with our dear friend and sempai, Michael Friedl Sensei**, 5th Dan, chief instructor of Aikido of Ashland.

Since Aikido Northwest's beginning over 10 years ago, Friedl Sensei has been a friend and supporter of the dojo, offering guidance and encouragement, and coming once a year to teach this weekend seminar.

Friedl Sensei has an incredible gift for teaching children, and since Aikido Northwest has a large kids program, our weekend began with two special classes for the kids. One class for 4-7 year olds, and one class for 8-10 year olds. Friedl Sensei's playful energy is contagious and all the kids are soon laughing and smiling and completely focused on the training. Even the parents off the mat get caught up in the fun and laughter and are soon giving their full attention to the training their kids are doing.

Some of you may know that Friedl Sensei is also "Magical Michael", a very accomplished magician. So at the end of each kids class, Friedl Sensei steps aside and "Magical Michael" takes over and mesmerizes both the kids and adults with some amazing magic!

Needless to say, each year, we have some very eager kids and parents wanting to know when Friedl Sensei will return!

For the rest of the weekend the Adults get the mat and the opportunity to train hard, smile, laugh and enjoy training with Friedl Sensei.

This year we spent a lot of time learning some weapons techniques that Friedl Sensei has been working on. He shared some kumi tachi and kumi jo forms that he has been developing. They reflect the same spirit and energy that his taijuitsu training has.

Friedl Sensei also shared with us a solo taijuitsu kata that he has been developing. It is a slow motion kata that incorporates basic Aikido techniques, but there is no partner. So it is a way to practice Aikido without a mat or a partner. We had a great time trying to memorize the movements, and make them smooth and graceful.

Friedl Sensei's Aikido is a wonderful combination of good solid traditional basics, and his own very creative and unique way of interpreting the practice for himself.

We are grateful for his help and support over the years and look forward to his next visit!

* Sensei Craig Fife is the founder and Chief Instructor of Aikido Northwest. Please visit his web site (http://www.aikidonw.com/index.htm) to learn more about him and his dojo.