Instructors
Club Instructors
Sensei Richard Watts: 1st Dan Black Belt instructor with eight years Shudokan Aikido experience. He has been an instructor at the club since the beginning of 2004. Sensei Richard has also trained in Iwama style Aikido and Kyokushinkai Karate.
An exert from ‘What Aikido means to me’ by Sensei Richard Watts
“Aikido has taught me patience, respect and understanding for other people. I work as a Publishing Manager and a lot of my work is about managing other people including dealing with awkward situations and I have found that you get a lot further with people if you try and understand their view point – I guess you could say ‘blend with the situation’. It’s a bit like doing a verbal Kokyu Nage (a timing technique in Aikido).
Aikido is an amazing and unique Martial Art which I am proud to have as part of my life. It’s full of very precise movements and frustrating techniques yet it is also a Martial Art that I have found that you can make your own in your own unique way.
So for me ‘What Aikido means to me’ can be summed up in two ways – being centred in my life and learning something that is a real challenge.”
Sensei Janendra Telisinghe (JT): 1st Dan Black Belt instructor also with eight years Shudokan Aikido experience. JT has been an instructor since 2004.
"Teaching Aikido was a complete revelation to me. I had not appreciated the complexity of the of Aikido until I had to teach. I believe that many people only see Aikido from a single point of view, that of their own. However when you have to teach it to students of different sizes, ages and flexibility, one is required to view it from their point of view. In teaching and learning Aikido, I have learned to be patient with my students and myself. Aikido is a martial art where there is no one unique way to perform a technique. There are many interpretations to one technique..."
Both club instructors are qualified teachers with BAB Coaching Level 1.