Green hills, cold streams, narrow rock passes and in the middle of it all young people from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine practicing aikido for a week.
We were in the Slovenský ráj again and it was wonderful!

Green hills, cold streams, narrow rock passes and in the middle of it all young people from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine practicing aikido for a week.
We were in the Slovenský ráj again and it was wonderful!
This was our 15th summer school in Třešt’ under the guidance of Martin Švihla. 7 days and 6 hours of practice per day. Plus lots of time together over meals, evening talks, ambient music concert, board games and… just a week with good friends and aikido.
We have just created a graphic summary of our Aikido year 2022, that picture is a summary of what we experienced – and we experienced a lot last year! You’d be surprised how much can be accomplished in a year!
Behind the numbers are lots of lively people of all ages, exercising, laughing, spending time together. Behind those numbers is a lot of training, work, travel, events. Behind the numbers are us, our great club.
The island of Oléron is an unknown part of France for many people – that is, until they learn that the world-famous Fort Boyard is located just a few kilometres from the island. For us, however, Oléron has a different meaning – for several decades now, it has been home to the Aikido summer school.
We practiced for 12 days, 4 hours a day. Under the guidance of teacher Gaston Nicholessi, it’s a great chance to learn something new. And make memories for the rest of your life.
The Sport for Two Festival is organized every year by the Prague 2 Municipal District.This year we had a lot of people interested in movement, so over a hundred children came through our aikido tatami for half a day and we did short training sessions for them. It was a real buzz!
In spring Gaston from France visited us again. For three days we practiced with him in a free, playful and at the same time intense way – we developed basic principles like contact, leadership, relaxation… and we also worked with weapons.
One weekend in May, Martin led two seminars at the Dojo De La Roserai in Toulouse, France. Friday and Saturday were for adults, Sunday for children and teachers of children. And the whole week before that he and Vanda spent in Bordeaux… so here are his notes from the trip:
That weekend there was to be a camp for young aikidists in the vineyard in Žernosky. But it was much, much more…
A great joint training of tuishou (pushing hands) of aikidists and taichists under the guidance of Jan Pletanek.There are some lovely photos in the article and if you would like to participate next time, we are planning another such Friday evening on 26 May – see the list of seminars for details.
“Bang on you” – this was probably the most frequent phrase of our aikido weekend together. Traditionally, in early May, we went together with the aikido kids to the Svobodný statek na soutoku. The theme of the camp was the question, “What good is aikido to us in life?”
The exams are an important milestone in the life of an aikidist – and the black belt exams even more so. At this year’s seminar with Franck Noel, seven brave members of our club advanced to the next dan level. You will find their names in the article.
s the years go by, our Shihan Franck Noel gradually reduces the number of his seminars in Europe. And yet this year he found time to visit Prague.
Every seminar with Jan is a surprise. Jan refers to his teaching as “exploration”, and so each year we explore familiar techniques from new perspectives…
Almost 10 people were preparing for this year’s dan examinations, so we organized the preparatory seminar of the Czech Aikido Federation in Vinohrady with great pleasure.
It was still bitterly cold in Prague in February, and we were greeted at Barcelona airport by the sun and the smell of the nearby sea. And so we began to thaw…