{"id":2966,"date":"2025-08-15T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=2966"},"modified":"2025-08-15T17:16:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:16:02","slug":"green-river-aikido-celebrates-20-years-with-a-seminar-with-shihan-harold-archie-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=2966","title":{"rendered":"Green River Aikido celebrates 20 years with a seminar with Shihan Harold \u201cArchie\u201d Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n\n

Noah Hoffenberg, Green River Aikido <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GREENFIELD, Mass. \u2014 When heavy weather rolls in, even before the lightning hits, you can feel electricity zigzagging through the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same occurred whenever T. Kazuo Chiba Shihan approached the mat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 17, a number of his direct students brought their own power to a special seminar celebrating the 20th anniversary of Green River Aikido, with guest instructor Shihan Harold \u201cArchie\u201d Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An aikidoka for 47 years, Champion put nearly 30 aikido practitioners through their paces for over three hours, following an initial class with host sensei, shihan David Stier, a practitioner for more than 50 years himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two teachers brought their own heavy weather with them: 100% humidity and 76 degrees, which, when combined with a judo gi, felt like a steam room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beneficiaries of the pressure cooker: dozens of students, assistant teachers, teachers and master teachers, representing 20-somethings to septuagenarians. They received instruction on a blend of basics, like gyakuhanmi katatedori kokyunage and tai no henko, and more advanced techniques, such as futaridori, an attacker on each arm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In demonstrating encounters, Champion and Stier forced their ukes to confront their own fear and expectations. Fortunately, both men also pierced the tension with humor and laughs, which spread among attendees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Chiba Sensei\u2019s early kenshusei, Champion apologized ahead of time for his colorful language. To begin his class, he gave a succinct: \u201cLet\u2019s rock.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minimalist instructions dappled the training sessions: \u201cConnect.\u201d \u201cUnbalance.\u201d \u201cUchi kaiten.\u201d \u201cMove your feet.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t be lazy.\u201d \u201cWatch out!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champion and Stier each spoke of the importance of not coming preloaded into an interaction with an attacker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first encounter is a real encounter. Don\u2019t be running into it with your face exposed,\u201d Champion said. \u201cDon\u2019t run in there like you know what is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ukes who charged in, or who were uncommitted with their attacks, were lucky to avoid a swipe by Champion. They got a quick rebuke, then a joke and a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust be genuine. Just be what you want to be. I\u2019m OK with it,\u201d Champion said to Green River student Brandon Shantie, interrupted amid an energy-filled two-handed grab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champion\u2019s advice to ukes not to enter with wildness came from personal experience. He told of how he earned a scar under his chin for charging in on Chiba Sensei during weapons training, even after being warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, Champion reminded those training that, when throwing an opponent to the rear, not to ignore them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to throw someone behind you. They\u2019re going to get up\u2026 upset,\u201d he said, during a morotedori kokyunage variation. It\u2019s not something you want happening at your back, he intoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stier opened his class by calling up Aikido of Champlain Valley\u2019s Heidi Albright Sensei, no stranger to Stier\u2019s often electric personality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He offered her his wrist for tai no henko, which she accepted hesitantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a timebomb,\u201d Stier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels like it is,\u201d Albright replied, spurring nervous laughter from the lines of seated students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with the anxiousness relieved for the moment, Stier reminded all: \u201cThere\u2019s always tension,\u201d and \u201cYou get one chance to execute an attack\u2026 you don\u2019t get to regrab.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aikido is an art of feeling, not thought, said Stier. \u201cHow many of you actually think you\u2019re doing what I showed you? Don\u2019t use this,\u201d he said, pointing to his head, \u201cas brilliant as your brains are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stier also told students not to co-opt their falls, another form of resistance or preconception, recommending \u201cgive up your center and control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResist the temptation to go where you want to go,\u201d Stier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student of Senseis Lorraine DiAnne, Paul Sylvain and Kazuo Chiba, Stier likewise didn\u2019t want to feel any \u201cdead fish\u201d grabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI studied fish, alive and dead,\u201d said the former fisheries science graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four other New England senseis trained among the ranks, representing several decades of training and friendship: Green River Aikido\u2019s Kathleen Stier; Valley Aikido\u2019s Larry Levitt; Long Mountain Aikido\u2019s Phil Traunstein; and Ben Pincus of Aikido of Champlain Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Noah Hoffenberg, Green River Aikido GREENFIELD, Mass. \u2014 When heavy weather rolls in, even before the lightning hits, you can feel electricity zigzagging through the air.  The same occurred whenever T. Kazuo Chiba Shihan approached the mat.  On May 17, a number of his direct students brought their own power to a special seminar celebrating … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Green River Aikido celebrates 20 years with a seminar with Shihan Harold \u201cArchie\u201d Champion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2RSKg-LQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2971,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966\/revisions\/2971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}