I was first introduced to aikido in {1976}. At that time my mother was dating an aikido instructor. For the duration of their relationship I trained in aikido; after they ended their relationship I stopped training. Then in 1986, while I was at the University of Washington, I decided that I wanted to take a martial art again. I wanted to take karate but I also saw that there an aikido class offered. So I ended up taking both karate and aikido for a few years. I found though that I enjoyed training in aikido much more than karate, and eventually I quit karate. I graduated from the University of Washington in 1993 with a degree in Engineering, but I had no passion for the field of Engineering. So I decided that I would go back to school and study something else. However, I needed to work to support my education. I found a job teaching martial arts at Rising Star Aikido. The more I taught the more I found that teaching was my passion; something that I could do for the rest of my life. So in 1997 I started my own dojo.

My dojo has about 100 children students and about 30 adult students. We offer classes throughout the day Monday thru Saturday.

My most Memorable Aikido Experience
My most memorable aikido experience was my first student black belt test. I had a fifteen year old student testing for her Shodan. My teacher thought that she was too young to test and that I was making a mistake by testing her. However she was allowed to test and, contrary to what others had said, she did remarkably well. After the test everyone who had been critical came up and complemented me on her excellent test.