Who are we?

Firstly, let us introduce ourselves. We are University of Nottingham’s Aikido club founded in 1994 by Scott Allbright Sensei. As one of the oldest Shodokan Aikido university clubs in the country we have a proud history of competing and participating nationally in aikido events.

Don’t know what Aikido is? It’s a Japanese martial art with a key focus on self defence aiming to minimise injury not just to you but also to your attacker. We practice a range of techniques from wrist locks to throws. Pretty cool right?

During the week, we train across Jubilee and University Park Campus and sessions are about 2 hours long. However, every year, we do this crazy 14 hour long session we call aikido marathons. Yes! 14 hours with only 5 minute breaks every hour. That means no lunch, no nap time amigo!

It’s hell! Why do you do it?

It’s a simple answer and it begins with the letter ‘c’. Celebrity statu—I mean charity. No seriously, it is all for charity! We usually choose which charity to support a week or so before the event so we’ll keep you updated on that but last year, the proceeds went to the National Autistic Society.

Also, as students of aikido, it is incredibly exciting to be able to train with some of the best coaches in the country who will be there for the event. Not only do we raise money for charity, we also get some intensive training done. I can’t vouch for our physical well being after the marathon, but know that in the end, we will find some kind of peace.

Where will my £££ go?

The actual marathon will be in Sheffield and participants pay a session fee of about £20 that will go to charity. We usually hire a minibus to get us there and back. The costs can fluctuate and we ended up paying almost £200 last year. The overall fees we need to pay hurts us more than the thought of a 14 hour training so this is where we need your help.

If we fundraise our minimum target, it will go into subsiding the travel costs. The rest of the money raised above that amount will then go to the charity we are supporting, subsidising our session fees at the same time. Essentially with your money, you will be able to ship us off to Sheffield (to hell basically), we get to save some money and most importantly we can still help out a charity. How cool is that? And of course we have prepared some cheeky rewards in exchange for your help so really, everybody wins!

other Facts

If you're not yet convinced whether we're worth your donation or if you just want to know more about us, here are some things we do that we are quite proud of.

• We are proud to place second in the 2017 Shodokan Aikido UK Student Nationals.
• Inclusivity is a top priority in our club. We welcome all students from different backgrounds and cultures with sessions catered to students of all abilities.
• This year, we have successfully transitioned one of our sessions to Engage in order to encourage more people to join. Monthly, we also hold inclusive sessions for students with disabilities.
• We have a higher number of females in our club compared to the males which is not something you often see in martial arts clubs.
• We partner with other martial clubs in running women's self defence sessions. Our aim is to create a friendly and comfortable space where women can interact and develop confidence in defending themselves.
• We strive to participate in the wider community by running fun and engaging sessions for primary school students who visit the university.

I wanna know more! Where can I find you?

Please follow our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/UoNShodokanAikidoClub/

Also follow our Twitter account @uonaikido https://twitter.com/uonaikido

Sorry, I got no £££

It's alright, we understand we all have bills to pay but you don't need to give us money to help us. You can still share this project with anyone you think would support us – Please sign up as a 'Helper' and use the social media buttons to share on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog. In fact, share it with everyone you know as we think it's a great idea, and the more people who know about it, the more likely we are to make this work out brilliantly.

However, we'd still love it if you can give us money, we appreciate any amount. Every little helps so please sponsor us and help make this happen!