Aikido at the Center

Offering a Traditional Path to Martial Arts Training

AikidoKids! Tucson

Aikido kanji

Instructors for the AikidoKids! Program Our three instructors have over 20 years of experience in Aikido training! Claire Conway (Director of AikidoKids! Tucson)--2nd degree black belt (nidan). Claire has been training at Aikido at The Center for the past 10 years. In addition to her regular practice, she has attended numerous Aikido seminars, including a seminar for Teaching Aikido to Children. She has been a teacher in the AikidoKids! program for 5 years. Claire is a mother of 5, grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother of 1, and was actively involved in their pursuits, which included Camp Fire Girls and Boy Scouts. Claire has been working with children her entire adult life. "I really enjoy being involved with teaching Aikido to children and find it very rewarding."
Matthew Goodwin--3rd degree black belt (sandan). Matthew's interest in martial arts began when he was ten years old and enrolled in a Parks & Recreation program. They learned a little Judo, a little Kung-fu and a little Karate. In his mid teens he began practicing T'ai Chi, Ch'i gung, Pa-kua and Hsing-i under T'ang Shou Tao of North America. He has also studied Shaolin open hand and sword forms. He continued to practice Chinese arts for almost 20 years. Matthew took up Aikido over eight years ago and has been teaching the Children's class for about five years. "Teaching the kids is a great honor and joy. It affords me the opportunity to pass on an art I love to kids who will take it's lessons with them throughout life. All people are your teachers, and there are few greater teachers than the AikidoKids."
Joe Montano--3rd degree black belt (sandan). Joe has been training in Aikido for about 10 years and has also studied Tae kwondo under Sensei Ben Couch for about 2 years. "I like teaching the kids because everything I teach them is something that I am always working on and my Aikido has grown a lot because of teaching the kids."