Bringing Aikido to Shreveport/Bossier: How My Journey Started

I was first introduced to Aikido during my undergraduate studies. At the time, I had already spent about eight years training in Shorin Ryu Karate and felt confident in my martial arts background. When I joined a campus martial arts club that included Aikido, I was curious about the style and yet something felt incomplete.

The instruction was enthusiastic, but it lacked depth. Techniques were shown but not fully explained. The “why” behind the movements, the connections between concepts, was missing. By my second year, the club had largely fallen apart. Looking back, it was clear that without strong instruction and structure, it struggled to survive.

For the rest of my undergraduate years, I trained on my own.

Then, in 2022, while working on my master’s degree, I found myself searching again. This time the school I was at had more options: Taekwondo, traditional Jujutsu, Kendo, Wushu, and Aikido. I took advantage of it, training nearly every day across multiple styles.

Some clubs faded for familiar reasons, low attendance, inconsistent instruction. Others offered valuable experiences. But one stood out.

Aikido.

That’s when I met Scott Sobel, chief instructor of the Academy of Traditional Asian Fighting Arts. Training with him completely changed my understanding of martial arts—and of Aikido in particular.

One of the most important lessons he taught me was this:

There is no such thing as a bad martial art—only bad martial artists and bad instructors.

Under his guidance, Aikido stopped being a collection of techniques and became something more complete. I began to understand principles: balance, timing, structure, and how to use an opponent’s momentum rather than fight against it.

Over time, his teaching evolved as I did. What started as technical instruction grew instruction on instruction; learning how to teach, how to communicate ideas, and how to help others progress in their own journeys.

Fifteen years later, I still train under him.

I never expected to open a dojo in Shreveport, Louisiana. Like many people, I hadn’t even heard of the city before moving here for work. But once I arrived, I knew I needed a place to train and couldn’t quite find what I was looking for.

So I decided to build it.

With the support of my wife, I opened Shreveport Aikido Academy.

My goal is simple: to provide the kind of instruction I once struggled to find: clear, thoughtful, and grounded in both technique and principle.

And if you’re here in the Shreveport/Bossier area and looking for a place to train, I’d be honored to have you on the mat.