Vassilis Nykteris holds a 5th Dan and is based in Greece. He is a founder of the Aikido Academy of Athens, Aikido Academy of Cyprus. He is running a full-time Dojo in the city of Athens.
Vassilis started Aikido at the “Zanshindokan” in 2000, when he was 25. His first teacher was Kostas Yiannas and after 3 years of practice, he got a Shodan. During these years he attended seminars of Pascal Guillemin and decided to go much deeper with the Aikido. A teacher he was looking forward to learning from was Christian Tissier of course.
In 2004 Vassilis moved to Paris to train in Christian’s group. 3 years of daily, intense training followed under the Shihan and other teachers from the Cercle like Bruno Gonzalez and others. This was a great time to get a Nidan. Taking some ukemi from his teacher on the next video.
Vassilis Nykteris was also able to attend seminars of Masatoshi Yasuno, Frank Noel, Seishiro Endo in France. In 2006 he went to Japan and was hosted by Yoko Okamoto for some weeks in Kyoto.
Nykteris Sensei also attended the Oriental Medicine and Shiatsu training center and after the graduation, he is taking part in the modern rebirth practice occasionally.
All future ranks up to the 5th Dan were received from the same Tissier Sensei. Moreover, Vassilis Nykteris works hard to promote Shihan’s system in Greece and Cyprus.
Aikido Academy is being updated regularly and has a Facebook page that will make you feel closer to Vassilis Nykteris. There’s also an official website.