Your First Aikido class.

Discussion in 'Aikido' started by aikiwolfie, Oct 2, 2010.

  1. aikiwolfie

    aikiwolfie ... Supporter

    A lot of the threads recently have been very technical in nature and as such some members have felt they cannot contribute. So here is something everybody can contribute to. :D

    Where was your first Aikido class and how old were you at the time?

    So I guess I should go first since I started the thread.

    My first class was in Barrhead Sports Centre. It was 1996 and I was 18 at the time. The teacher was William Andrew who first studied with Matt Tennant and then later with Ken Williams before finally braking away from all other groups and becoming independent.
     
  2. koyo

    koyo Passed away, but always remembered. RIP.

    My first class was with Kenshiro Abe before aikido was introduced "offically " to Britain.I visited the "Hutt" the only aikido dojo in Britain and a few dojos in France.

    When it was introduced officialy some years later it was with Chiba shihan in 1965.I was already a dan grade under Noro shihan.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2010
  3. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    my first class was a year ago after 7 years of hapkido and a couple years of judo.

    still, the hardest thing i've ever done..trying to learn this art. everyday that i go i feel like i can't even walk, i can't even position myself properly. it's amazing. i wish i would have started about 20 years ago.
     
  4. TRK

    TRK Valued Member

    I was a kid in my first class. I tagged along with my parents. I can't remember exactly, but definitely under 10. It was a Ki Society class. I realize that doesn't really count as Aikido (kids' class, and Ki Society). Whatever the shortcomings, it started me on a lifelong journey in MA. I'm not sure I would ever have gone down this path without it, so for that I am grateful.
     
  5. Hatamoto

    Hatamoto Beardy Man Kenobi Supporter

    My first real class was a couple of miles down the road. Lovely teacher, very friendly and patient, very skilled, 5th dan at the time, in the shin gi tai style. Was good, but there were people there I didn't get on with, and it was around the time I got epic food poisoning and almost died, which would make it I think 2005, so I missed a long time and never really made it back.
     
  6. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    My first class was a little over a year ago after seeing a poster in the local barbers then checking the organisation out on MAP (link). I'm still there so the first session definitely got me hooked. Passing my orange belt grading last weekend and dropping a second karate session to get to another aiki class helped too :)
     
  7. aikiwolfie

    aikiwolfie ... Supporter

    :D interesting stories people. Keep them coming.
     
  8. Aikidojomofo

    Aikidojomofo Valued Member

    When i was in my last year of Uni (2005) my housemate and I decided we wanted to learn Karate. We looked up a class at a local sports centre in south east London and went along one Sunday morning. We saw a group of people wearing dogi and warming up so we joined in. We didn't realise we had the timings wrong and the karate class didn't start for another hour. As the class began it became quickly apparent that it wasn't a Karate class...It was Aikido (which at that point I had never even heard of)

    I fell in love with it straight away and continued the classes for a couple of months, but sadly my funds were limited back then so I couldn't keep it up.

    A few years later I read Angry White Pyjamas and it reignited my interest in Aikido, I decided that I wanted to do Yoshinkan (previous Aikido class had been a Tomiki branch) and wanted to find the best school/teachers possible and I found this dojo

    http://www.yoshinkanlondon.co.uk/YoshinkanAikido/Home.html

    I have been training here twice a week under Paul Stephens and Eva Stauffer for almost a year and it has completely changed my life

    I so glad I got the time wrong all those years ago
     
  9. izumizu

    izumizu Banned Banned

    Awesome thread.

    My first aikido class was in 1992, in a church that had no airconditioning. I was 22, about to turn 23 years old at the time. It was hot, humid/tropical, and you were sweating before you arrived (just from walking in the parking lot). The sensei did not charge any monthly dues/fees, although there were other dojo that did so. I just was lucky...pretty much been paying ever since then until I started doing more instructing. At that time, since it was a church, all students regardless of rank had to help set up mats, and then put them away at the end of class, and even sensei helped as long as he was not otherwise preoccupied. The blackbelts and senior students were all very welcoming, and very patient in showing me where to put my feet, where to put my hands, how to make my body less square or flat when attempting my first rolls...I did not come in with any expectations as to what I was going to learn...I knew I was going to learn martial art, I understood that it would take a long time, and I wanted to do something that was a decent workout, and at the same time enjoyable. Starting out at the beginning is where we all arrive from, and one may not think so at the time, but the rewards come much later, and it is a very enriching experience, especially when some of the pieces all start to fit together.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2010
  10. afhuss

    afhuss Valued Member

    I quit karate for several years, when I returned to class about 11 years ago that dojo was teaching aikido. Since then that school closed and I train under two other aikido teachers.
     

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