Here's a few questions: 1) WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE AIKIDO? 2) HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING? 3) WHAT RANK ARE YOU? 4) WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT TERM GOALS IN THE ART? 5) WHAT ARE YOUR LONG TERM GOALS IN THE ART? tHAT IS, OF COURSE, IF YOU PRACTICE AIKIDO!
1) My parents met at a karate club, so I suppose I was genetically destined to be interested in the martial arts! Initially I wanted to try karate, but was not allowed due to what was considered the presence of 'cowboy' instructors just out for the money. When my family moved to a new city, there was an aikido club attempting to start up just as a junior class. While I have since moved on, I haven't stopped training since. 2) 13 years 3) 2nd dan 4) Achieved most of them at this years world championships in Leeds. Aiming for 3rd dan in Japan hopefully at the same time as the next world championships in 2005. Also want to improve my randori ability. 5) To open another club or two, and hopefully train a lot of students to international level, then watch them doing the same. Don't forget to tell us you answers AIKIDO_WORKS!
1) WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE AIKIDO? I started asking myself, "Why am I learning how to kill and hurt people?" I have never been in a fist fight or knife fight. Will I ever be? Seriously, will I ever get in a fight where I have to stab/cut someone with a knife, and/or break his neck, and/or break his arm, and/or slam my knee into his face? Probably not! I asked myself, "Given that I am not a soldier or a cop, how can I reconcile the violence that I'm practicing with the Golden Rule and the Greatest Commandment and all those principles of love and forgiveness in the Bible?" In response to these questions I read about many different martial arts including aikido, and in aikido I found my answers. And here I am to stay. 2) HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING? More than two years, and growing, but I had a year in between BJJ and arnis. 3) WHAT RANK ARE YOU? 5th kyu, Aikido Schools of Ueshiba. 4) WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT TERM GOALS IN THE ART? 1st dan in three years. 5) WHAT ARE YOUR LONG TERM GOALS IN THE ART? 3rd dan (because that's the last test). And to get paid to do aikido. And to have my own school where great people give seminars.
1)I'm a christian and I was attracted to the Aikido's style of redirecting the attacker's strikes and not being the aggressor. 2) Three months 3) Young pond skipper-LOL! 4)To earn the hakama 5)To become as close to astering the art as I can!
1) Two life long friends highly recomended it 2) 3 years 3) 1st Kyu 4) Shodan, improve my randori, attract as many people as I can to an effective yet beautiful martial art 5) 3rd dan, teaching under privlaged children at the Y or some other institution or my own club.
1} a good friend of mine 2}whit the other sports included 30 jears 3}shodan 4}to understand the art 5}become a sensei in aikido{allraddy instructor jeet kune do/tai chi/karate/judo yep i have done a lot}
Statistical data - that's all. I hope you can get useful statistics when you compile data from all those who posted a reply. Please share your results then. thanks. 1) Pursue my own path to self discovery 2) 8 years plus 3) Ranks and belts do not matter with me. Suffice to say, I am not yet a black belt. 4) To compete with myself - how far I can go 5) To discover who I really am.
1) WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE AIKIDO? I wanted to learn martial arts, and look for something spiritual and peaceful for my heart i think i needed it, i went to see a sensei friend of my teaching his class and that was it i signed up the very same day, then i joined the ju kutsu class and the kenjutsu class as well. I practice 6 days a week and i can't help it but i need to be there in every single class. 2) HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING? I've been training for 10 months 3) WHAT RANK ARE YOU? 8 kyu or yellow belt 4) WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT TERM GOALS IN THE ART? Grow up with my aikido and understandings of the why? and becauses of life, get stronger and wiser . 5) WHAT ARE YOUR LONG TERM GOALS IN THE ART? They are very similar to the other guys goals, go to Japan, go as far as i can go with aikido, build a dojo, live trough aikido for the rest of my life starting ten months ago.
1) WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE AIKIDO? I tried a few other martial arts and did not enjoy them. A new boss talked me into going to his Aikido class and I was hooked from then on in. Main attractions are the subtleties of the techniques and a big plus is the attitude of all of the people I have met who train in the art. 2) HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING? I Trained for 13 years then had a gap of 15 years then restarted nearly 2 years ago. 3) WHAT RANK ARE YOU? 2nd Dan 4) WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT TERM GOALS IN THE ART? Loose a lot of weight and regain some of my lost fitness. 5) WHAT ARE YOUR LONG TERM GOALS IN THE ART? Keep practicing for as long as possible. Visit Japan.
1) WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE AIKIDO? Long story, but it was through a great many coincidences. I'd been looking for a 'softer' martial art after a couple of years experience spread out over a few years in karate and 'streetfighting' - done by a guy in Dundee. Then I got a job in Glasgow and ended up sitting near Dave (dmiller575). He recommended Aikido, but at that time didn't know of any Shodokan or Tomiki in Edinburgh or Glasgow. So we ended up doing about 9 months of Bagwa zhang - which was actually a good introduction into Aikido, with loads of similarities between the two. Dave ended up finding the Shodokan club at Heriot Watt university, run by Sensei Martin Livingston and the rest is....uh... history! 2) HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING? Just over a year 3) WHAT RANK ARE YOU? Orange belt 4) WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT TERM GOALS IN THE ART? Get fitter, stop smoking, get a certain member of the club to wash his gi and get a green belt in December. ...and try and remember the Japanese terms for everything. 5) WHAT ARE YOUR LONG TERM GOALS IN THE ART? Hopefully become an instructor eventually as I'm addicted now and give back to others what I've received from the club and Aikido. Visit Japan.
