Does anyone know if there is a japanese aikido teacher in Amsterdam?

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[Alix]

Does anyone know if there is a japanese teacher in amsterdam ? im looking for a good aikido dojo for my son hes just turned 4years old.I really want him to learn the traditional japanese stile

[Janet Rosen]

In general...better with an excellent non-Japanese aikido instructor than a mediocre Japanese aikido instructor...especially for kid's classes, where the instructor's attitude is so important. Have you checked out this website's "dojo search"?

[Basia Halliop]

If you want your son to learn a traditional style then the thing to look at is who taught the teacher, not what nationality the teacher is. Some of the best of O-Sensei's students went overseas and their top students are mostly non-Japanese.

Although for children's classes I'm not sure technical ability is really the most important thing. Not that it's not important at all but planning and teaching a good children's program can be hard and requires a lot of totally different skills. Most of what makes you a good teacher of small kids has little to do with how well you can do the techniques, IMO.

[Tim Ruijs]

Hi
Check out Eric Laschewski. He has a lot of experience teaching Aikido to young kids. Really down to earth, calm quiet guy who takes Aikido seriously. His lineage goes thru Theun Jelsma to Alain Peyrache who was uchi deshi of the late Tamura Sensei.
http://www.tenchiryu.nl/ ;)

Another very good Aikido teacher in Amsterdam you may check out, coincidentally also called Eric, is Eric Louw. He is also very good at katori shinto ryu. I am however not sure if he teaches young kids, but give it a try.

[NagaBaba]

4 years old? Are you looking for babysitting? Man, be serious, your son can't even walk correctly, he can't learn aikido, he must first achieve correct physical development. Psychically he is not able to stay concentrated more than 30 second. He will fall asleep after 10 minutes of training without playing games.

In short, wait at least 3-4 more years.

[Marc Abrams]

4 years old? Are you looking for babysitting? Man, be serious, your son can't even walk correctly, he can't learn aikido, he must first achieve correct physical development. Psychically he is not able to stay concentrated more than 30 second. He will fall asleep after 10 minutes of training without playing games.

In short, wait at least 3-4 more years.

Szcezepan:

I only allow children to begin training when they are entering into elementary school (5-6 y/o). Some people do teach 3-4 year olds. Some of those programs are physical entertainment for the children, while other programs do work on building block basics for budo development.

I assume that you do not have any post-graduate training in child development, based upon your statements. I can also assume that you are not looking for any diplomatic postings....... ;) Lighten up and allow this father the opportunity to discover if there is anything useful for his child to learn from available classes out there.

Marc Abrams

[Basia Halliop]

I've never seen as young as four... But from what I've seen from our classes, the little ones do often seem to pick up ukemi pretty well, and also kneewalking. Those they are often quite good at, even compared to adults with the same amount of time in practice. Some of those kids get very quick and agile moving around on their knees even compared to adults who've been training longer than them....

And we try to teach them some tai sabaki (tenkan, irimi, etc) and a very small number of simple techniques (with an emphasis on using the tai sabaki they've learned). Of course they rarely do the techniques very 'well' at a young age, but it does seem to help them start to learn to understand where their arms and legs are and start to learn to watch what someone is demonstrating and feel what they would have to do to do the same thing.

IMO, the father will have to look at the children's programs he can find, watch their classes, and see for himself if his expectations for his child are realistic and if the child is likely to benefit. Maybe there's something out there that would be good for his child, or maybe his child would be better off just running around and climbing trees and playing make-believe games and wrestling with his friends for a few more years... he'll have to decide for himself...

[Larry Feldman]

Marc - Isn't there a Shin Budo Kai affiliated dojo in Amsterdam??

[Marc Abrams]

Marc - Isn't there a Shin Budo Kai affiliated dojo in Amsterdam??

Larry:

David Misumi teaches at this school in Amsterdam:

http://www.sbkaikido.net/

He says that he is still affiliated with Shin-Budo Kai, but Imaizumi Sensei does not recognize this dojo as such. I do not think that he has any contact with Sensei in many years. As far as I can tell by the website, David only teaches adults. Hope all is well for you down in Atlanta. Next time you are in the area visiting your family, send me a note so we can get together.

Cordially,

Marc Abrams

[NagaBaba]

Szcezepan:

I only allow children to begin training when they are entering into elementary school (5-6 y/o). Some people do teach 3-4 year olds. Some of those programs are physical entertainment for the children, while other programs do work on building block basics for budo development.

I assume that you do not have any post-graduate training in child development, based upon your statements. I can also assume that you are not looking for any diplomatic postings....... ;) Lighten up and allow this father the opportunity to discover if there is anything useful for his child to learn from available classes out there.

Marc Abrams
Hi Mark,
Most ppl who push their kids at the age of 4, are trying to fulfill their own not realized dreams. As for the others, the hormones replaced logical reasoning. It happen not only in aikido but other disciplines, like hockey, gymnastic etc.

It is enough to use a simple common sense to see how harmful it is for kids’ health.