testing across affiliations

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[Jessie Brown]

Hi everyone!

I am currently a college student and mudansha at an ASU dojo. It looks like I may end up practicing Aikido at an Eastern Region USAF dojo after I graduate. I was wondering if there is a standard procedure for testing and ranking across affiliations or whether it depends on the individual Sensei. For example, would I have to retake my most recent test? If I switched back to ASU at some point, would my USAF rank transfer also? This could get very complicated and convoluted! :confused:

It seems these issues would be more common nowadays now that many Senseis encourage training with other affiliations, especially at seminars. There are some significant differences in testing requirements across affiliations, although there are also differences between dojos in the same affiliation.

Thank you!!!
Jessie

[Jessie Brown]

Sorry guys...I meant to post that message in a different category. I'm fairly new to AikiWeb, so I'm not an expert yet!

Jessie

[Ted Marr]

I don't know for sure about other organizations, but I hear that USAF-E will only accept rank given by other USAF people or Hombu. A large portion of that is due to silly political stuff. Style differences and lack of standardization of training times and cirricula across organizations account for the rest. But take heart... the important things (your skills) should transfer over almost seamlessly *grin*

[William Westdyke]

Well, I recently changed from what is basically a Ki Society dojo (in other words the instructor is no longer affiliated but understandably has similar teaching and testing styles) to an Iwama affiliated dojo. My rank tansfering wasn't an issue with my new instructor. But usually this is decided on a case to case basis. I wouldn't think rank would be an issue anywhere. In my humble opinion (because I'm not an instructor) a person should be judged on their abilities. Some schools, like my old one, start testing at 5th Que. Some, like my new one, start at 8th. I don't think someone who has been in Aikido for 3 months and has just received a 5th Que ranking should try to transfer that rank to a new school which starts testing at 8th. Any decent teacher should be able to judge your abilities and time in Aikido to decide what rank you should be in their school. As long as they are fair about judging your level and are not bias because they didn't teach you, there should be no issues. Good luck. I hope your transition goes as easy as mine did.

William

[Jessie Brown]

Thanks for responses. It sounds like there's no real way to predict how ranking goes. Although I appreciate that different affiliations have different requirements, those differences make it complicated to move around while training. Although unrealistic considering the affiliation structure, it would be infinitely easier to have standard criteria.

[BC]

You could always switch to a USAF dojo while you are living in Chicago. There are certainly plenty of them here. Just a thought.

[Jeff Sodeman]

Students coming into ASU from a different organization keep their current rank, though they may be asked for details about when/where they tested for their current rank.

[Jessie Brown]

Mr. Cronin- Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm a college student at the University of Chicago way down on the South Side. Considering my average homework load and lack of a car, regularly commuting any distance probably wouldn't be practical. Besides, I love my dojo and the people here too much to leave before I have to. If I may ask, at what dojo do you at in Chicago?

[Jessie Brown]

I mean to ask what dojo you practice at here in Chicago. My thoughts get ahead of my typing sometimes. >sheepish blush<

[BC]

No problem Mr. Brown.

Yeah, U of C/Hyde Park is a little isolated from other dojo in the city, especially if you don't have a car.

I train at the Midwest Aikido Center way up on the north side. Regards.