Hi all, I'm a member of a dojo which has what I think, could be interpreted as a bit of a problem. I train at a dojo which has no regular dan grades except the teacher, very few high kyu grades and is mostly comprised of 9-6th kyus. As a 5th kyu, it is very strange indeed regularly being the highest grade at class and I feel the lack of sempais means I'm not improving as well as I could be. The teacher is fantastic and I get the impression he is supremely frustrated at the lack of dedicated aikidoka.

So my question is, does anyone have any suggestions for how club spirit can be improved? The teacher has tried giving mini pep-talks during line-up about regular training and encouraging everyone to attend seminars as a club team, but enthusiasm is lacking, so far I'm the only one signed up to go to the next one. I tried individually asking people to come with me, but they all have excuses not to go.

You can't force people round to your way of thinking, so what to do? Wait it out?