Quote:
Joe Curran wrote:
Dear Jon,
While I agree with a few points in your blog I think that there is a place for the hobbyist in Aikido.If someone wants to use Aikido for fitness, health , emotional, meditative benefits why not?Aikido can also be used in a martial manner , but not everyone feels a need to be a top Aikidoka.Just the same as amateur boxers, not all of them want to be Mike Tyson for example.
Apart from that you need a core group of hobbyists to pay the bills.Thats why some dojos have children's classes or 'self defence/ conflict resolution class/or even therapeutic use of Aikido.
Personally I am happy if people find Aikido meaningful in their life however and whatever their motivation is for studying the Art
Joe.
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Joe-
I also believe the hobbyist aikido person has a place in the aikido. I just don't believe that place should be leading curriculum or representing the art or the integrity of the art. Aikido was designed to provide a great deal of flexibility to include a variety of practitioners. I am more specifically criticizing those practitioners who are misrepresenting the art. I think aikido is a great source from which to find emotional benefits, likewise with physical and mental health benefits. But to me the argument boils down to individuals making collective statements about aikido who are not qualified to make such statements. In my opinion, hobbyists are not qualified to make collective statements about aikido... unless they stayed at a Holiday Inn Express...
I dunno. I have seen a lot of good aikido. It always is martially valid and those instructors also posess a knowledge about aikido that further validates what they do. This seems to me to be a stark contrast to the hobbyists who many times don't know enough about what they are discussing to validate what they are doing. And by no means I am slighting these people... The time, effort and resources to undertake such an endeavor are great. I would make a similar observation comparing a major professional baseball player to a collegiate player, or comparing a PhD to a undergraduate student. Better education should result in better understanding.
In this sense I think there is an element of distortion in dojos that allows for an abridged learning paradigm in class. But we have this smorgasboard teaching that allows students to pick and choose what they like about aikido. Now we are paying for those years of leaving out important things because we didn't like them. The hobbyists are most at risk because they never experience the unabridged education of the serious practitioners.