Thread: Experience
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Old 12-06-2010, 02:59 PM   #33
Dave de Vos
 
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Dojo: Shoryukai, Breda (aikikai) & Aiki-Budocentrum Breda (yoseikan)
Location: Baarle-Nassau
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Re: Experience

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
An idealized model for Aikido training would be starting training as a child.
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By the time one hits forty, one has a good twenty to thirty years under ones belt. By that time, teaching becomes an important part of the training.
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I simply cannot duplicate the kind of training I went through with my students because they are too old already to do it.
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With a good foundation one can keep progressing, albeit more slowly perhaps, with fewer hours of less intensity. But the folks who don't have that never really make up for it. My take on it anyway...
In go too, one should start as a child to have a fair chance to reach "shihan" level (this title does not exist in go, but I guess it would be about 8 dan in go: a player with enough ability and teaching ability to have people travelling hundreds of miles by car to attend a seminar).

I think it is harder to train aikido for many hours because aikido can only be trained in a dojo with a teacher and other students. I long for spending more time in the dojo than 3 hours a week, but I just can't because of family and job.

But in go also, progress slows down considerably when people get involved in family and career. Most strong go players were already very strong in their late teens. Some of them become uchi-deshi. I tried to become uchi-deshi in Japan 20 years ago. I stayed for a year, but I was just was not good enough for my age. And my progress was too slow to catch up.

Teachers are usually strong players who enjoy teaching, but teaching is not that prominent in go. You learn mostly by competition and studying. But I can see to the difference between ability and teaching ability. Finding both qualities in one person is rare. I am not a very good go teacher. I know many go players of lower rank who do much better.

Physical effects from aging is not much of a problem in go, but aging has a mental effect too. As one ages it takes more and more time to absorb new stuff (like learning a foreign language). That is also a major reason to start young.
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