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Old 02-01-2007, 10:33 AM   #84
mriehle
 
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Dojo: New School Aikido
Location: Stockton, CA
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 320
United_States
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Re: Women and Everybody Else in Aikido

Okay, I'm not going to tell you my opinion on this subject. I'm just going to tell you about my first student to earn a shodan.

Her name is Lillian. Her goal when she started in martial arts some five or six years ago was to earn her first black belt before she turned sixty. Last July she gave her shodan presentation at my dojo in Rio Vista. Without saying too much, she accomplished her goal with time to spare.

She has trained in Aikido, Tai Chi, Karate and Judo. My understanding is that she kept have dojo's close on her and that's how she wound up with me as her teacher. She tells me she's glad she did.

I have two students who've earned their shodan from me and I wouldn't like to have to make a choice about which is the better student. One is Lillian, the other is Erick.

The next student I have who is likely to earn a shodan is also a woman. I didn't plan this, it just worked out that way. I don't plan who my students are, I take what I can get and do the best I can with who shows up. But I feel like I've been generally pretty fortunate in that I've had some very good students. I've had a few where I failed as well (yes, I really do think it was my failure in some of those cases, in others there was nothing I could have done).

I said I wouldn't tell you my opinion, but I think it shouldn't be hard to work out.

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