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Old 02-13-2007, 09:59 PM   #34
Edward
Location: Bangkok
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 803
Thailand
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Re: Sport is the new Budo

James, I did not mean that aikido is a cardiovascular exercice by stating that aikido is not a fighting art. I meant to say that aikido is a self-defense art, not a fighting art. Let's not deviate the subject of this thread, which wants to say that aikido should be trained and approached as a sport in order to be effective. As Kevin said above, it's not the art it's the practitioner. But as a principle, Aikido will not leave you unconscious outside a pub, it has been designed for self-defense, including bar brawls.I do not consider Aikido as a dance either, I train very hard, and attack my Nage with full intent and honesty, I just don't believe in competition and sparring, which I have done extensively during my Judo days (when I was younger and had better knees). Also I personally know Karate andn Tae Kwon Do instructors who do not believe in competition, and do not consider their arts as sports. They only train in Kata and paired exercices. They learn a lot of self-defense moves, many of which resemble aikido or jujutsu. Coincidentally, the students do very well in competitions (since they are required for grading by the associations) even though they never do it in the class.
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