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Old 03-04-2009, 11:51 AM   #41
Cyrijl
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 188
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Re: Aikido IS a practical contemporary martial art

Quote:
Grant Wagar wrote: View Post
Do you mind giving some examples?
Sure. I posted one along time ago. But I have two very clear examples.

#1 I used to practice Krav Maga and was looking for something to complement it. I had watched a few aikido classes and decided to join. I spoke with one of the instructors who said it was not ideal of self defense because of the time it takes to learn. I said ok since that was not why I was taking aikido. I thought it was very good to be upfront with potential students. Anyways, I get paired up with this guy who keeps trying to correct my Kamae. (stance<?>) I asked in all earnestly why we stand that way. I had rather tight hips at the time so I kept squaring up more and more. He told me he would just kick me in the groin. So we talked a little bit and he said he did TKD for 3 years and he had to unlearn all of his bad habits and I would have to unlearn all the krav I had done. His tone was very arrogant, not seomthng I can really convey here. At any rate, I tell him to feel free to kick me if I open my stance so we can see what happens. He tried, I checked the kick and he lost balance. I was trying in earnest to learn and to understand the technique and stance. He just thought he was so superior.

#2 This one is even funnier/worse. I get paired up with a smaller woman (prob about 5ft, i am 5'10") who was a black belt or at least wore hakama (i think the rule was only higher levels could wear hakama since not all women wore them). As we are working technique, everytime I try to grab her wrist, she pulls it away before I make contact. I ask her if I am supposed to follow her and she gets quite annoyed and says to me "Well, what else would you do?". I told her if I tried for a wrist and could not grab it I would not just throw my arms out there and lean over. I told her I would probably not do anything. She said I would not be able to help it. Then she said she would elbow me and hit me. This kind of annoyed me becasue she was implying that she was so superior I wouldn't be able to hlpe getting hit. So we tried it. She put her arm out, I tried for the wrist, She pulled it back, I put my hands up, she bent over, I pushed down on the back of her head like I had been trained (to bend the person at 90 degrees to maintain control and distance). I let her up after 1 maybe 1.5 seconds. She was then very angry and told me I wasn't supposed to be talking.

I realize aikido schools probably get alot of jerks coming in trying to pratice their Martial Art in their school.All I can say is that my concerns were in earnest and were always met with hostility by other students. I always try to be as humble as possible. I have gone to other BJJ schools far away from home. And while there have been jerks at those schools looking to beat up on visitors, their frequency was alot less than from the aikidoka I have met.

Also, at the school I attended there wasn't much chance to train with the head sensei (which is another problem all together). I just got back from yoga so I may need to fix some misspellings. And my writing style is a bit lazy. I just didn't want to drone on and on.

Last edited by Cyrijl : 03-04-2009 at 11:54 AM.

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