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Old 07-15-2011, 04:32 PM   #185
aikilouis
Location: Germany
Join Date: Nov 2000
Posts: 219
France
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Re: Open Letter to My Students

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
I have a couple of seniors, one San Dan and one Nidan who started with me who show ever sign of being better than I am. I have a couple of other students who started with other teachers but who are now training with me. I am having a significant contribution to the training although technically they aren't really my students. They also should be better than I am.

My only yardstick is to lo0ok at folks and reflect back as to where i was when i had the same amount of experience. Using that metric, I may have as many as 6 - 8 people who will eventually be better than I am. There is however, a difference between how technically proficient one is and the amount of "stuff" one knows. I am not sure any of my students will be able to put the time in that will allow them to cram as much "stuff" into their heads as I have. But what hey'll do, they'll do well.
Takeda or Ueshiba both taught many decades and their top students could be counted on two hands. It might be a cynical view, but the rest of the practitioners (and given my current practise I would be in that number if I studied with you) are mostly here to provide an environment for excellence of a few to grow. They might benefit of course of training with better people, but it is chiefly a byproduct.

If on the contrary the inertia of the majority of mediocre students is such that it endangers the developpement of the best, then you might get worried for the future of your lineage.

After reading your posts and blogs for quite some time and purchasing a few DVD sets (very informative for a reasonable price !), I think you are one of those who perceive the best that aikido today is in a very exciting phase. I previously made a parallel between Ellis Amdur's Hidden in Plain Sight and Michael Lewis's Moneyball. Both books describe how a few people challenge the conventional wisdom (is Mike Sigman aikido's Bill James ?) and show a way to simply do things better simply by shaking off the old habits and organising training towards more concrete goals, starting from day one of one's journey as a student.

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