Sacha Cloetens

Hi George,

Just a thougt
Aren't those commiting, actually beeing financialy punised?
If - in surplus of regular dues - your students attending seminars at your dojo - have to pay extra fees, won't you end up with a financially reversed pyramid ( vs overall membership pyramid)?

If overall dues were a little higher, would you be in the possibilty to organise the 3 seminars at your dojo " for free" for your regular students?
If people don't attend, it's their loss - they already payed for it...
If they do attend, they're not extra charged for showing up....( so they put in only extra time & effort ;-) .... )

That way merely showing up is actually rewarded rather than being extra burdened, ...its not always the same guys, paying the most often....

Don't you think its a little weird, a student who can show up on any given day of the week ( & has excellent tutoring on these days - fulfilling all his needs - getting plenty of individual attention - ) at the dojo would have to pay extra in that same dojo if showing up on seminar-day ( with a 100 + attendance, where he doesn' get thrown even once ? )

Maybe it's time to rethink the economical / educational model ?

Attendance is also related to overal social relations. I see people post that "its' not a social club".... I don't agree...
"Après-aikido" is important in forging friendships & comraderie. It's the cement that ties a group. Can you expect comitment if there's nobody to commit to ? Is a visting sihan / instructor you see at the far end of the mats somebody one can really commit to?
Isn't it easier to get things done when the group spirit is engaging ( that's how the mats get there al by thelmselves ;-) )?

Have individual members possibilties to easily get in touch & interact with each other ( if x,y z, is going, i'm going ? )

Commitment is a slow proces.
Did you commit a full 100 % from day one - or did it all start as a hobby, a pass-time, a great - non-competitive & philosophically interesting- work-out, where you got the chance to meet nice ( outside your regular job ) people.... that gradually morphed into something else ?

Maybe it's not for everybody?
You mention 1 other person beside yourself. What about all the others ?
Maybe it just takes time to understand & value what it is that's actually being thaught.

You believe all of O'Senseis students fully commited & faithfully transmitted?
& Takeda's ( 30.000 + ) students ?

Did they teach individuals /small groups or large ( 100+ - ich -ni -san- chi type ) seminars - Gokui or waza -?

As to attract young males - being the natural fishing grounds for new talent?
Do you think it's really that different elsewhere?
I've been told ( could be wrong) most people in Japan quit martial-arts after high school / College & eventually get back to it after ther family lives & carreers allow them to - i.e. at 50+ y.
Those sticking to it thro-out their ( economicaly) active lifes being rather exceptional ( & most often than not perceived as a little odd ?)

Weren't plenty of O senseis' students past their " young males" stage when they were introduced to O'Sensei? Didn't they already have a very solid bases in other martial arts? ( Takeshita - Sugano - Murashige - Hisa- Tenryu ?)

Didn't aikido take off more easily in countries outside Japan where the sihans could draw on Judo facilities & (more mature & often injured / worn out) practitioners, like France?

Is your own aikido better now, or when you were 25-30 ?
Is there an age/ physical barrier to technical improvement ?
Has technical improvement to do with hard practice/ fysical prowess & lots of sweat alone, or does it take (tactile) experience - overall comprehension & ( multiple -layer) understanding ( sense & sensetivity :-) ) ?
Does the later coincide or clash with typical "young-male energy"?
Why do some teachers completely fysicaly exhort their students before actual practice?

Is the thing(s) that attracted you to aikido in the first place ( Sales-Pitch = Non-competitive - spirituality - non-violence - ki over fysical strenght - mystical Japanese sihans - traditional/ exclusive/ elitistic/ exotic activity) the same as what keeps you envolved ( Budo) ?

Is that "sales pitch" still enticing to the people you wish to attract?

Wether one gets hooked- wether not...
Can't blame those who don't.

Plenty of Koryu got extinct.... & not for a lack of quality/watering down of techniques.

Thoughts ?

Sacha