Quote:
Daniel Wilson wrote:
Let's say some hot-headed young strong man has done six months of boxercise or kickboxing and hasn't learnt that there is always someone better than himself and his coach hasn't taught him not to pick fights in the street. He's had a couple of drinks and it's night time. He finds some excuse to start throwing punches at your head. He doesn't rush in allowing you to use tai-sabaki to evade his rush and he isn't stupid enough to grab your arm if you were to offer it (which of course you don't). However, he has enough skill to do a barrage of reasonably effective punches and maybe a kick as well without being substantially off balance and being skillful enough to recover those punches should they not make contact. Aikido doesn't adequately train for that scenario and this is partly because this sort of scenario (a semi-skilled kickboxer or boxer) was not common in feudal Japan, so suitable responses were not developed. However, this scenario is now common and so aikido needs to adapt/evolve and adequately address this type of scenario.
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Quote:
Mary Eastland wrote:
Respectfully, Daniel...this has never happened to me. So it may be common for you...but not so much for me or for that matter, for Ron....who has also never been randomly attacked by a strong, young man on the street.
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Hasn't happened to me either...but I'm 47 and lately I don't find myself in too many situations in company of young hotheads with alcohol. BUT...I'm going to the BJJ gym nearby lately (Aikido is hour drive, so that's for weekends). I've brought this up with the guys there - what's the point of realistic training, who's really going to have to defend themselves? Turns out - their lives are different than mine, and for some of them, it's a real issue. Bullies are out there....and even if there aren't *really* all that many, the perception of them being out there is a motivator for people to start Martial Arts training. For myself - I wish the commonly-taught styles of Aikido had more some more immediate and tangible things to offer these guys - then maybe I'd have more people to train Aikido with closer to home. Frankly, the way Aikido is taught in a lot of places, (and what anyone can find on YouTube) doesn't bring in these guys in as beginners. You might say these BJJ guys might not be the beginners we want...but I don't buy it. The dedication these guys are putting into BJJ is nothing to sneeze at.