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Old 10-24-2013, 09:30 AM   #12
TokyoZeplin
Dojo: Seishinkan Dojo
Location: Copenhagen
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 111
Denmark
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Re: My first impressions of training Aikido

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
I'd suggest reserving judgment. She may be dealing with a significant injury or medical issue. Often (and not just on the mat), when you see someone who is not moving as well as you think they should, there's a reason behind it. Consider instead the strength and courage of someone who struggles with a physical limitation and still gets out on the mat and tries, knowing that some people will think disparaging thoughts about her performance.
I'm not particularly judging her (sorry if it came off like that), any more than I would be surprised by someone who said they had played Tennis for 12 years, and then had trouble serving the ball.
That said, she was physically just fine, a few years older than me, and just started with her boyfriend. In fact, of the two, it was her boyfriend who had the flu! There is no doubt that she was a "beginner" so to speak, being taught the very basics. Which is why I was quite perplexed at her length of study in Aikido. As she didn't speak neither Danish nor English natively, perhaps she grossly misunderstood my question somehow, and answered incorrectly - who knows!

Quote:
Greg Maroda wrote: View Post
And yet she was in the beginner class for a reason. Maybe it was 12 years of practice 15 years ago, maybe she's getting over an injury, maybe she's just getting older, maybe all sorts of stuff that doesn't really matter.

It's only a shock when you forgot we're all just people like you! Stuff happens.

I really want tea and cakes after class now.
She was in her early thirties, so "getting older" is perhaps a stretch. I did ask about how long ago it was, which as far as I understood it was 12 years of training, spread over a few more years. That said, as I noted above, neither her English nor Danish is on a fluent/native level (though her English is perfectly fine on a conversational level), so perhaps she misunderstood my question, or gave an incorrect answer.

Also, tea and cake rocks!

Last edited by TokyoZeplin : 10-24-2013 at 09:33 AM.

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