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Old 01-04-2009, 10:18 PM   #108
Kevin Leavitt
 
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Dojo: Team Combat USA
Location: Olympia, Washington
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,376
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Re: Effectiveness of Aikido in a combat situation

[quote=Marlon Hester;222833]I am the author of this post, obviously, and I want to apologize to everyone who has participated in this discussion. I should have never given the title "Effectiveness of Aikido in a combat situation", because that is not what I was trying to get at. This has been discussed so many times. My real intention for this post was to get at why we train and dedicate so much of our lives to the Martial Arts.

Regardless I can see that enough people feel strongly enough that some of you have added more then a few responses to this thread and I think thats great. My intentions were to touch on the deep rooted reasons as to why we train.

Fighting is always associated with Martial Arts and so little of what we really do can be considered fighting in the practical sense. As a newbie I wanted to first define my thoughts of the difference between fighting and actual street lethal combat. Once we came to that common ground identify whether YOU ALL felt that training for street confrontations is a realistic goal that is achievable.

Then asking the question of those that have been in training for sometime if self-defense is not the goal then what is your real purpose for dedication to the art.

So with respect to all the senior teachers and students here who feel that I am rehashing an old topic, I will say that I only meant to take this issue further a long from the same old "Aikido is to soft" or "Aikido can't beat MMA" arguments.

Having said that I really do appreciate all your comments and perspectives. Once I get up and running with my own Aikido studies I would love sharing my ongoing development of self-discovery.[/QUOTE

Good luck with your training!

There is so much that goes into studying budo and developing yourself as a "warrior" and preparing for whatever conflict may come your way physically or mentally. It is more than just the "hard" skills, although that is a big part of it too. Living a balanced and happy life, and being physically and mentally fit and stable are key. Moderation.

Anyway, I hope you find joy and happiness in your future training as I have found in mine!