View Single Post
Old 06-05-2006, 03:56 PM   #18
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 522
Offline
Re: Using Aikido Principles in Physical Activities

I have heard that Suzuki sensei of Ki Society spent some time teaching sumo wrestlers, including working on ukemi--and if those guys can take ukemi safely, there's definitely hope for the rest of us.

I know an aikido teacher whose kids are horse fanatics, and he certainly draws aikido/horsemanship parallels when working with them. I also got to see my husband take a very nice mae ukemi off a horse once, when the saddle wasn't secured properly. Not even a bruise, though it scared the trail guide half to death!

One of my current teachers is a tennis pro, and definitely sees connections between aikido, tennis, and swordsmanship.

One of our kid students is a competition gymnast. She has some difficulties with differences between gymnastics tumbling and aikido rolls, but definitely benefits from the balance training. (Whether the gymnastics helps her aikido is less clear to me. Her ukemi are lovely, though sometimes too gymnastics-like, but her technique tends to be timid. She is one of the few kids who need to be reminded to be more forceful rather than less. It might be temperment, though.)

Mary Kaye
  Reply With Quote