View Single Post
Old 07-29-2008, 11:55 AM   #1
Marie Noelle Fequiere
 
Marie Noelle Fequiere's Avatar
Dojo: Atibon Aikido, Port Au Prince, Haiti
Location: Port au Prince
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 295
Haiti
Offline
Special people and Aikido

Yesterday, at the supermarket, I ran into a former student. I used to teach both him and his mother, more than five years ago, in my first Karate school, when I was helping Sensei with the beginners classes. Let's call him Jimmy.
Jimmy is special. When he was already in his late thirties, he decided to socialize outside of his family circle, and he asked for Karate classes. His mother enrolled with him, in order to encourage him in this new adventure. I think that they made it to seventh kyu. I did not even recognize him. He recognized me. He explained that his mother and him now live most of the time in Canada, and that he practiced Taekwondo there. He made it to blue belt, I do not remember why he stopped. I looked at Jimmy. He lost a lot of weight, wich is excellent, and he looks more mature, and more self confident. Obviously, those martial arts trainings are doing something good to him. I'll bet that he no longer needs his mom to take classes with him. He asked me what I'm doing, and I mentioned Aikido. He asked what it was, and I explained that we use he opponent's momentum against him instead of hitting him. He was very enthusiastic, and he made me write on a piece of paper the name of this martial art he had never heard about before. I assured him that he will probably find some good schools in Canada. Then, I remembered with horror having learned a few months ago that some instructors only accept smart people in their school. Jimmy was lucky enough to have found nice instructors so far, if he gets turned down because of his condition, it will be devastated. Now, I'm a bit worried.
I often read in magazines about challenged people succeeding in striking arts, but so far, I have never read about this happening in Aikido schools. But it is also true that martial arts magazines do not talk much about Aikido. So please, those of you who know special people training in Aikido, tell me about it.
My first Karate instructor would take just anyone who stepped in his school. He even tried to teach a pair of African boys who had both lost both feet to landmines (how they ended up in Haïti is a long story). In the end, it did not work because prostatic limbs are often uncomfortable to wear, and after a while, the kids were in pain. So their adoptive mother decided that this was not the right activity for them.
A fiasco? Maybe not. Maybe they will remember the nice Sensei who tried his best to make them be like all the other children.
I don't know, I just wanted to share this with you guys.
I'm waiting for you own stories.
Peace to you all.
  Reply With Quote