Mark Uttech

I'd really like to add something here that blew my thought to kingdom come a few years ago: Hikitsutchi Shihan, some time before his passing, said in an interview: "When you see good aikido, you already know what bad aikido is." This takes "rank" and completely smashes it. That is the beauty of going beyond external competition and focusing on internal competition. Internal competition is more true, you can't really lie to yourself.