Aiki in other sports

To me, there are great examples of aiki in the following clip.

http://www.pdqwebhosting.com/george.htm

Back way back when, we were treated to this delight every Saturday. He is the first person of fame I remember as a kid. Wish I still had the football cards ...

Rupert Atkinson wrote: To me, there are great examples of aiki in the following clip. http://www.pdqwebhosting.com/george.htm Back way back when, we were treated to this delight every Saturday. He is the first person of fame I remember as a kid. Wish I still had the football cards ...

When i was younger and played soccer all the time, one of my favorite experiences is when myself and another player who was larger than me would kick the ball at almost exactly the same time while facing each other. Often enough, it was the bigger guy who fell forward while I continued in the direction I was initially intending. Always made me feel tough. Now that I've got some aikido experience I realize a little more of why it was that the other guy would fall over while i did not. I didn't necessarily have more muscles than they did. I was simply more centered and with better extension. Having usually been the smallest guy in my class I did so relish those moments though! ;-)
Take care,
Matt

Where I grew up in the UK I think 100% of the kids around me played soccer everyday. I was never particularly good but just joined in - everyone did. If we had no ball it as a tin can in the middle of the street etc. Last summer, for the first time in what must be 25 years, I had to play soccer in our school - between depts etc. Some of the younger Koreans are pretty good - well, they do have all the kit - but once I got the ball - in my jeans - they just let me run with it - so it seemed. After the game was over people seemed to be impressed with my skill and three guys said they had big bruises on their shins - I hadn't really noticed but in retrospect, I went for the ball 'through' the player, just like when I was a kid. I showed them my bruised shin as if to say, so what? I was not intimidated by anyone - indeed, the reverse had been true. In the UK, for kids, for anyone, soccer is a full-contact sport!

Aikido is also very present in front court basketball and had i practiced as a kid it would have been easily good for another ten points per game.

~~The principles of aiki are true and can be found in any human endeavor or activity. Conversly, they can be equally lacking...even in some Aikido~~

Ed Shockley wrote: Aikido is also very present in front court basketball and had i practiced as a kid it would have been easily good for another ten points per game.

Gotta agree! As a strictly non-contact sport (!) basketball has some fantastic leading and evasive skills in which I've seen and experienced real 'no-touch throws'! More so than in aiki, where people just talk about them