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Old 11-07-2004, 07:38 AM   #51
markwalsh
Dojo: Airenjuku Brighton
Location: On the road - UK
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 514
United Nations
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Re: Young folk

25 now, started training at 18 at University.
There are a number of University clubs in the UK (eg; Leeds, Southampton, UCL) and even a British Universities Aikido Federation - part of the BAF.

The youngest Aikikai shodan I have head of over here was 14/15. Several of the best instructors in the UK started training as children, e.g Philip Smith, Alex Megan, Cath Davies.

I worry that the Aikido population is aging, which (to me) means that the whole art could be in a state of decline?

Question for people who have trained since a young age, do you feel that Aikido has damaged or prematurely aged your body in any way? While aikido has clearly kept me healthy on many levels, I also feel I have the joints of a 40 yr old already (though am better looking obviously).

Slightly off topic: The breaking down of age barriers is one of my favourite thing about aikido. I feel that it is one of the few ways in which the generations of rapidly changing countries can sincerely communicate.

Later grey heads,
Mark
x
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Old 11-07-2004, 07:46 AM   #52
markwalsh
Dojo: Airenjuku Brighton
Location: On the road - UK
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 514
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Re: Young folk

aging population thraed link:

http://aikiweb.com/forums/showthread...ighlight=aging
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Old 11-09-2004, 06:23 AM   #53
morren
Dojo: CT Aikikai
Location: Connecticut
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 4
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Re: Young folk

I'm 25 and a 5th Kyu. (Recently promoted from "new guy") I started a couple of years ago, but had to take a year and a half off because I moved.
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Old 11-09-2004, 09:56 AM   #54
Alex Megann
Dojo: Southampton Aikikai
Location: Southampton
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 401
United Kingdom
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Re: Young folk

Why, that's very kind of you to say that, Mark!

I first went on the tatami when I was about fifteen, though it took a few years to get me properly hooked. I did see Kisshomaru Doshu when he came to Oxford in 1975, but that was before before I started.

I passed my shodan at twenty-five, and am now forty-two. I think Aikido has been an almost overwhelmingly positive influence on my health, and so far have been lucky enough to have had no serious injuries in the dojo. I have had various aches and pains, but those were mostly from either carrying on training when I've been tired and dehydrated (the kidney stones after my sandan grading are one example) or from incorrect stretching. My knees can ache at the end of a long weekend course, but then they ached at least as much twenty years ago, and I actually find seiza much more comfortable now than I did back then.

There are two things that have kept me healthy. First of all, constantly working to avoid straining, mostly by pursuing good posture and relaxed movement. The prime examples of this for me are my own teacher, Kanetsuka Sensei, as well as the late Yamaguchi Sensei and Endo Sensei. The second is daily stretching - I do at least five minutes most days, and often much longer. At a week-long Summer School I have found that the key to survival as I have got older is to stretch gently and deeply both at the start and at the end of each class. On top of these, I love taking ukemi, and value this more and more as a fundamental part of Aikido.

Kanetsuka Sensei is constantly telling us to look after our bodies and gently chiding senior aikidoka (even if they are younger than he is!) because they have let themselves grow stiff. The beautiful aspect of Aikido for me is that it really is a life's study. You can start as a teenager (or at whatever age) and some decades later you're still doing Aikido but have a completely different attitude to it after all the experiences - positive ones as well as setbacks - of the years.

All the same, I do see many people who have been unlucky and had accidents (often in the "bad old days" when safety and responsibility were far less emphasised), as well as more chronic conditions from bad practice over a long period. We are all responsible for our own health and if we aspire to enjoy Aikido when we are old in years, the time to start preparing for that is always the present...

Alex
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Old 11-16-2004, 06:21 PM   #55
Tatiana
Dojo: Lenwakan
Location: São Paulo
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 64
Brazil
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Re: Young folk

14 and I'm 4th kyu... I have friends that practice Aikido at the same dojo (and others) that vary from 12 to 18... Tho it does mainly seem to be adults... It's sad.. I wish that more young ppl would do aikido... It's so good! ^^
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Old 11-18-2004, 01:31 PM   #56
KerstineElnegaard
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 11
Denmark
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Re: Young folk

The thoughts of a lurker

I've been reading the entire thread and is quite surised over what has been told...

Personally I come from a dojo, where the majority of the people that trains are below 30... I am a 18 years old, and 3rd kyu. I was graduated at the age of 17, and has been training for 3 years now. We have a very training for juniors/kids (with up to 30 active kids)... and there are kids on this team that has trained for up to 4 years.

In general the people that come to see what aikido is, are below 30... at least where I come from...

See, this is a quite different scenario from what I have seen described earlier, and I find it quite funny, that it can vary so much from place to place.

To be precise we are at least 3 under the age of 20 who is graduated higher than 3rd kyu... and more on the way.
It must also be considered that kids are not graduated in our dojo...

So young people training aikido is not an exception in "my" dojo...
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Old 12-30-2004, 03:19 AM   #57
rachel
Dojo: Aikikai Foundation Hombu Dojo, Aikido of Hilo
Location: Tokyo
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 63
Japan
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Re: Young folk

Hi Niko,
I'm 19 yrs. old, only shodan.
Don't get discouraged by people who have been training for a long time, hope that you will learn from them.

-Rachel

Oh, also, my dojo in Hawaii has children's classes starting from age 6 and lots of teens and young adults. At the dojo here in Japan (Aikikai Hombu) there are also classes for children. Lots of people start young, the challenge is to keep them going.

Last edited by rachel : 12-30-2004 at 03:28 AM.
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Old 12-30-2004, 11:19 AM   #58
malsmith
Dojo: Masters of Aikido in Fogelsville
Location: Bethlehem
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 84
United_States
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Re: Young folk

im 15 and i just joined dojo in august, so im not really any rank yet. there are quite a few young/high school aged people in my dojo, i think there are like about ten of us, and its a small dojo!
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Old 12-31-2004, 12:52 PM   #59
fatebass21
 
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Dojo: Westminster Tenshinkai Aikido Dojo
Location: Fountain Valley, CA
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 280
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Re: Young folk

21 years at Kyu 6. I've been studying for a year, I was 20 years old when I started training and studying. My dojo actually has very large evening classes for 'juniors' and there are some 5-6 year olds that are one or two ranks above myself. I wish I would have started as early as they have. There are also several sempai that are younger than me in the adult classes I attend.
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Old 12-31-2004, 06:49 PM   #60
Tharis
Dojo: Chicago Aikikai
Location: Chicago, IL
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 78
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Re: Young folk

22 years old, 1st kyu after about 3 years of training. I started in a college dojo where I was about the same age as everyone else, and now I train in Cleveland with people ranging from my age or a little older to (guessing) people in their 40s or 50s, with a decent distribution. I'd guess there's a few more younger than older people, but it's still probably a bell curve.

Regarding injury, I've strained by neck once, fairly badly, through a combination of zealous uke and inept ukemi. My knees still hurt sometimes, but they're also a lot more flexible than they used to be. Generally, I think I'm a lot more healthy, certainly more fit, than I would be if i weren't training.

Yours in ukemi,
Thomas
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Old 01-02-2005, 12:23 PM   #61
lenna
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 10
United_States
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Re: Young folk

17 no rank yet, youngest in our adult classes but our kids classes have like 15 eight year olds.

PS how long does it generally take to get to 1st kyu?
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Old 01-02-2005, 01:01 PM   #62
rachmass
Dojo: Aikido of Cincinnati/Huron Valley Aikikai
Location: Somerset Michigan
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 794
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Re: Young folk

In our dojo there is a young woman who is 18 or 19 who has been training steadily since 13. She's a ikkyu. There are maybe 10 under 25, and the long time members of the dojo are in their 40's and 50's with the chief instructor in his late 30's. Average age is around 35 I would say (a real bell curve with age in this dojo). Only 3 women in the dojo though :-(
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Old 01-07-2005, 10:01 PM   #63
Joezer M.
 
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Location: Indonesia
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 54
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Re: Young folk

I'm 22 and training in two different dojos affiliated to two different organizations... I'm an ikkyu in one, and a nikyu in the other... Does that make me a 1.5 kyu?

Regards,
Joezer

I AM in shape... Round is a shape...
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Old 01-11-2005, 06:39 AM   #64
Amanda
Dojo: Exeter Ki Aikido
Location: Devon
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 39
United Kingdom
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Re: Young folk

22 and currently ungraded.

The dojo I train at also runs a childrens class although I don't know how many of them will stick to adults.
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Old 01-11-2005, 07:46 AM   #65
Nick Simpson
Dojo: White Rose Aikido - Durham University
Location: Gateshead
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 916
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Re: Young folk

Im 22 on thursday (Yay me!) and im a 2nd kyu, going for 1st kyu in May hopefully. I started at a university dojo when I was 19 and train mostly with people ranging from 19 - 25, although in our monday class we have two 13 year old lads who are very enthusiastic and our parent organisation has a fair number of younger kyu grades but seems to consist of mainly older dan grades.

They're all screaming about the rock n roll, but I would say that it's getting old. - REFUSED.
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Old 01-17-2005, 11:17 AM   #66
emi_moes
Dojo: northern lights aikido/Duluth, MN
Location: Minnesota
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 17
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Re: Young folk

I'm 19 & 5th kyu & have been training about a year. I believe many of the beginners in our dojo are around the same age as it is a university dojo I believe our oldest & most experienced aikidoka(that word sounds so much like okie dokie lol) is probably about 25
Quote:
R. Haruo Hori wrote:
Bah! All you young 'uns got it easy today! In my day we had to do ukemi on concrete! Blindfolded! While wearing only our boxers! Or bra and panties for women! And we liked it!!!
as far as training hard our sensai advised us to go out & practice on the ice outside when it's -27 deg. ferinheit so... :P many of the people in our club also practice ukemi by throwing themselves out of windows or off rooftops

~Emi, Domo arigato gozaimashita
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Old 01-17-2005, 12:57 PM   #67
Eltron
Dojo: Club Vladimir
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 5
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Re: Young folk

I started when I was 20. I'm 21 now, turning 22 in a few months. I haven't been graded yet but that's because my aikido club, albeit stressing the importance of formalities of dojo etiquette, is very informal and slow-paced.
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Old 01-18-2005, 04:02 PM   #68
Rocky Izumi
Dojo: GUST Aikido Club
Location: Salwa, Kuwait
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 381
Kuwait
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Re: Young folk

Quote:
R. Haruo Hori wrote:
Bah! All you young 'uns got it easy today! In my day we had to do ukemi on concrete! Blindfolded! While wearing only our boxers! Or bra and panties for women! And we liked it!!!
You forgot, in the middle of winter in Saskatchewan at -50 degrees C.

Rock
(Another person having survived Saskatchewan and now refusing to live anywhere that cold.)
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Old 02-03-2005, 10:31 PM   #69
Christian Orderud
 
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Dojo: Sunyata Aikido Dojo, Oslo
Location: Sofiemyr
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Norway
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Re: Young folk

26, 6th kyu.
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Old 02-12-2005, 04:11 PM   #70
Meggy Gurova
Dojo: Chowa
Location: Sofia
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 50
Bulgaria
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Re: Young folk

I'm 27 and 3 kyu. Most off the people in our dojo are between 18 and 25. Then there are a few between 25 and 30. We have 3 between 30 and 40 and 2 around 50. We don't have any black belts in our dojo (only our sensei).
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