Poll: How important for you is having a social connection with your aikido dojomates?

AikiWeb Poll for the week of January 14, 2007:

How important for you is having a social connection with your aikido dojomates?

• I don't do aikido
• Critically important
• Very important
• Somewhat important
• Not very important
• Not at all important
  

Here are the current results.

Interesting, I hadn't thought of the social connections in this manner, and to be clear I am inferring from the question that the connections are ones that exist outside of the dojo. It seems to be something that progresses naturally, and is one of the many good things that comes from training. I voted somewhat important because they aren't a requirement for good solid aikido and sincere training.

-Will

I genuinely like the folks I train with, I wish we had more social outings.

It's useful for me to like and respect the people I train with, as it helps me to do my best to be a sincere uke and protect them as nage, and having a few laughs inside class helps me to loosen up. And of course there's the fact that training with good people help me tip the balance when I consider missing a class, and the good people in my dojo helped me develop a good studying habit.

However, being around 10 years younger than the average, I don't really hang out with them outside class, which I guess would be more relevant to "social connection". I voted "somewhat important"

Mary Turner wrote: I genuinely like the folks I train with, I wish we had more social outings.

Hear here

I like the people in my dojo a lot and i consider it a good thing to have a social connection with them but do not consider absolutly necessary. It just makes everything more worth while and more fun than it allready is!

I am much younger than the rest of the people in my dojo, so I consider the social connection to be during class time.

What Mary said, and Philip echoed.We go out for a beer or lunch after tests, otherwise everybody goes their seperate ways after training.I'd like for us to be more social but while I find it "important" it is certainly not "necessary"
I am Very social with other people from other dojos, however!

Used to be important when I was with a smaller group...now not so much.

I do enjoy the Bonnenkai at the end of the year...even if I'm not training for one reason or another, I like to go to that.

One of my best friends I met through aikido. He no longer trains, but we are still close.

Best,
Ron

I have a social connection with some and not others. Its not all that important to me, but it happens or it doesn't.

Jo Adell wrote: ... ... Philip echoed....

Yipeee! Some one spells my name correctly!! Sorry after a day of not getting important e-mails, I thought it was getting personal. (note my dojo still gets it wrong from time to time).

The importance for me of the opportunity to ask annoying and possibly repetative questions during beer waza connet be overstated.