Aikido mix with other martial arts

[ My English is not really good but I will try my best to explain]
I teach Aikido to afterschool kids from low income families for free. What I found out that most kids start Aikido then pull out because the parents want them to do other style.
In the little town that I am from, almost everyone want to do MMA . Only few have interest in Doing Aikido, with a twist .I think one of the problem is the language { Japanese].
I don't want to disrespect the arts but I mixed Aikido with Kafa [ Island Martial Arts], Judo, karate . People respond was outstanding . I just want some input from you.
thanks

Hi Veikune
I see no problem with mixing your Aikido with a sprinkling of other techniques.
Most of the early teachers that I studied with from the 1950s were nearly all Judoka and this showed in their tight positive technique, Kenshiro Abbe Sensei 8th dan Judo and 1937 all Japan 5th dan Champion, Masahilo Nakazono 6th dan KodoKan Judo - Tadashi Abe - Kazuo Chiba.
I would suggest you do what is best for your needs.
Time will tell if a student wants to follow the path of Aikido or any other martial art.

Henry Ellis Shihan
Co-author of ` Positive Aikido`
Admin: British Aikido History Blog
http://britishaikido.blogspot.com

Henele Veikune wrote: [ My English is not really good but I will try my best to explain] I teach Aikido to afterschool kids from low income families for free. What I found out that most kids start Aikido then pull out because the parents want them to do other style. In the little town that I am from, almost everyone want to do MMA . Only few have interest in Doing Aikido, with a twist .I think one of the problem is the language { Japanese]. I don't want to disrespect the arts but I mixed Aikido with Kafa [ Island Martial Arts], Judo, karate . People respond was outstanding . I just want some input from you. thanks

Hi Henele, thanks for your teaching. I've studied moments of Aikido, Karate-do and Judo. And whilst there are merits in each of them, i did find that there was an unspoken competition between then. Demonstrated by a widespread rejection of the other styles within each. So for example, they didn't like us to practice Judo freestyle randori within Aikido, and equally Aikido moves (Ikkyo) were banned within Judo. Also they do teach Ikkyo in Karate, but they didn't like it when i demonstrated it with the efficiency of an Aikidoka, and i got banned soon after?

I've now been banned from all the dojos in Derby, and most of the sites on the internet, so my opinions are open to question?

Henele Veikune wrote: [ My English is not really good but I will try my best to explain] I teach Aikido to afterschool kids from low income families for free. What I found out that most kids start Aikido then pull out because the parents want them to do other style. In the little town that I am from, almost everyone want to do MMA . Only few have interest in Doing Aikido, with a twist .I think one of the problem is the language { Japanese]. I don't want to disrespect the arts but I mixed Aikido with Kafa [ Island Martial Arts], Judo, karate . People respond was outstanding . I just want some input from you. thanks

The problem with cross-training is that you will lose out on the conditioning that makes your Aikido ... Aikido.

Contrary to what Bruce Lee says, all martial arts ARE different. This is because each style has a specific method of fighting that is being developed in a student's body through practicing the techniques and conditioning the body with the style's specific exercises. When you mix styles, you only grasp the surface level techniques, but you lose out on the internal physical development that makes the techniques work.

So if you mix your Aikido it is likely that in the long run you'll lose your Aikido.

When you go about mixing aikido with other martial arts,
what, ratios do you use? Is it say 50% aikido and 50% the others?

Have you considered 0% aikido and 100% for the others? I mean
If you measure success by popularity, perhaps this is worth a try.

Henele Veikune wrote: [ My English is not really good but I will try my best to explain] I teach Aikido to afterschool kids from low income families for free. What I found out that most kids start Aikido then pull out because the parents want them to do other style. In the little town that I am from, almost everyone want to do MMA . Only few have interest in Doing Aikido, with a twist .I think one of the problem is the language { Japanese]. I don't want to disrespect the arts but I mixed Aikido with Kafa [ Island Martial Arts], Judo, karate . People respond was outstanding . I just want some input from you. thanks

The problem is that Aikido wasn't designed to have competitions therefore there is no clear way of realizing whether or not somebody actually learned how to pull of a move, technique etc or not. Some kids will get it, most won't and will move on. It's just how it is. As for mixing Aikido with other stuff, do it as long as it fits with the basic Aikido principles you learned. That's what's most important.

On a side note. For most kids there is no point in teaching them relatively complicated movement which needs extra explanation. Ikkyo, Sumiotoshi(several variations), AikiOtoshi, dumbeddown hiji kime, maki otoshi, mae otoshi (depending on the variations) essentially mostly wrestling types of techniques that use basic body movement. Check some of the stuff the guys from Tomiki Aikido do. It's not all good but you well get a basic idea.

If it's not broken don't fix it. If whatever you're doing works I think you should keep doing it. That's just my opinion anyways.