Aikido Kenkyukai Orange

21/06/2026

Aikido in everyday life (post #2): Learning pathways in AKI and other sports

Some contemplation as we come into Winter Camp (Orange NSW, 27–28 June), which should be a terrific experience. There are some great young people coming up, and in Orange we’re helping support them and others through billeting and running the camp as a whole, with Steve Seymour Sensei (7th dan) imparting his hard-earned wisdom. Our dojo also has some strong young folk coming through.

I want to focus on the young and the experienced at once. In particular, how does AKI build pathways for those newer to training, while also continuing to support our more experienced practitioners?

NSW AKI did a small survey-based study on this, looking at how we can better attract, retain, and develop new participants while still supporting existing members.

One of the clearer takeaways was that people don’t all come to Aikido for the same reasons, and they don’t all stay for the same ones either. Three broad groups stood out: a majority looking for practical, immediate benefits; a substantial minority engaging with Aikido more as a long-term, holistic (i.e., mind-body) practice; and a smaller group focused mainly on martial effectiveness.

That mix of motivations, combined with the range of experience levels on the mat, creates a real challenge for Senseis. Newer people are often looking for something quite different from those who’ve been training for years.

It’s obvious at one level, but it does highlight a key point: for those who are a good fit, the pathway from beginner to more experienced practice needs to be clear and motivating. And that’s more than just moving through belts. In many sports, people are sorted fairly cleanly by age or level. In Aikido, we tend to carry that mix through everyday training, with very different experience levels all on the mat.

That has its challenges, but it’s also one of the real strengths. Training at the coming winter camp brings that into focus. People who are still developing get to train with and learn from more experienced aikidoka, and everyone gets to socialise together around training.

Perhaps something to chew on over dinner. Either way, it should be a great weekend.

Cheers,
Patrick D

The survey referenced here was led by Patrick Driver and Fabrice Odefrey, with support from the NSW AKI “Ideas for Attracting New Students” working group, which included Jeffrey James, Stephen Nugent, Nigel Carruthers-Taylor, Fiona Hawke, Jeff Standen, Conor Pogson, Stephen Saulwick, and Tom Harper and broader discussions within the AKI community.

14/06/2026

14/06/2026

Just a reminder that today is the last day for early bird registration for Winter Camp 2026! Winter Camp just under 2 weeks away now. Looking forward to hosting you all in Orange.

29/04/2026

Aikido in everyday life (post #1)

I'd claim that people who use axes properly for a living (foresters) or sport (woodcutters) are often applying core aikido principles. Let me know if you disagree.

In a forum exchange, a contributor (“ugwithlegs,” Open Sky Aikikai) notes that striking with weapons like a sword or jo has “more in common with swinging an axe or a hammer,” highlighting weight and momentum over a boxing-style punch.

That matches my own experience. As a teenager, I chopped wood using brute strength until a family friend showed me a safer, more efficient approach that uses the body, not the arms, and lets the axe’s weight do the work. As with my aikido, I’m not claiming I perfected the technique.

Likewise, An Ax to Grind from the U.S. Forest Service teaches principles we’d recognise from Aikido: awareness and footing, coordinated whole-body power, using weight rather than force, sliding hands for timing and acceleration, accuracy through alignment, and the balance of relaxation and structure.

There are, of course, real differences. An axe’s mass is concentrated in the head, creating a strong pendulum and a more linear, gravity-driven swing, often with forward foot only slightly set toward the target line to support a committed, linear swing path. Aikido is interactive, often in Hanmi stance, using spirals and redirection in response to resistance, whereas axe work is focused on a single efficient, direct cut.

Even so, despite these differences, it's worth noting that when you watch a professional use an axe there are common core principles of efficient movement clearly at play.

Wishing you happy and safe chopping, Pat D.

References

U.S. Forest Service. (1999). Swinging the ax. In An ax to grind: A practical ax manual.

AikiWeb Forums. (n.d.). Striking all along (Wrong. Apologies.) (Post by “ugwithlegs”).