Students share their personal anecdotes, observations regarding training and the application of what they have learned to daily life.

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Hello, my name is Hayden Decker and I've been taking Aikido for about five years. I've learned many things and I have made many friends. I remember when I first joined and only about five other people were there, and now there are about 15!

I used to watch the Aikido class while waiting for my sister to finish dancing, and one time I decided I would try it. I love this class, and it has definitely helped me in my daily life. For example, if someone runs at me, most people would panic, but I can just take a small step to the side to avoid them. And when I was at the dentist, I was really scared that it would hurt, but I calmed myself and concentrated, and it was better than I expected.

When I originally started Aikido I thought every exercise was hard, and I got out of breath way to easily, now I can easily do the exercises without breaking a sweat. It was so hard for me to do rolls also and I had to put a lot of effort into it, now when sensei asks me to do a roll it's just natural and easy for me. When I first got my yellow belt, I thought I could NEVER get an orange belt, because it was hard work, but I followed Kevin and Brianna's examples and now I'm a blue belt. I never thought it possible to be a blue belt when I was just a little white belt.

I remember needing help a lot of times and sensei would have to help me, and then I disrupted the class, so I try to help the littler ones as I can so the class won't be disrupted. The littler ones look up to me for guidance so I try to be a good role model for them.

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I have been practicing Aikido with Gilmore Sensei for almost seven years. I am one of the first three students in his children's class. I started to assist his children's class every Friday from last Fall. Since I am learning many things by helping other students, I feel it is an important and beneficial role.

When I traveled to Japan, I had an opportunity to be trained by Shinichi Tohei Sensei once and also another opportunity to attend a regular children's class. It was fun to perform Kata with Japanese students.

I am doing other sports and using my Aikido principles in many occasions especially when I try to concentrate and not to be tense. I would like to continue training to be able to use them in every situation in my life automatically.

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Hello, my name is Brianna Berkson and I have been taking Aikido for over six years. I have learned a lot and it has even helped me in my daily life.

I tried the children's class shortly after it started. At that time there were only two students. A few months later when I actually started (I had to take Aikido as part of my second grade school curriculum) there were only five kids and it stayed that way for a while. The only thing I did not enjoy was the fact that I was the only girl. More kids joined and eventually even some girls. Since then a lot of kids have joined now there are over twenty of them!

When I began Aikido I was very timid and scared. Something like a forward roll seemed so scary, hard, and even dangerous. Once I began to understand it I found it much easier. The other night when I was practicing for my next test I had to do a lot of forward rolls and thought nothing of it! The next day I remembered though! I was sore and thinking back on the night before and realized that I had done around sixty forward rolls!

I do a lot of dance and once my teacher asked us to try a forward and backward roll. All the girls were scared. Even I was scared because it was not the same as the ones I do in aikido and it was on a hard floor! The principles were the same though so it was pretty easy, and the next day I was the only one without bruises.

Aikido has helped me in quite a few ways and these are only a couple of them. Now I not only take the children's class but also the adult class. I look forward to the day when we get girls in that class too.

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