Looking for a hobby, finding Aikido

I once had lunch at a sandwich shop in Spartanburg, and there was a flier on the table for The Aikido Academy of Self-Defense. I opened the flier without really considering what Aikido was.

The flier described the art as a self-defense system consisting of joint locks, throws, strikes and nerve pressure points. "Wow," I thought. "You must have to be pretty big and pretty tough for this."

But the next section of the flier surprised me. Under a section headlined, "Who is Aikido for?" it described the training as being accessible to anyone, regardless of age and regardless of physicality. I was never picked first for dodgeball. I never made the football team. Or the basketball team. Or the soccer team. I've never been described as "someone you wouldn't want to come face-to-face with in a dark alley." "Maybe I could do this," I thought.

I called the school and spoke with Mr. Wyndham, the owner and Chief Instructor. He described in more detail the curriculum at the Academy and encouraged me to watch a class and ask questions of the instructors.


I don't think I blinked observing that first class. Students worked together in pairs, and I was amazed by how fluidly they moved. The advanced students seemed to glide, and with movements too quick and subtle for my untrained eye to see, they sent their partners flying away from them. Later that same class, I watched an advanced student working with a young man who had just signed up that day. Where the advanced student had been moving so fast before, he was now working slowly and patiently with his new partner.

Since I was home from college on summer break, I was bored when I wasn't at work and needed something to do. I told myself as I signed up that it was just to keep me occupied until I went back to school. I went into my first class a little nervous, but the friendly students and patient instructors welcomed me onto the mats. When I felt the first technique of the system as it was being taught to me for the first time, I had a moment of clarity. I realized this martial art doesn’t just look neat. Even better: It’s effective. I knew at that point it wasn't going to be a summer time-killer. I wanted to learn it all. That was May 9, 2000.

I still train in Nihon Goshin Aikido at the Aikido Academy of Self-Defense. I assist Mr. Wyndham and Mr. O'Meara as an associate instructor and take pride in helping them share this effective, traditional martial art with normal, everyday people like myself in a safe environment.

And though I’m in the best shape of my life and “tougher” than I’ve ever been, I’m still not a guy that you’d describe as “someone you wouldn’t want to come face-to-face with in a dark alley.” But now, after almost a decade training in self-defense, I have to ask, what on Earth are you doing hanging out in dark alleys?

-- Clayton Kale, Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt)

Meet the "Fast-Improvings" family

We'd like to think of ourselves as "The Incredibles." You know, that family of superheroes who, by the use of their unique self-defense skills, manages to overcome an arch villain bent on the destruction of humankind. But our 9-year old, who began Aikido first and who's progressing much faster than his parents, notes with the wisdom that comes from advanced training in the art, we're not there yet, and that it might be more appropriate to call ourselves "The Fast-Improvings."

We are improving in Aikido -- and enjoying it tremendously. We signed up our son first -- he needed an activity and had just seen "Kung Fu Panda" -- and quickly saw the wide-ranging benefits that come from training. He respects himself more as well as others; he's proud of his advancing in rank and of the accomplishments of hard work and focus promotion entails; he knows numerous self-defense techniques that have led him to feel resourceful instead of hapless under threat of attack; and his body has grown stronger and more flexible. He says he loves Aikido for the reasons I've mentioned, and adds, "people should take Aikido because it makes you feel happier and safer when you're walking around!" Seeing him realize these and other benefits, and how much fun he was having on the mats, his mom and I decided we'd give it a shot and we're delighted we did. We now enjoy the benefits our son does, plus the added rewards that come from training together as a family.

The principles of friendship and courtesy that constitute the basis of dojo etiquette carry over to our family life. We help each other with our techniques, support each other through the bumps and bruises, praise one another when we do well. Each of us has a framed certificate hanging in the hallway that marks our achievements of rank, and we work together to wash and fold our uniforms for training. Our schedules allow for us to train together Saturday mornings, which we usually follow-up with a big pancake brunch at IHop. We get to spend time together doing something we all enjoy and that makes us feel good, and along the way cultivate the kinds of bonds and connections that come from shared experience. Perhaps most importantly, we rest easier, especially with regard to our son, knowing that if the worst were to happen, each of us would have a better chance of being able to walk away from it. We're not "The Incredibles" to be sure, but the "Fast Improvings" are having lots of fun learning the art of self-defense together.

-- The McFinnis Famiy