A recent group photo of the Kids' class

A wise person once said, "patience is a virtue".

It was more than four years ago when we first started talking about running classes for kids at the Bloor Valley Club. Not many of us at Shugyo Dojo had any experience in dealing with children at the time, let alone with teaching them aikido. Three of us, John McNabb, Katrine Doig, and myself accepted the challenge. It was decided that we would run the kids' class in an eight-session format, familiarizing the students with the basic ideas behind the techniques and philosophy of aikido. That was wishful thinking.

Due to the increasing number of young students, we started a second kids' class on Wednesday evenings.

After doing some advertising in the area around the dojo, we managed to get maybe fifteen young and eager boys to register for the very first kids' class. It was nothing like what we had had in mind. The basic ideas of aikido were out in the first ten minutes, and were replaced with "round kicks" and "karate chops". To make the long story short, those boys ran the class for eight weeks, and not even one came back for the next session.

We gave ourselves some time to recuperate and started to advertise again. Shortly after, we managed to get a few students—girls this time. One of them recently passed her fifth kyu test. Two sisters—one still practices—joined the dojo a few months later.

For more than two years we ran the class with an attendance of two or three students. And if we were lucky, the number would go up to four. There were several Saturday mornings when we had to start the class with only one student. I guess the challenge was to keep going with what we had started and to stay positive.

A group photo from the early days of the Kids' class

The biggest concern during the move was losing students. We worried that not many in the kids' class would follow us out of the old neighbourhood. Despite our fear, almost all of them moved with us to our new dojo.

The kids' class is one success story among many at our new place. Due to the increasing number of young students, we started a second kids' class on Wednesday evenings. If we find another brave senior student like Ivan Booth who teaches that class, we might even start a third.

At the present we have about thirty active students in our kids' class. Some have been tested a number of times already. If you take a look at the members' board in our dojo, you'll notice the seventh and eight kyu levels. The nameplates at those levels, and some in fifth and sixth kyu, are inscribed with the names of the young students who have gone through grading procedure, and hopefully, will be with the dojo for many years to come.

Homayun has been teaching the Kids' class for over four years

From time to time, I hear students from all levels of experience talk about how aikido has made them better people, or how they use its philosophy in their every day lives. To be honest, after more than seven years, I am still waiting for that to happen to me. I might never learn how to use the ideas of aikido in my daily life; I might never become a better person as a result. But I have learned one thing, and that is that teaching kids' class has taught me a lot about myself.

I hope that it has done some good for all of those who are or have been in any way involved with the kids' classes. My sincere appreciation and a big "thank you" to other members of Shugyo Dojo for their support and dedication. And also, a big "thank you" to the parents of our young members, for their trust in our aikido community.



Other Articles
· Aikido for Kids - by Fran Turner
· Anna, age (almost) 10 - by Anna
· Aikido From A Youth's Point of View - by Timothy
· A Brief History of the Kids' Classes - by Homayun Kordbacheh