Teaching Aikido in Schools part 2.

AIKIDO FOR CHILDREN

SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT
ANGER MANAGEMENT



The Care Urfa Aikiki Aikido Union (CUA) has been developing its program to work within the schools over the last 18 months to 2 years with the help of George Stephenson High School and Moor Edge Primary School at Killingworth in the North East of England. Working within the Learning Support Unit and the Children University. The main aim of the courses run by the CUA is to develop in the student a degree of self-control and self-confidence.

Originally put together to help those students who for one reason or another under achieve, are unruly and/or aggressive or just don’t seem to fit in with school life. However, the CUA did not wish these courses to seem like a punishment or remedial class, which in some way may flag those students taking part. So the courses are open to everyone who may wish to attend.

Run by Tutors who have together over 50 years experience in Aikido the courses encourage the students to self develop by questioning, helping each other and by working together. Students are also encouraged to take on the role of tutor during periods within the class and to take the class through various exercises. To this aim each class has been designed to be flexible in order to meet the needs of the students.

The courses also promote fitness and agility, and at its highest level are quite physically demanding. However the student’s level of fitness is not a prerequisite for the course. General fitness and agility develops with the student as the student progresses in line with their own abilities. In the same way the lack of physical ability does not deter a student from taken part and learning Aikido, and can therefore still benefit from the self-development offered by these courses.

The CUA currently has two programs running which have been designed for the under 12 years and over 12 years of age due to the different physical abilities of these age groups. This allows the courses to be tailored to the ability of the students, and to meet the abilities of students from all age Groups.

To help encourage self-development students are awarded grades in Aikido, which are separated by credits. These awards are for self-improvement and are not subject to have been won by means of competition or exam. The CUA works on a policy of ongoing assessment thus allowing each student to progress at their own pace.

Classes are very interactive and students are encouraged to have input into the lessons. Passed courses have shown that as students begin to understand the core principles of Aikido that they develop techniques not yet shown to them by the tutors. This self-development and self-control promotes self-esteem and confidence. Every student that attends is given some responsibility for the safety of the training area, them selves and others in order to further promote self-control.

So why use Aikido in the schools? Aikido is very flexible and personal to each student. There is no competition so students cannot fail at the hands of others, which if allowed could damage self-esteem and self-confidence. Instead students are encouraged to seek the help of others, and in return help others in order to improve they own ability. Aikido is reliant on movement, balance and control to be effective. As self-control and confidence improves so does the students Aikido.

So who can benefit from these courses? Everyone can benefit from these courses, which is why the CUA has left them open to anyone who wishes to take part. However, those that are most likely to benefit are those for who the courses where originally designed for, which are mentioned above in the second paragraph.

However the purchasers of the courses may wish to keep those potentially violent students separate to other students. For this reason the CUA has designed two schemes of work to tackle possible underlying causes, one for ‘Anger Management’ and the other for ‘Self-control and Self-confidence’. Both these schemes of work are attached. The course content for both the under 12 years and, the over 12 years remains the same, no matter which schemes of work they are applied to. It is the students themselves and the approach that is different.

Whilst running these courses the CUA has received feedback from both George Stephenson High School and Moor Edge Primary School showing an improvement in the students approach to their academic studies within the school. The CUA sees this as a positive, and accepts any feedback whether positive or negative so that these courses can be further developed.

Students that attend consecutive courses and show both the wiliness and the self-control required could further develop in the art of Aikido. These students are then shown more aspects of Aikido that require a higher level of self-control and are therefore able to gain further credits and grades. As these students develop they would have to fulfil the requirements of a full Aikido syllabus (available on request from the CUA).

As new courses start with new students those that have prior experience are then encouraged to help in the tuition, given them a higher level of responsibility and further promoting their own level of self-worth.


Course content for the under 12 years of age:

The course content for this age group has been designed so as not to put undue strain on the developing muscles and bones of the younger student. Therefore the courses for this group are mainly on movement, balance, etiquette and some very basic Aikido techniques. Although students do have to work with each other the majority of the techniques would be performed on one of the tutors, with emphasis being on etiquette, awareness and control. The main content is therefore as follows.

• Safety aspects,
• The history of Aikido and the founder,
• Aikido terminology (Japanese words for the techniques learnt),
• Mat Etiquette,
• Rolling safely both forward and backwards,
• Teamwork,
• Discipline (on the Mat),
• How to tie a belt around your waist (Obi),
• Peripheral vision tests,
• Distance, balance and timing,
• Floor exercises for the body movements used in Aikido
• Awareness for yourself and others,
• Individual development,
• Basic Aikido Techniques:
Ai-hamni Ikkyo
Ushirotori Ikkyo
Gyaku-hamni Kaitenage

• Handling situations,
• Self-control and care for others.


Course content for over 12 years of age:

The content for this age group is in the most part as the under 12 years. Care still needs to be taken to ensure that developing muscles and joints are not unduly strained. However, a greater emphasis is placed on the students to develop adequate self-control to enable them to practice more closely with each other. There is also more Aikido techniques included within the content of the course, which are listed under ‘Aikido techniques’ below.

• Safety aspects,
• The history of Aikido and the founder,
• Aikido terminology (Japanese words for the techniques learnt),
• Mat Etiquette,
• Rolling safely both forward and backwards,
• Teamwork,
• Discipline (on the Mat),
• How to tie a belt around your waist (Obi),
• Peripheral vision tests,
• Distance, balance and timing,
• Floor exercises for the body movements used in Aikido
• Awareness for yourself and others,
• Individual development,
• Basic Aikido Techniques:
Ai-hamni Ikkyo
Ai-hamni Nikyo
Ai-hamni Sankyo
Ai-hamni Yonkyo
Ai-hamni Kotegaeshi
Ai-hamni Shihonage
Ai-hamni Iriminage

• Handling situations,
• Self-control and care for others.

The main aims of these courses are to:

• Promote self-respect and esteem,
• Promote self-confidence,
• Promote self-control,
• Promote awareness,
• Encourage self-development,
• And increase fitness.

J Stokoe 5th Dan Aikido
Tutor for :
Mooredge and Killingworth High school
North Tyneside Education Authority
2003