Character & Skill
Rock Water Aikikai’s teen class piles on the responsibility increasing the expectations for strong self-defense skills united with a strong character. This class is more about pointing the way and letting students tread the path themselves. The teen class is full of long-time students – seniors who have invested more than a thousand hours into Aikido. Their example is one of perseverance and dedication. New students have a tremendous advantage when entering an environment like this.
Our expectations on students in this class are that they will treat others with tolerance and compassion. Respectful behavior is expected outside the dojo as well as inside. Students push their physical limits along with the limits of their concentration. In this high-energy environment students discover they are always capable of more. Self-confidence is solidified and the concept of calmness under pressure is beginning to take hold. Self-defense skills are polished in the current of Rock Water Aikikai’s technical stream – continually, patiently. The most senior students of this class are welcomed to train with adults in the Young Adult classes. Students set regular goals by the use of a colored belt ranking system. The Rock Water Aikikai system utilizes the following belts: yellow, orange, red, green, blue, purple, brown, advanced brown, junior black, intermediate black, advanced black. Each colored belt rank comes with an increasingly challenging set of requirements and an increased number of required classes.