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Budo Insel, Gaimersheim, Germany Division 1 |
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| Andreas Haßelbusch, 3. Dan Aikikai Born 15th of June 1969 in Ingolstadt, Germany When I was 10 years old there was a new Karate-Club in the village where I lived. When they started a beginners class for kids I was the first to join. At 16 I changed to Ninjitsu but it was in Nuernberg and it took me more than one hour to get there. Whilst studying I heard of Aikido and pretty soon I found an Aikido-Club close to my home. The teacher was Edmund Kern. As soon as possible I started to go to various Seminars from different teachers. This allowed me to go to France, Netherland, Switzerland and the USA. The training changed my life considerably. In 1995 I opened my first Dojo, the Budo Insel (Budo Island) together with my, then, future wife Eva. Eva also loves Aikido; We first met when she started to train in the same Aikido-Club. In January 2004 we opened our new Dojo in another location. We have 8 classes per week, 3 for kids. All together we have about 20 adults and 40 kids. My most Memorable Aikido Experience Preparing for my 3rd dan I was together with Eva in San Leandro at the Dojo of Pat Hendricks, Sensei. We were there for the 3rd time as an Uchi-deshi. Among others there was also Stephan Barton from Canada and we trained with him for our tests. He and I were tested for San-dan, Eva for Ni-dan. It was a bit confusing with one saying the technique and the others doing it.Every weapon and taijutsu technique was on the program. This was a lot of fun and trained our flexibility which was very helpful for the test. The test itself was pretty cramped and we also had attackers from other dojos we hadn't met before. The most challenging being the real blade. Louis Jumonville as attacker with the Rambo-knife, fast and tricky as he is, tried to unnerve me but was not successful. It was very confined; on the left hand side sat the spectators, on the right was another examinee. After some attacks it got even more cramped and the moment when Louis made another tsuki with the blade I grabbed the knife for kotegaeshi and wanted to throw. But the examinee next to me placed his uke on the same place. Because there was so little space I circled round until Louis hit the mat and I could finish with a pin. This short moment, not even one second, seemed to me like an eternity. That in this situation nothing happened and nobody got hurt inspires me again and again in my training and in my life. |
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