Aikido for Children & Young People

Building Body Awareness and Concentration

My earlier experience as a physical education teacher and my work today as an Aikido instructor show that children find it increasingly difficult to coordinate movements and move with ease. Attention and concentration problems are widespread. A significant lack of physical activity from an early age clearly leads to a loss of body awareness and motor skills. The obligatory two or three PE lessons a week cannot compensate for this deficit.

Beyond Social and Language Barriers

The fundamental movements of Aikido cross all social and language barriers, and have an integrative effect as a result. By emphasising partner practice without competition, aggression is reduced through what might be called a “cooperative rivalry”.

Anyone who has children or works with them knows how closely physical, mental and emotional development are intertwined — they cannot be separated. Every learning process at the physical level brings with it a process of mental and psychological growth.

Partner Practice Without Competition

In Aikido, children can experiment with their movement possibilities, try out new movements and integrate them into their repertoire. This improves their perceptual capacity and has a positive effect on body awareness — influencing not only fitness and health, but also mental and psychological development.

Aikido for Children Aged 4 to 6

The dojo offers a programme for children aged 4 to 6. In small groups, children explore the possibilities of their bodies through play. Aikido techniques are not the focus at this age. Instead, the emphasis is on mobility, coordination and balance — important motor foundations for later Aikido training or other sports.

Aikido for Children Aged 6 and Up

From the age of six, we begin with simple Aikido techniques and the basics of ukemi. Older children gradually learn more complex techniques. Partner practice is a particular challenge and an important step: children learn to engage with one another and work out movements together.

Aikido for Young People Aged 12 and Up

The youth programme already resembles adult training in many respects and prepares the transition. We work intensively with the Kata and learn to fall safely without injury — an essential foundation for dynamic practice. We also engage with the core principles of Aikido and learn to respond to attacks appropriately and without aggression. Alongside empty-hand techniques, working with staff and sword is a regular part of training.

The principle of Aikido is to use the energy of an attack and redirect it, without injuring the attacker. There are no winners or losers. The attitude expressed in Aikido is not aggressive or combative, but active and peaceful. Practitioners learn to handle aggression and respond to an attack in a measured way.

Dynamic practice requires a secure foundation in ukemi. Aikido techniques are dynamic and, when correctly executed, highly effective. It is therefore important to engage thoroughly with the techniques in order to make progress. The person receiving a technique must also be able to fall safely from any position without injury.

Training with Staff and Sword

Alongside empty-hand techniques, working with staff and sword is a regular part of Aikido. Training with traditional Japanese weapons promotes good posture and develops attention and timing.