Comments on NYA's 40th Anniversary

Philip Berrios (Centro de Aikido Of Puerto Rico)
philipberrios@hotmail.com

This was my 27th seminar since I started Aikido and I still have the same feeling and excitement. As we all know, seminars will reconfirm our basic techniques in addition to learning some new variations. In my eyes, what really makes these seminars different and unforgettable are two things: one is to be able to practice with other people that are not from your school and second: that we always come back home with new fun stories. These fun experiences are never the same and that's what makes the seminars so enjoyable.

At the 40th anniversary of Yamada Sensei's dojo, I practiced with people that I also practiced with ten years ago. When I saw them, I could not always remember their name or what technique we practiced together, but I sure remembered all the fun we had together after class or even at lunch time or at the Pub.

I remember this girl that said to me on the mat "Oh, I don't remember your name but were you the one who sang Happy Birthday with a tenor voice at the dining room ten yeasr ago?" and I answered "YES" and she said "Great, after class will you follow me because my friend's birthday is today." So we had a lot of fun celebrating the birthday, and we had a great practice with all the friends in the next class. It is great to know that other people share the same interests from different parts of the world.

To have good memories:

I will never forget when my best friend Ruben Rivera and I went to our first seminar together seventeen years ago. We were so confused with how simple the instructors could make the technique look, and still after the class we could not do it right. Ruben told me, "Philip, in this seminar we could forget any technique but we never will forget the friends we have made and the good times that we spend together with our buddies from back home. In 40 years we will still be talking about this and having fun with our grandsons."

Well, Ruben was right. We still are having fun remembering what we have done, and are still looking for some more fun up ahead. God bless Aikido.