Aikido semináře

For the third time in Prague: international seminar for children and youth

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”fotoblog-text”]On Saturday morning in Prague, around 100 children started their first training on the big tatami… and it was a line from one side of the hall to the other. Check out the photos! And we weren’t all there yet, because the bus with the Ukrainian kids got delayed at the border and arrived a bit late. After a warm-up together, we divided into age categories – small kids, bigger kids and teenagers – and started real training sessions full of varied movement, games and most importantly aikido.

Food was brought in for lunch, but as soon as it was eaten, the kids started playing their own games on the mats. They had an hour break, but they still ran, jumped, wrestled… and made new friends, even if they had to speak English to each other sometimes…

This is one of the reasons why we hold a big international seminar: to let the kids experience that aikido is much bigger than their club, to let them know that they are part of a big world and that this world is friendly.

Over the lunch break there was time for a joint talk by the teachers and club leaders who came to the seminar. There were a lot of us – about 140 children and 40 adult teachers, assistants and guides from 10 clubs from 3 countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine).

The meeting of teachers is the second reason for the seminar – we create a space for sharing inspiration from different clubs and organizations – so that we can teach Aikido even better.

In the afternoon, the children continued training in their categories before the highlight of the program came: the joint training of all children and teachers with their parents! So in the end, literally everyone trained together with everyone in the last class.

At the end we cleaned the tatami together and said goodbye. The only ones who stayed were those who slept overnight in the Sokol Hall and the next day took a walk around Prague. The opportunity was used mainly by Slovak and Ukrainian children, for whom it was another great experience.

The biggest reward for us organizers are the tired and satisfied faces of children and young people, the enthusiastic comments of parents and the desire of club leaders to come to the seminar again. Thank you for coming and we look forward to seeing you again – we are already planning a date for this event in 2024.

And many thanks to everyone who helped organize the seminar and who supported it – especially the Czech Aikido Federation and the TJ Sokol Praha Královské Vinohrady. Thanks to you, the children from Ukraine were able to attend the seminar and sleep in Prague for free, and we also contributed from the proceeds of the seminar for their travel!

PS: If you would also like to support Aikido training for children in Ukraine, check out the website of the project “Aikido for Ukraine“, with which we have long been cooperating and whose representatives were also at our seminar. They are doing great work![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px” alter_height=”none” hide_on_mobile=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”30618,30620,30622,30624,30626,30628,30630,30632,30634,30636,30638,30640,30642,30644,30646,30648,30650,30652,30654,30656,30658,30660,30662,30664,30666,30668,30670,30672,30674,30676,30678,30680,30682,30684,30686,30688,30690,30692,30694,30696,30698,30700,30702,30704,30706,30708,30710,30712,30714,30716,30952,30950,30948,30946,30944,30942,30940,30938,30936,30934,30932,30930,30928,30926,30924,30922,30920,30918,30916,30914,30912,30910,30908,30906,30904,30902,30900,30898,30896,30894,30892,30890,30888,30886,30884,30882,30880,30878,30876,30874,30872,30870,30868,30866,30864,30862,30860,30858,30856,30854,30852,30850,30848,30846,30844,30842,30840,30838,30836,30834,30832,30830,30828,30826,30824,30822,30820,30818,30816,30814,30812,30810,30808,30806,30804,30802,30800,30798,30796,30794,30792,30790,30788,30786,30784,30782,30780,30778,30776,30774,30772,30770,30768,30766,30764,30762,30760,30758,30756,30754,30752,30750,30748,30746,30744,30742,30740,30738,30736,30734,30732,30730,30717,30715,30713,30711,30709,30707,30705,30703,30701,30699,30697,30695,30693,30691,30689,30687,30685,30683,30681,30679,30677,30675,30673,30671,30669,30667,30665,30663,30661,30659,30657,30655,30653,30651,30649,30647,30645,30643,30641,30639,30637,30635,30633,30631,30629,30627,30625,30623,30621,30619″ img_size=”300×200″ el_class=”fotoblog-galerie”][/vc_column][/vc_row]