Chapter 10: the Combat Games

If participation in the World Games followed from the wish of Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba, participation in the Combat Games was a choice of the IAF itself.

While the participation in the World Games had turned out to be such a succes for the IAF, it was considered a great loss that Aikido would not be able to participate in these Games any longer,

However, as this door closed another door unexpectedly openend. Within SportAccord* the initiative was taken to develop their own Games: Mind Games, Beach Games and Martial Arts Games. The chairman of SportAccord had the idea to create the Martial Arts Games as an alternative to the Olympic and World Games, by creating an event that would not only have competition, but would showcase the other aspects of Martial Arts: tradition, culture, disciplin, respect. And since he had practised Aikido as a student, he was well aware that Aikido did not have competition, but would represent all the other aspects.

The concept was presented to 13 Martial Arts and Combat Sports within SportAccord. All were enthousiastic. And within 3 years SportAccord managed to get these Games organized. The name of the event would be the SportAccord Combat Sports and Martial Arts Games. However, in the preparations we were told that marketing-wise such a long name wouldn’t work well, and it was decided to name the event SportAccord Martial Arts Games.

For the participating Martial Arts and Combat Sports the forumula was that 80 top athletes and 40 officials would participate in a 3 day event, all expenses paid. The participants would spend 5 days at the event, and the whole event would last a maximum of two weeks. The host city would pay for the expenses.

The first host city would be Beijing – China. The Chinese went to work very dillegently and the preparations were done very smoothly and efficiently. But only when the preparations were well underway, a small snag appeared. The Chinese made it clear to us that Martial Arts in Chinese are called Wu Shu. However, Wu Shu is used as a term for Chinese Martial Arts, not all Martial Arts. Therefore they claimed the name of the event would be confusing. They proposed a Chinese term that translated to Combat Games. Given the progress made and the limited concession the participating sports agreed to this change in name.

The event itself was a great success. Aikido participated with 100 people, gave 3 half day demonstrations, and drew large numbers of spectators (even if these were brought in by the Chinese). The only draw-back was that Aikido did not have a strong organization in China, and therefore the IAF could not organize a seminar to benefit from the event. But the event was a clear boost for the IAF.

Several changes from the formula used at the World Games demonstrations were introduced during the program:
– demonstrations were not done by countries, but all athletes worked together
– demonstrations were not done by seniors in Aikido, but by younger practitioners (4th and 5th dan, maximum 40 years old)
– demonstrations were structured by content, first basic techniques, later advanced techniques, finally weapons techniques and multiple attackers
– the program was rounded off by a demonstration by two Shihan

After the event we could evaluate the results. Several surprising results can be mentioned:
– the younger participants responded well to being given the exposure
– the relationships established between the participants were very strong and positive
– specatators from other sports viewed the demonstrations and were deeply impressed by the performance

As a consequence the IAF could see that the standing of Aikido amongst the other Martial Arts and Combat Sports greatly improved. Also at an organizational level this could be noticed.

However, these positive results were not based on initial strong support from the IAF members. In these first Games only half of the IAF member countries participated. There were grave objections by the other half of the members because:
– the name Combat Games was considered offensive to Aikido
– the risk that Aikido would introduce competition was too great
– the fact that there would be no demonstrations per country was upsetting

In fact one country even threatened to withdraw its participation if it was not allowed to demonstrate as a country.

However, since the result was such a success, the criticism subdued a bit, and in the second event in St Petersburg – Russia, the formula could be repeated, 30 members participated, and the results were equally positive.

In fact the results were so positive that the IAF was only waiting for the next event. Unfortunately political problems within SportAccord have put the next event on hold*.

* I will write a post on SportAccord separately in the near future