Aikido - the organizational context

Chapter 16

As Hombu introduced multiple recognition, national organizations started struggling with that. In the world of sport and relationships with a national government they had to find a way to explain why there were so many different Aikido organizations. They not only had to explain the differences between styles, but also the differences between school and the reason why these groups would not cooperate.

Imagine what the world of sport would be like if, in a random example, there would be an organization in Great Britain that would recognize soccer clubs throughout the world, and each recognition would lead to a parallel soccer championship.

Now, this type of problem only appears to the recognized organization that is member of IAF. Why? Because this is the only organization – primus inter paris (first amongst equals) that has this problem. Only the first organization can go to its government and ask for recognition as a sport. Only the first organization can offer to represent the sport in its country. The second and following organizations do not need to ask for recognition of the sport (its already organized), they will often not be accepted as a partner by the government (there already is a partner) and besides, it will take them a number of years to reach the point where they want to.

However, this did happen over time. In an increasing number of countries the number of recognized organizations grew, and their governments started to inquire what was going on.

Now, for the first recognized organization in a country, it had been imperative to become member of the IAF. This was one of the conditions to get Aikido recognized in the country. For the IAF this was necessary, because it needed the number of countries to grow, so it could meet the standard of international representation*.

As the IAF was growing into its role, and trying to come to grips with these developments, it adopted a strong grip on the principle of one organization per country. In informal talks with representatives of GAISF, IWGA and the like it had become increasingly clear that this was fundamental to be accepted as an international organization. But also the directors of IAF members stressed how important it would be to uphold this principle. As one chairman put it: the concept of country is one of the few organizational principles that work in this world. It is unprobable that Aikido can come up with a better solution than to organize it throughout the world by country.

Over time different solutions for the problem occurred. Several examples deserve attention, and I have only limited information on many of them. Because if these differences the solutions reached in each country are different and difficult to compare.

For instance, in France the government has forced the two groups to cooperate at the level of grading and instructor courses. But within the IAF they do not cooperate. In Belgium there was one organization for a long time. At a point in time the country was torn into half over the language and economical differences. If fact the Belgian Aikikai asked the IAF for separate membership. Yet today they have found a way to cooperate in a harmonious manner. In the Netherlands an umbrella organization was formed. Yet this has led to a situation where the Aikikai-organizations are in the IAF member as well as in the separate umbrella organization.

As time moved on further, a new dimension arose. We now face the situation that in many countries the number of practitioners outside of the IAF member is greater. Therefore the IAF can no longer uphold the position that it represents (the majority of) Aikido internationally. This can only be claimed by pointing to the relationship with Hombu which does have a relationship with at least the majority if Aikikai-Aikido organizations.

The IAF has now made its first formal move towards a solution of this problem**. Its not really a policy yet, but on 2016 the new members of the IAF were all from countries where there were multiple recognized groups. All of these members were invited to seek cooperation with the other groups before they were presented for membership. They all managed to reach a form of cooperation. This principle of being open to others will hopefully be continued in the future and applied to the previous 44 members as well.

* IOC recognition for example implies being represented in over 50 countries in the world.
** We have to thank Seán MacRuairi from Ireland for this result.

Chapter 15

Originally the IAF and Hombu agreed on the policy of recognizing one organization per country and one member per country. As there were no organizations to compete over recognition, there were no organizations to compete over IAF membership.

As time went by several things changed in the world. For one, travel became more easy, and cheaper. As a consequence it became more easy to invite foreign instructors. Dojos didn’t need to cooperate on a larger scale to invite teachers, they could afford to do so at an individual basis. This led to a strong increase in the demand for foreign instructors and the number of seminars being organized.

Another thing that changed, was that indivudual instructors became so popular this created its own dynamics. For instance, in Europe Tamura Sensei became so popular that he had large numbers of students in virtually every country where there was a recognized organization*. However, this happened throughout the world. A teacher like Yamada Sensei from the USA travelled all over the world to visit his students, and so did many others.

At this point in time different aspects of the Aikido world began to collide. For instance, students taking their grading would want the name of their instructor in their passport. But that would lead to the situation that the teacher was in France or the US, whereas the student was in a country where there was another recognized organization with a senior (Japanese) instructor.

This made it abundantly clear that the world of Aikido had been divided in a territorial manner by the Japanese instructors. Initially one would not go to the territory of the other without informing him or getting his approval. They would not conduct gradings in the territory of the other.

But as the territories became countries with democratic organizations, Hombu changed its regulations, and as a consequence organzations now claimed the monopoly on grading in their country.

In the late Eighties Hombu resolved the problem by allowing ‘unofficial recognition’. This was phrased so that the rule of one recognition per country was continued, but that outside of that certain Japanese instructors were allowed to instruct and give grades outside of that structure**.

Once the threshold for single recognition had been lowered, an avalanche of new organizations were established. Each of them created a relationship with an instructor, and avoided cooperation with the recognized organization exactly because it wanted freedom to choose its instructors and conduct its gradings.

During these years the initial recognized organizations were really frustrated, because they were upholding Hombu’s regulations, where Hombu was choosing the side of the increasing number of ‘rogue’ instructors and organizations.

Over time it turned out this wave could not be stopped. It swelled and became the driving force behind the growth of Aikido. The recognized organizations were struggling, and every dojo that could invite a teacher could develop without any restriction.

Over time Hombu adapted to this change in the environment by allowing multiple recognition. The new international regulations set criteria for recognition, but this did not in any way limit the number of organizations per country. In fact this became the headache for many of the recognized organizations.

The next chapter will deal with those headaches.

* Please do not take offence, a senior instructor like Tissier Sensei is now in very much the same situation.
** In several conversations it was made clear that this solution was chosen particularly to resolve the issue of Japanese instructors travelling and grading outside of the single recognition structure.

Chapter 14

AIMS stands for Association of Independent Members of SportAccord. As described earlier, it can be seen as the remaining sports in the structure of the IOC, IWGA and SportAccord.

Several of the martial arts and combat sports are member of AIMS: Kendo, Muay Thai, Sambo, Aikido, etc.

As described AIMS started off without much of a goal, but it found it’s goal when Mr Stephan Fox from Muay Thai became chairman. His position is also general secretary of Muay Thai, and he is an energetic and pragmatic official who will get things done. When he became chairman of AIMS he started to work diligently to make AIMS the steppingstone for members to IOC recognition (ARISF: Association of Recognized International Sport Federation; ic. recognized by IOC).
He quickly found out that eventhough Muay Thai is no small organization, it did not meet the standards of the IOC. So, as he set to work on recognition, he learned what it implies to meet the standards. And he decided that this effort should be shared with the other sports in AIMS.

When SportAccord collapsed, he made a heroic effort to protect the members of AIMS. He started negotiations to get IOC recognition for AIMS, and as such protect AIMS members from the consequences if SportAccord would lose its power of cease to exist. He phrased his intentions at different occasions, and stressed to the AIMS members that on the one hand this recognition by the IOC implies access to IOC resources, NOC resources and such, but on the other hand does not give individual recognition to sports. Aikido can not claim to be IAF recognized, but it can make that claim through its membership of AIMS*.

On the other hand, he clearly stated the consequences he sees that follow from IOC recognition. There are two major lines. The first line is that other sports that want IOC recogntion now have a clear path. They can prepare within AIMS. AIMS will support the process and will work closely with ARISF to achieve such recognition.

The second line is that the sports that do not seek IOC recognition will still have to live up to the standards of the IOC. His work to get us recognized have therefore raised the bar for Aikido to meet the IOC standards.

The first question we asked, was what does that imply. It goes too far for here to go into detail, but looking at the Olympic Charter and the Olympic Agenda was given as advice to get started.

And this is one of the important challenges for Aikido in the coming years: to not look or act below standard in an international community where most sports will work towards the IOC standards.

* In fact some IAF members have already reported that they have been contacted by their NOC. Others have stated that this finally gives Aikido the recognition they need in their country.

Chapter 13

GAISF was trying to expand its reach from being an empty umbrella organization with little real function (pretty much like AIMS) into a meaningful position. The chairman of GAISF, Mr Hein Verbruggen, was a marketing professional and had been chairman of the Cycling Association. His view was to move GAISF from Monaco to Lausanne, base it next to the IOC, create its own games and therefore its own source of income, and so turn the organization into a viable counterpart to the IOC. In the meantime the strength of IOC and IWGA were growing. Their events became increasingly successful and valuable. The budgets grew accordingly.

When Mr Verbruggen first had the idea of organizing the Martial Arts Games, he contacted two Dutch speaking representatives of martial arts, including myself. He explained the background of his ideas, and explained how he wanted the Martial Arts Games to be positioned: not just as the next competition program, but as an event that would showcase the other aspects of martial arts. He referred to the presentation given by Mr Ogi in 2005 and the role of sport. He proposed the idea that martial arts had much to offer in terms of personal development, reconciliation, discipline and upbringing.

Because we were both Dutch, we got along well, and we had some private conversations, in which he told me that he had done Aikido as a student, was well aware of the non-competitive nature of Aikido, that he knew about the issue in IWGA and still wanted to involve Aikido in the Martial Arts Games.

To my mind, this was a tremendous opportunity for Aikido. To finally be given a platform to present Aikido in such a manner that all the philosphical aspects could be show-cased, seemed like an unprecedented chance. I was invited to participate in the preparations of the Combat Games and could follow the road leading up to the first event from up close*.

But as a consequence of GAISF becoming more active and organizing events, its dynamics changed. The convention drew more and more participants from the commercial world. The participants were actually getting younger and younger. More and more the other sports felt that AIMS could be a meaningful organization to them.

GAISF tried to cash in on the success. The name GAISF was changed into SportAccord to benefit from the brand value. SportAccord became a stronger organization towards the IOC. And with several successful games accredited to its name, an unexpected change happended. Mr Verbruggen was followed by a new chairman, Mr Vizer, who had strong commercial goals for SportAccord. He was reported to have made his career in illegal gambling in Eastern Europe, but to have turned legitimate. And contrary to some scepticism he actually made SportAccord more successful.

For Aikido this became apparent between the first and second Combat Games. While in the first Combat Games each participating sport had received some € 15.000 in benefits afterwards (but had been requested to forfit this sum to allow for the preparation of the next games), Mr Viser promised the participating sports € 50.000 profit, and delivered on that promise.

So, after a while the members of SportAccord were happily waiting for the next favourable development. SportAccord for a short while was almost as strong and present as the IOC.

Unfortunatel this success did not last long. After the Combat Games in 2013 the IAF was looking forward to the next SportAccord convention. But Mr Vizer got into a frontal attack on the IOC. He published a letter which led to a chain of events. A large group of sports sided with the IOC against Mr Vizer and he was forced to resign. In the year that followed everybody was waiting for the dust to settle, and in 2015 it was even expected that SportAccord would cease to exist. In 2016 it became clear that fundamental changes had taken place. The IOC had decided to keep SportAccord alive. It would be scaled down, but continue under a new chairman, Mr Bach.

For Aikido this period is structured in a different perspective. In 2010 we were participating in the Combat Games. In 2011 and 2012 we were preparing for the next Combat Games. In 2013 and 2014 we were participating and evaluating the next Combat Games. In 2015 we were overwhelmed by the developments in SportAccord.

But in 2014 and 2015 one other development started that continues to be relevant today. AIMS became more active**.

* I will post more on the Combat Games
** The next post will be about AIMS

Chapter 12

GAISF was trying to expand its reach from being an empty umbrella organization with little real function (pretty much like AIMS) into a meaningful position. The chairman of GAISF, Mr Hein Verbruggen, was a marketing professional and had been chairman of the Cycling Association. His view was to move GAISF from Monaco to Lausanne, base it next to the IOC, create its own games and therefore its own source of income, and so turn the organization into a viable counterpart to the IOC. In the meantime the strength of IOC and IWGA were growing. Their events became increasingly successful and valuable. The budgets grew accordingly.

When Mr Verbruggen first had the idea of organizing the Martial Arts Games, he contacted two Dutch speaking representatives of martial arts, including myself. He explained the background of his ideas, and explained how he wanted the Martial Arts Games to be positioned: not just as the next competition program, but as an event that would showcase the other aspects of martial arts. He referred to the presentation given by Mr Ogi in 2005 and the role of sport. He proposed the idea that martial arts had much to offer in terms of personal development, reconciliation, discipline and upbringing.

Because we were both Dutch, we got along well, and we had some private conversations, in which he told me that he had done Aikido as a student, was well aware of the non-competitive nature of Aikido, that he knew about the issue in IWGA and still wanted to involve Aikido in the Martial Arts Games.

To my mind, this was a tremendous opportunity for Aikido. To finally be given a platform to present Aikido in such a manner that all the philosphical aspects could be show-cased, seemed like an unprecedented chance. I was invited to participate in the preparations of the Combat Games and could follow the road leading up to the first event from up close*.

But as a consequence of GAISF becoming more active and organizing events, its dynamics changed. The convention drew more and more participants from the commercial world. The participants were actually getting younger and younger. More and more the other sports felt that AIMS could be a meaningful organization to them.

GAISF tried to cash in on the success. The name GAISF was changed into SportAccord to benefit from the brand value. SportAccord became a stronger organization towards the IOC. And with several successful games accredited to its name, an unexpected change happended. Mr Verbruggen was followed by a new chairman, Mr Vizer, who had strong commercial goals for SportAccord. He was reported to have made his career in illegal gambling in Eastern Europe, but to have turned legitimate. And contrary to some scepticism he actually made SportAccord more successful.

For Aikido this became apparent between the first and second Combat Games. While in the first Combat Games each participating sport had received some € 15.000 in benefits afterwards (but had been requested to forfit this sum to allow for the preparation of the next games), Mr Viser promised the participating sports € 50.000 profit, and delivered on that promise.

So, after a while the members of SportAccord were happily waiting for the next favourable development. SportAccord for a short while was almost as strong and present as the IOC.

Unfortunatel this success did not last long. After the Combat Games in 2013 the IAF was looking forward to the next SportAccord convention. But Mr Vizer got into a frontal attack on the IOC. He published a letter which led to a chain of events. A large group of sports sided with the IOC against Mr Vizer and he was forced to resign. In the year that followed everybody was waiting for the dust to settle, and in 2015 it was even expected that SportAccord would cease to exist. In 2016 it became clear that fundamental changes had taken place. The IOC had decided to keep SportAccord alive. It would be scaled down, but continue under a new chairman, Mr Bach.

For Aikido this period is structured in a different perspective. In 2010 we were participating in the Combat Games. In 2011 and 2012 we were preparing for the next Combat Games. In 2013 and 2014 we were participating and evaluating the next Combat Games. In 2015 we were overwhelmed by the developments in SportAccord.

But in 2014 and 2015 one other development started that continues to be relevant today. AIMS became more active**.

* I will post more on the Combat Games
** The next post will be about AIMS

Chapter 11

It is difficult to describe briefly what SportAccord is, how it became what it is today, what it’s function has been for Aikido and what it will mean for us in the future*.

Earlier I have described how sports that were not in the IOC were brought together in the WorldGames, and how the IOC and IWGA together formed GAISF (General Association of International Sport Federations). The name SportAccord was used for the convention GAISF organized, and eventually adopted as their name because of the marketing power of the concept.

But let me go back to the first time I attended a SportAccord convention in Berlin in 2005. The event was hosted in a large hotel (which easily packed the meetings, the convention, the gala dinner, etc.). It appeared that GAISF was a prestigious organization, where literally all the sportorganizations that meant anything were participating.
Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of political wheeling and dealing going on. There were endless meetings, formal and informal. And it was an old-mans event. There were some younger people, but all the representatives were 60+ in my perception.
I visited the events I needed to: the IWGA general assembly, the GAISF general assembly. I tried to make acquaintance with the people representing other sports. And I tried to find a justification for being there to satisfy my own efforts.

This came when a United Nations Ambassador made an address at the gala dinner. Mr Ogi, former president of Switserland, made a strong appeal to the representatives about their responsibilities. He pointed out the importance of sport:
– for obvious reasons such as health and relaxation
– for less obvious reasons such as sport being one of the last social structures where children can participate and learn social skills
– for the even less obvious reason that in conflict-ridden areas where sport may be the first activity to reconcile people

The next day I found a more pragmatic reason why Aikido needed to attend. The chairman and general secretary of IWGA came to me to inform me that Aikido would need to introduce competition to maintain its position as a demonstration sport**. Of course I realized the sensitivity of the situation, and made not other comment than that I would address the issue in the IAF. I did howver try to ascertain why this was such a strong issue for the IWGA and in the following days I talked to several IWGA officials. Perhaps the strongest resentment came from the IWGA general secretary who simply put it as: ‘we organize competition, Aikido has no competition, why would I organize it’.

Fast-forwarding from this first experience, the IAF found out quite quickly that GAISF was changing each year. The following year the convention was larger, the number of people attending had grown, the political buzz was growing. The IAF went there to see if we could renegotiate its position with IWGA. Some minor progress was made, but still little seemed to be really relevant.

In the coming years we maintained our presence, made an effort to create good connections to people attending and follow the developments and promote the position of Aikido.

This became relevant after the World Games. Because Aikido would always draw larger crowds than a number of other competition sports. We would be negotiating our position as a demonstration sport.

But in the meantime we noticed that GAISF was changing. When Mr Verbruggen became chairman of GIASF he clearly tried to reposition GAISF. Until then the reality had been that the IOC and its substructures had dominated the field, IWGA had been growing, but could be seen as taking care of the fall-out from the Olympic Games. But the number of new sports grew, and at that time AIMS was formed to give those new members a phramework to function***.

At that time AIMS was nothing other than a small meeting for the other sports. It was established, the next year it had its first meeting and decisions, the next year it introduced some new member, the next year it appointed a new board which promised to do more, etc. It slowly moved forward but without a real sense of purpose.

At the level of GAISF things were happening. We found out that IWGA was really going to strike off Aikido as a demonstration sport. But at the same time GAISF wanted to introduce Martial Arts Games. And in 2008 I was asked by the chairman of the IAF to introduce the concept to the general assembly of the IAF.

GAISF had finally become relevant for Aikido.

(to be continued)

* So, this may lead to several posts on SportAccord describing different aspects
** For those of you who wish to be offended by the shere mentioning of Aikido as a demonstration sport, please realize that the current Doshu has agreed to see Aikido as a demonstration sport in the context of the Olympic Games in Japan in 2020.
*** During the SportAccord each and every IOC-related organization would have its general assembly. The other sports would be ‘hanging around’ on those days. Introcuding AIMS gave these other sports their own meeting.