What gave you the idea to have a seminar with Roy Goldberg ?
Actually it wasn’t my idea for the seminar, it was my Aikido instructor, Kanney Sensei who set that up. I met Goldberg Sensei at one of my physical therapy sessions for a tendonitis injury I sustained during my Aikido practice. I remember sitting down getting ready for my session and I begin to start stretching my wrists (Nikkyo) and he saw me and yelled out saying “Hey, I know that exercise, you must know the arts” and at that point we just started chatting it up.
During some of my other therapy sessions Goldberg Sensei was treating me and would start to talk about our training and that he was an instructor in Daito Ryu, which I really didn’t know much about it, other that reading some info about it online ,etc. Goldberg Sensei then showed me some of his photos and videos that he had saved in his camera, and I can say I was amazed at some of the techniques that seemed unreal.
At one my sessions with Goldberg Sensei I invited him to our Dojo and he accepted, gave me his card and in turn I handed it to my Aikido instructor Kanney Sensei and told him about my conversations with Goldberg Sensei and that maybe it might be good to meet him, and rest was history.
Did Sensei Goldberg explain what Daito-ryu is?
Goldberg Sensei began to give me some of the history of Daito-ryu , but you can talk for hours about that, and we had only a limited time to do this during my physical therapy sessions. I also visited his website and read his background and I was impressed, especially knowing that he has trained many in the law enforcement community, so that caught my eye as myself being a retired officer and that he also trained certain units of my department.
How was Daito-ryu different from Aikido?
There were differences in some of the techniques that we practiced during the seminar, where many of the techniques were very close to the body and bringing the attacker straight down in front of you.
Were there similarities?
I would say there were some similarities, just different in the way the technique was applied.
Did you enjoy the seminar?
I would have to admit, I actually enjoyed the Daito-ryu seminar. It was my first time in actually seeing/participating in this martial art and look forward to attending again in the future.
Was it difficult to make the transition to Daito-ryu techniques, or did your Aikido training make it easier?
I would have to believe that my Aikido training definitely helped while participating in the Daito-ryu seminar, but of course Goldberg Sensei was also very helpful in asking the student that he was working with if they were ok in doing certain techniques so that no injuries would occur.
Thanks, Clifford, for your time and for your efforts in bringing this seminar to our dojo!
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