Romeo Biekman 

3rd dan

"Move healthily and with pleasure" 

I've always done a lot of exercise, but no sport could attract me so much that I wanted to keep doing it. Until 1994 I saw a small advertisement in the local newspaper about aikido. At first I didn't dare to register because I was already in my thirties. After a short telephone conversation I took the step and took my first steps in a dojo.

From the first moment I practiced the sport with a lot of pleasure. I was then and still am under the 'spell' of aikido and have had good friendships because of it.

My first teacher Peter Bacas unfortunately passed away early from us and for some time I was wandering around looking for a suitable teacher for me. I did some wandering around at several dojo's and due to physical circumstances didn't do anything about aikido for two years. I did jodo during this period; it was fun but did not give me satisfaction.

In order to improve my aikido skills I also started looking for a suitable teacher with knowledge and experience of the many aspects of aikido. In 2007 I found that teacher and got two instead of one. Since then I have stayed on base and enjoy and learn from both of them several times a week. In the meantime I have also been promoted to assistant aikido teacher and twice a week I teach beginners.

In short, I've been practicing aikido for over twenty years now: I have a lot of fun with it and it makes me feel great. It allows me to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Since 2015 I have been training next to aikido Mugai Ryu Iaido at Kochokai   .