How Aikido Training Saved Me. (a short article by Sensei Aitkenhead)

It was a damp wet, dusky September evening in Clarkston, Glasgow. In 1995 I returned to full time education as a mature student and, that evening, was returning home on my motor cycle.

I noticed a junction on my left where a car pulled up. It appeared to stop and I assumed the driver had seen me. But no! Just as I passed the junction the car pulled out. I heard the sound of crushing metal, then of rushing air. I flew over the bonnet of the car at 30 miles per hour. Luckily, my instinct was not to put out my arms to break the fall. Instead, curled up in a ball, I rolled up the road several times over. I eventually settled to a stop. The other traffic stopped and I heard a doctor telling me not to move. Then, accompanied by the sound of sirens, I was off to hospital.  My x-rays were all clear. No broken bones anywhere – to the amazement of the hospital staff. Not a scratch on my crash helmet and the flask in my rucksack still intact. I just had a bruise on my left leg, where it had collided with the car.

The hospital staff said I was very lucky. The real luck was that I practice Aikido. I had learned how to make ukemi and do an Aikido roll. Sadly, my motor cycle was not so lucky – it was a write off.

Sensei Ian Aitkenhead

Poole and Bournemouth Club