Aikido

Interview of NANG Ravuth

NANG Ravuth, Aikido teacher & President of the Cambodian Aikido Association:

1/When did you start at Sok Sabay and how many children are you teaching?

I started to teach at Sok Sabay in December 2009. 64 children are involved in Aikido classes. I have 17 boys in three groups: four older boys and six younger nes. 47 girls are doing Aikido. They are divided in 10 groups. Each group have one hour of training every week.

2/What can you tell us about the children overall?

I’m very happy, those children are very talented. They are well disciplined, which is essential for martial arts. This is something that art martial teachers have to check first, along with falling basic techniques. You can get seriously hurt when practicing, if you don’t know how to fall properly.

They are very respectful of their instructor. However, they need to improve on punctuality. I would like to add that they should rest for a while before classes.

Otherwise, they are already tired before the class starts.

About the training, I must say that, for the time being, I only taught them the basic techniques. As for the equipments, we’ve been lucky enough to receive a donation of mats from the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), as well as a donation of uniforms.

The children are going to take their first test in July. A Japanese instructor will come to Sok Sabay and will be their judge.

I’m especially proud of Grace Thyda, Si, La, Ann, Amandine and Louisa Roat  Thi, for the older girls. In the older boys group, Ratha , Jim , Ratana and Antoine are doing very well.

A few younger boys are also making great progress: Vichea, Saray, Reksmey.

3/Can you tell us more about your association?

The Cambodian Aikido Association work with eight Aikido cubs in Phnom Penh and Kandal. In the near future, we are going to expand our activities to Siem Reap and Battambang.