Dunedin Aikido Helps Teach Discipline, Defense

Chances are at some point in your life, you have come in contact with karate.

Whether it was through the Karate Kid movies or from your child signing up for an after school lesson at a local academy, many Americans are familiar with the famous Japanese martial art. 

But there is another, lesser-known martial art that is just as intense as karate but not nearly as well known or appreciated, according to Dunedin Aikido instructor Gene Martinelli.

“We’re not as well known, and don’t have the public image" of karate, Martinelli said before a recent class. “There are no competitions, no trophies, no colored belts, except black and white.”

“People that come to learn aikido are looking for something more," he said. "They want to sharpen their focus on life.”

The skills used to master aikido, which was created by Morihei Ueshiba in the early 20th century but draws from ancient martial arts principals, are different from those of attack-oriented disciplines like karate and taekwondo.

The word aikido loosely translates to “the way of being harmonious with nature”, and the art incorporates spiritual and cerebral teachings, not just physical ones.

Students are taught to use their body motions to redirect the attack of their enemy instead of meeting the strength of the attacker head on. These subtle yet effective techniques allow people of all ages and sizes to master the art, even if they don’t possess great physical size or strength.

“Aikido is in a lot of ways one of the most difficult arts to master,” Martinelli said. “It’s all about learning to use your body more efficiently and more effectively … to judge distance, speed and feel.”

Martinelli has been involved in martial arts since he was a teenager growing up in Connecticut. After studying judo and jujitsu, he found he had a great interest in the arts, and once he took an aikido class with a friend, he says he “never looked back."

The full time Veterans Affairs worker became a black belt in the 1990s, owned a dojo in Fort Myers for a while, and taught at a dojo in Largo before doing a tour in Iraq as a cultural analyst for the troops. Upon his return, he began looking for a place to teach his favorite martial art in his community.

He approached officials at the  about conducting a class there about year ago, and much to his delight, he was given the opportunity to do so.

Today he holds classes, in which his wife and 16-year-old son often participate, three times a week, and he encourages people to come and try the first class for free to see if they are interested enough to continue learning the complex yet rewarding discipline. 

“Because of a lack of marketing, aikido has never become as big as karate here in the states,” said Martinelli’s wife, Sandy. “It’s more of a garage band mentality, grassroots.”

“People who do it do it for the love of it," she said. "They have to want to learn a martial art for the sake of learning it, not for any rewards or glory.”

Dunedin Aidido

Where: Dunedin Community Center, 1920 Pinehurst Road

When: Classes are from 10:30 a.m. to noon Sunday, and 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Phone: Gene Martinelli, 727-455-6169, or the Dunedin Community Center, 727-812-4530