Championship Level of Self

 First, Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors for their 2022 NBA Championship! They overcame so many obstacles. Increasing age among their core players. Curry, Thompson, and Green are in the twilight of their prime basketball years. To get to the Finals they had to go through a gauntlet of up and coming NBA superstars. Jokic. Ja Morant, Doncic. And finally in the Championship round the young and super core of the Boston Celtics. But while the title was definitely won by their core, we were treated to the emergence of their up and coming younger core of Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins. And tantalized by the potential on display of Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody,aand hopefully, James Wiseman.Strength in Numbers now has the theme of the established generation mentoring and developing the younger.So I can't wait to se what the future might hold for this group.

And as we watched the parade today, I reminded Elle that this was her parade, too. She took on and beat an almost 4th level cancer. It has been a tough couple of years, with her breaking her hip just as the pandemic began, then getting the cancer diagnosis. She has been getting a lot of inspiration from Klay Thompson who had to battle a torn ACL, then a torn Achilles tendon. They cost him over 2 seasons. But they both battled back. And as big as the Warriors accomplishment, hers is equally inspiring. Go Klay! Go Elle! So we are currently awaiting the building on 3rd Street, which will be our permanent location. The City of San Jose has okayed the use of the building for an Aikido school, among other things,just as the Warriors brought a championship from Oakland to the Chase Center in San Francisco, let us all continue to train and develop and Bring a championship level of Aikido to our new location.

So what would that entail? Continuing to train and develop both the exterior form of our art, and also the interior space of ourselves. Stephen Curry works unceasingly at his craft and conditioning. He was called by Jason Kidd, head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, the most finely conditioned athlete in the NBA. And the amount of time and energy he puts into his basketball skills is legendary. He has become an elite defender, something he was not just several years ago. At 34, old especially for a guard, he is still improving.

Aikido is not a sport. But it is about development, external as well as internal. As much as I enjoyed watching today's parade,the championship level of Aikido is masaka agatsu then katsu hayahi. True victory is victory over self.. Curry has faced doubters and obstacles his whole life. Underrated when he entered college, he received no scholarship from a major division 1 program. The only offer he got was tiny Davidson College. But he took them in 2008 all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. And the Warriors got him all the way down to the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA draft. Were there 6 better players in that draft? He has always had to battle being underated and undervalued. But it's almost as if all the obstacles to being recognized as an all=time top player, he used as fuel. He came to a horrible team and organization with a horrible owner. But he was the center around which everything turned and built. The current owners, Joe Lacob  and Peter Guber came in and hired front office people who could evaluate talent. Current General Manager Bob Myers, with some help from Jerry West, brought in Klay, then Draymond , and more recently Kevon, Jordan, Kuminga, Moody, and of course Wiseman. So they surrounded Steph with teamates who could support and complement him. Steve Kerr of course was brought in as coach. It was as if he was a magnet, drawing in all that he needed to create himself and the current team. Until recently, the only thing he lacked was a finals MVP. So add that now. It is almost as if this was all part of a synchronous flow that circled around him as the center.

Katsu hayahi is no time no space. In other words what he has brought here is lasting and as much as things can be these days eternal. So can we through our training find this inner magnetism to bring about such wonder in our lives? Go past the usual sense of what Aikido is and isn't and assemble a better world? Heaven on Earth? Can we create a Strength in Numbers eliminating gender economic and racial inequality? Can we heal political divisions that threaten to destroy our democracy? If we look at what Steph and the Warriors have accomplished, why not?