Francisca van Leeuwen Sensei:

Sensei is the Japanese word for teacher. The Japanese also use the word Sensei to express their respect for another person’s knowledge and experience, even if that person is not a professional teacher.

We aikidoka call the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, O Sensei, the big master. I once read on his grandson’s website that the purpose of Aikido is to part with your ego. Morihei Ueshiba wished for Aikido to contribute to world peace and indeed acting egoisticly has to stop.Doing that is important to me, but I also find it important for our student’s development. Besides, big ego's (look-at-me-type) spoil the esthetics of the movement. To my opinion our collective level will rise when we work together, when we are there for each other and when we share our knowledge. That is why competition (I am better/worse than you) is not wished in Aikido.

Our training is a serious business. Nonetheless, because by practicing Aikido we learn how to deal with negative energy or even danger, when there is no other way out. Therefore my training is quite strict, but a little bit of humour once in a while helps us to put things in perspective.

I think that the biggest victory in Aikido is overcoming yourself. Everyone can try that, whether they are advanced Aikidoka or have just begun training. The most important thing is the process of learning and what that process teaches you about yourself. By honouring this range of thought I feel connected with the Ueshiba family. The same range of thought is the basic principle of our dojo because of that there is a good athmosphere.

As a woman of age it took me quite a lot of courage and perseverance to come to where I am today. Meeting the following people helped me a lot: my first teacher Dick de Wit, my current teacher Wilko Vriesman, who gave me my fourth dan, the grandmasters Nobuyoshi Tamura, Koichi Tohei and his student Kenjiro Yoshigasaki, Kenji Shimizu. who gave me the third dan, Hironobu Yamada, Seishiro Endo, Ikeda Hiroshi, Patrick Cassidy and especially Christian Tissier, and furthermore the late Willem Bekink, Katori teacher, and grandmaster Ritsuke Otake, head of the Katori school, and all those who were kind enough to give me advice (too many to mention), and not in the least my dear, loyal students.