We started training with Yanitsa Sensei when my son was 4 years old. I like Eastern philosophy, and I wanted to enroll him in some kind of martial art. After I inquired, I chose Aikido because it is aimed at improving and developing personal qualities over focusing on competition. It also relies entirely on partnership. I looked for clubs that accept children as young as 4 years old and there was only one more similar place. I looked at the website of Tendokan Dojo and decided that I could not go wrong with the headquarters of the Bulgarian Aikido Association. They offered a special Aikids program, which is designed for children from 3 to 6 years old where it is mandatory for them to be accompanied by a parent, which was positive for me and my health. So I chose them! Yanitsa Sensei manages to charm and captivate the children as soon as they meet her – plus the Dojo atmosphere intrigues them a lot. She manages to turn the kids’ potential into strengths despite their age and in the group, they build the necessary discipline and get used to the etiquette and rules of the Dojo. This helps a lot now that he is already 7 years old and has been training in the next-level group (7 to 10 years old) for about a year. He has developed the necessary culture of reverence, humility and patience in the Dojo. In small groups, they learn basic movements which prepares them for the performance of the Aikido techniques at higher levels. Each training session ends with a game in which there are integrated elements of learning, which the children happily accept. They don't grow up obsessed with the colours of the belts, and for the little ones, Yanitsa Sensei has created special images of animals drawn by our calligraphy teacher Hiroshi Tajiri Shihan representing certificates of development and printed on T-shirts which bring tremendous joy to the kids when acquired. At a certain time, they have an exam and when demonstrating the necessary skills, they receive a specific T-shirt along with the superpower of the animal. This makes every kid (and parents!) very proud and happy.
My son had the honour of being among the first to participate in the first one-week summer seminar for kids led by Yanitsa Sensei - Kenshusei 2024. Five days of full-day training in Aikido, Ikebana, Origami, Calligraphy, and other interesting activities like hiking in Vitosha Mountain. Yanitsa Sensei took extra care of our children and gave feedback every day - as she does after every workout. The Tendokan Dojo also happened to be the first place where my son stayed overnight outside our home - being the last day of Kenshusei 2024. An unforgettable maturing experience of growth for both him and me that we’ll be grateful for forever.