Aikido family

Our story

Our dream is to live in a world of equality and connection. In connection with yourself and those around you. We know that people who are in their own power are more likely to live fulfilled lives, make better choices and share their happiness with others.

To follow our thinking and movement, it is good to take a little trip into the past how we, as an aikido family, started on a young age (14 and 16 years) To be able to help others.

Ando was founded in 2002 following Roefelen in Veldhoven. Roefelen emanated from the Jantje Beton Foundation to let children sniff out businesses. Marga and Wim (parents of Edo and Anne) were self-employed and based in the health centre. The grub committee was looking for companies for their children's groups. Marga and Wim couldn't do much for them but knew it was always difficult because Edo and Anne used to go roving too. They always loved it, so we decided to join the four of us. Hoping that would satisfy us for roving, but it became more than that.

"Many parents had now found it for their child. Fear of failure, ADHD, Autism, all sorts of things came up with stories about the child. This got us thinking and we decided to take a shot at it. Edo and Anne were on the mat as assistant coaches in judo and with aikido they trained at a high level for their age, so in that respect it could be done.

Together we prepared a pleasant day of aikido for. This could not be difficult, as we were enthusiastic about it ourselves. We made a dojo at the centre, for the day, and filled the rooms with aikido gear. Edo and Anne were young (aged 14 and 16) and were closer to the children than adults. Added to this, life is give and take. Edo and Anne could set themselves as examples. Because they had already received so much from aikido, it was not wrong to pass aikido on. It was first discussed with Edo and Anne's sensei, then Christian Tissier Shihan.

With his approval we followed all that was required for it after this. As an Aikido family, we had everything. Wim marketing/advertising and management background and I healthcare. Edo and Anne filled in the picture of trainers. Wim who was now pursuing his career in education, helped them with the lessons and gave feedback. I gave the parents information about aikido and who we were."

Written by Marga Slui- Swart † 2012

Meanwhile, sensei Edo and Anne Slui are well-known Aikidokas around the world. With their inspiring socialmedia account they reach some 27,000 followers. The other day, sensei Anne was in Montreal to share her Aikido among several grandmasters. The story was therefore picked up the newspapers and thus made it into the media.