Rank:
6 dan, shidoin
Club function:
Founder, chief instructor and chairman
How long have you been training?
I started in 1974 at the Gothenburg Aikido Club when I was eight years old. My father Zeth Moberg was one of the leading figures at the club and started the children’s training, partly because he wanted me to join. After a few years break in my teens, I have trained more or less without a break since I was 15 years old. The Aikido world was very patriarchal when I was growing up. When Jan Bratt and I founded the Riai Aikido Dojo in 2003, one of our goals was to create a dojo where adults, youth and children would have access to high-quality training at their level. My involvement in children pedagogy, which has resulted in the Happy Aikido concept, also develops my own training.
The best thing about training:
It is magical how you can bow in to a workout, become one with the forms in full concentration, and then after the workout, be completely revitalized. The training really is for both body and soul. Then I love aikido itself for its own sake. Power and elegance in perfect combination.
Misc:
I first went to Iwama, Japan in 1988 when I was 22 years old. It was a profound experience for me to meet and train with Morihiro Saito Sensei. After that I learned Japanese (fairly well anyway) and became interested in Japan beyond aikido training. I have written three aikido books, educate our Young Leaders in a leadership program and have attended educations in sports injuries, leadership and Physical Literacy. I am the chairperson of the IAF (International Aikido Federation) working group for children and youth: “IAF Working Group for Children and Youth” in Europe where I work internationally to advance aikido for children and youth across national borders.
