Aikido
Giorgio Veneri
I owe him the possibility to travel the world for Aikido. Veneri was a pioneer for the Aikikai d’Italia and a pioneer for the spreading of Aikido in many Eastern European countries.
During his “expeditions” he would often take with him other Italian Aikidoists, and so I asked him if I could go with him in one of his trips. It was 1993 and he asked me if I wished to go to Russia with him, obviously I had to pay my own plane ticket. I ran to the travel agent and booked my first trip to Russia, which was to be followed by many others. In these 12 years we contributed to strengthen the federation of Dojos spread around the great Russian territory. I am very proud to say that the name CRAG ( Confederation of Russian Aikido Group) was the result of my ideas.
Then came South Africa in 1996. Giorgio was asked by the south African Federation (AFSA) for a teacher who could run the Winter School and he asked me to go. On that occasion, during the Federation’s meeting, the AFSA decided to ask Veneri to become their Technical Director, as their previous one, Kanetsuka Sensei had not been able to visit their country for many years.
I was later nominated Chief Instructor of the federation and since then, every winter (July) I go to South Africa to run the Winter School and visit a few Dojos. In 2004 Veneri asked me to replace him in his yearly trip to Jordan, that was the confirmation that something was wrong. He passed away in March 2005. I went to see him a few weeks before and then it was the first time he admitted that he was not well, he had been too proud to admit that weakness any earlier.
On that occasion he also said that he was pleased of my co-operation with him, and asked me to continue my work. It is quite ironic that I have never been his student nor have I ever visited his Dojo in Mantova, our relationship went beyond training.
Once again I would like to say “Thank you Giorgio”.