Let's start it from the basics? :v
1. Philosophy: In aikido.tbm you aren't invincible, you're not the best (however is your rank or ratio), you're not the "top guy", there will be always that blue belt that is developing his own style, and however his style is still in its primary stages, he will win you, because your style simply do not work on him. In aikido.tbm you must open your mind for any kind of improvisation (even those that you will dm yourself to open a bridge to a "breaking balance" and a possible win). For philosophy, I think that Bruce Lee would be one of the best players because in aikido.tbm you must "empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. A water can flow, or can crash" - Bruce Lee. :v
2. Playing/Moves/Tricks: As I've already said, you must be prepared to change your "style"/"kind of moves" to win your opponent. This seems to be hard, but you must train for it. You must follow the five basics to fight aikido:
I) Balance: The balance is the most important thing in aikido. If you lose your balance, any movement from your opponent will dq you. Balance, in definition, is a state of equilibrium or parity characterized by cancellation of all forces by equal opposing forces. BUT all the toris are equal, all they have the same weight, if everybody cancel the forces by equal opposition forces, it won't be a fight, it won't be moves. You must remember that the breaking balance can't be in you. You want to win. You must break the opponent balance by applying forces to directions where he couldn't make a base.
II) Base: The base is the main "technique" that will maintain your balance. You can make your base using your both feet, your both hands, a hand and a foot, both foot and a hand, both hand and a foot, and finally both hands and feet on the floor. The kind of base will depend on the fight stage, they're situational, and they must grant you far from dq. The base is the relationship between you and the ground.
III) Dojo domain: It's useless to have a good base if you don't know where you're stepping. The tip is: Stay always in the center of the dojo unless you start a move to win.
IV) Grab: The grab is one important skill in aikido too. With a grab you can control your opponent, you can dm, you can make a different base (by using your opponent to make a base, like if he was the floor, putting a lot of pressure on him and immobilizing him), you can flip yourself to escape from a hard situation, etc. It's important to realize where is important to have the grab domain, and when is important to ungrab. To ungrab has the same importance of grabbing. The best grabs are those that frac or immobilize an articulation, and allow you to have a good control of the opponent balance. Fight for this kind of grab.
V) Force: As I've already said, all the toris have the same size, the same weight and the same strength too. They're EQUAL. "So, what to do to produces force?" Simply, and literally, you have to get it off from the ground. :v The ground will help you when the task is "produce force" because you can use the reaction force to make upward forces, and then redirect the vectors to where you want. It's because of it that the lifts are famous in aikido (and it's because of it that the "pro" like to stay low), because it's not hard to do them, and when you lift, you removes the "strength" of your opponent. But it's not hard to counter a lift too, you can use the impulse of your opponent when he lifts you to lifts him too, even if you're in midair, just pull him up if you can. If you don't lift him, you'll remove a sort of strength from him.
Remember that you really don't need to use all of your "ground force" and be straight lifting your opponent. You can just subtly do a little and quickly upward force to "remove" a part of it "ground force" and make weak any kind of counter trying.
The Force will come from the momentum force too. You can combine breaking the opponent balance + base + grab + the "ground force" to make an absolutely powerfull momentum force in a move.
There's a lot of other things to talk about these 5 aspects and the philosophy. I'm sure that you'll help to complete. :v
Last edited by iver; May 24, 2014 at 08:36 PM.