Cultural center offers combat classes

“It’s more about focus ,” Swank said, “Whatever you do slowly starts to change who you are. Polishing technique turns you into a different person. Part of it is increased self-confidence, and part is self-discipline.”

Swank began teaching classes at the Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive, two months ago but has been an aikido instructor for two years and an aikido practitioner since 1989.

“Our school used to be the Southern Nevada Aikikai when we were in Henderson,” Swank said. “Now we’re the Las Vegas Aikikai. Aikikai is the common name of a lot of the best aikido schools in Japan.”

In addition to the classes Swank teaches twice a week at the cultural center, he practices aikido another day or two each week on his own. He believes that practicing aikido helps counteract the effects of his sedentary day job as a computer programmer.

“I don’t have any carpal tunnel issues,” Swank said. “I’m using and moving my body in a wide, dynamic range.”

Swank describes aikido as a martial art that is focused on controlling an attacker as a way of defending yourself.

“It’s a matter of controlling joints and momentum and figuring out how to take apart an attacker without being especially damaging,” Swank said. “You figure out how to undo the details of posture and balance that allow someone to remain standing.”

Swank said he’s never had to use it in the real world because he hasn’t encountered a situation where it was necessary. He said the closest he came to using the martial art was when he stopped a bar fight from escalating.

“A guy I was playing pool with ended up in a fight with someone, and another guy was going to jump in,” Swank said. “I just came up behind him and caused him to sit down. He was drunk. He didn’t know why he was suddenly sitting, but he didn’t get back up to join the fight.”

Swank became involved with aikido when he expressed interest in trying a martial art, and a friend recommended a good aikido instructor. He thought it was intriguing and stuck with it.

In addition to unarmed training, aikido also involves training with staffs and wooden swords, called bokken.

“We don’t train with them because we think we’re going to get into a fight with them in real life,” Swank said. “We use them because they help clean up a lot of movements and it makes you pay attention in a more martial way.”

As an example, Swank cited opponents mismatched in size. Having a piece of wood swinging around evens the odds and makes everyone pay attention to avoid getting hurt.

“Safety is the most important thing, and we’re careful not to hurt one another,” Swank said. “But if we’re working with bokken, which is like a curved ax handle, getting hit with that is not a small thing. That’s going to focus your attention.”

Las Vegas Aikikai is rebuilding after Swank took time off to recover from an unrelated shoulder surgery and moved the school from Henderson. Classes are small, with four or fewer students in most sessions.

“At the moment, the students are getting a lot of one-on-one instruction,” said Clark County cultural specialist Joseph House, who works out the class schedule at the Winchester Cultural Center. “I’m glad we have aikido here now. It’s a really great form of martial art.”

House said the staff at the center tries to keep steady class offerings and tries to add, not subtract, classes.

“The new classes for the fall just went up online,” House said. “We’re hoping that a lot of people will sign up for this class once they know it’s available.”

The next session of aikido is scheduled to begin Sept. 13 and costs $37 for a six-week session. Classes for students 6 or older are from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. For more information, visit clarkcountynv.gov or call 455-7340.

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.