Aviv Goldsmith

Aviv Goldsmith

A hero is somebody who does or is something that inspires us to take that extra step in our own lives, influencing our thoughts and decisions in a way that stands out from the rest of the crowd. We could admire that person for certain traits and habits, for a way of living, or for their accomplishments as a human being. The list goes on. Heroes can have a positive impact on some that outlasts their own lives and touches the community in a meaningful way; they can also nudge that one person into just the right direction.

I am a regular student at Aikido in Fredericksburg, a 501(c)3 non-profit educational  facility in Spotsylvania, Virginia. I first began my martial arts training when I was seven, though I did not make the switch to aikido until I was thirteen years old and living in Florida at the time. Martial arts had been a part of my life for so long, and there was something in aikido that fascinated me in a way that my previous art did not. Eventually, we relocated to Virginia. Aikido in Fredericksburg happened to be close by, and somewhere around September of 2009 I took my first trial class in a large, well-used warehouse up a hill and behind some stores that had no air-conditioning. I was introduced to the instructor, Aviv Goldsmith, and his wife Donna. I took my very first lesson from one of his students, Heather. Despite the plethora of black-belts on the mat, there was no doubt that the facility was not ideal for a dojo. 

I didn't go back right away; it was also around that time that we experienced our first major winter. Snow was everywhere. But somewhere in there, I heard of an Open House for Aikido in Fredericksburg. They were opening up a new dojo and leaving the warehouse they'd been training at previously; Aviv Sensei had built it specifically for Aikido practice, and his hard work paid off. Now, they had a true place to study. I went, and before 2 years passed, I successfully tested for my black-belt as the youngest to test in that particular dojo. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him.

Aviv Sensei is a man of about average height. He has some wrinkles, and he wears glasses, and his voice reminds me a little bit of Tom Hanks. My first impression of him was that he was a distracted guy; he always looked like he was thinking about something else while he was teaching, even if he wasn't. He isn't very talkative either, and making small talk with him is like talking to a tree, and the tree just happens to interrogate you back! During my first couple of conversations with him, I was too intimidated to even look him in the eye. He is the type of guy who will remember everything you say for what I'm betting 50 or 60 years later. I've put my foot in my mouth on more than one occasion around him.

Aviv Sensei is in his fifties now, but the amount of work he's done for his community in such a short time is phenomenal. He received a BA in Biological Sciences from Cornell University, an MBA from Syracuse University, and a Masters degree in Energy Systems from the New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. With this background, he's helped push forward a number of environmental projects all around the world, from geothermal plants to volunteering with Vista, building homes for underprivileged people. A few years ago, he was brought on as an adviser to Fishermen's Energy , a community-based offshore wind farm development company. 

Somewhere within that time frame he started to train in aikido and eventually joined a dojo in Reno, Nevada, in which he received his black-belt in 1992. When he earned his 4^th degree black-belt he moved to Virginia at the invite of the Fredericksburg Aikido Club to assume the role of Chief Instructor at their dojo. On January 1, 2006, he was promoted to 5^th degree black-belt.  In addition to single-handedly taking over all daily classes and managing his own career, he purchased the land around his house and began to build his own dojo, where his classes would eventually move to at the end of 2009.

I joined at the beginning of 2010, and since then I've witnessed him host multiple seminars, community open houses, roadside cleanups, and two teen and children's summer camps. The amount of things he has done for his community in the past two years I've been there is staggering. He has truly made the dojo his home, and in some aspects I feel like he's adopted the majority of his students into a large extended family. He's done what he could to make the atmosphere of training one of friendship, and it's truly paid off. Not one person who has trained for an extended period of time has complained that aikido makes them unhappy; on the contrary, they have all attested to the fact that they were performing much better in school, work, or merely in their own social lives. I don't believe the program would be thriving as much as it is now without Aviv's supervision. He really lit a fire under them.

I believe he meets all the criteria for a hero. He's done a lot for Virginia, renewable energy, and aikido. But more importantly, he's inspired me to keep pushing myself and exceed expectations in all area in my life. He still hasn't gotten me to enjoy lettuce as much as I probably should, but he's enabled me to be the best person that I can be. That, in my definition, is a hero.

Sources:

"Aviv Goldsmith." Personal interview. 5 Dec. 2011.

"Fredericksburg.com - Aikido Instructor Gets Advanced Ranking." Fredericksburg.com - Fredericksburg,                               Virginia's Homepage. Fredericksburg Newspaper, 14 Mar. 2006. Web. 02 Dec. 2011.                .                                                            

"Interview with Aviv Goldsmith Sensei, 5th Dan." Http://aikido-world.com. Aikido World Journal. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. .