Hello. I'm rather new in this forum, although I've been reading a lot of posts for the past few nights. As you might guess, this is my first post here and may I add that I'm honored to be a part of this community. First off, I suppose I must introduce myself. I'm in my early twenties, studying in college, living in Southeast Asia, and am currently am a 4th Kyu in Combat Aikido (focus is not only on defense but on proper striking as well), where we also train quite vigorously in Arnis, seeing as it is our national sport of sorts (Philippines) - vigorous enough to land me in the one of the top three places of each local Arnis tournament that I've attended. I also have background knowledge on TKD, though not very much. Anyway, my question is, what would be a good complimentary martial art to Combat Aikido? I've been checking around our city and my current schedule allows me only a few options: Karate, TKD, Arnis (advanced), and possibly (not sure yet), Wushu. I've been encouraged lately to look into Karate because of the personalities and talent that I've seen in the latest MA gathering in the local YMCA, wheras before, I was actually quite discouraged since it was such a mainstream and popular MA (see: the Karate Kid fiasco; yes, I admit that it was an immature way of thinking). Also, I've heard that a prominent Arnis personality who had retired here (Nestor Fernandez) teaches the students... It's intriguing. TKD is also quite interesting, although I know most everyone believes that it is a very ineffective art. The school I've found though are run by Koreans and I've seen the training - there's almost a 1-to-1 type of instruction (1 teacher to 1 student) - and the instructors are quite talented. The problem there is fee - they ask for way too much... $_$ My third option would have to be Arnis. This is an MA which I am really into - we dabble into it (but not as much as I want to) in my Combat Aikido class. I know the head instructor - he's a 5th Kyu in my CA class, and a friend of mine. I also know a few students there, guys who also attend the CA class. Unfortunately -- if I join, I would be the only female there, and I'm quite hesitant still. I suppose I need confidence for this, although there's the option of dragging my cousin to join me... The fourth option would be Wushu, which I heard just recently is offered in my university (I would have to check the schedules first, though). I don't know much about this yet, except that it's a beautiful art... Well, here lies the problem. I really can't decide which one to learn. Can anyone give me a good advice on which art may be the better choice? I'm sorry if this message is far too long (is there a limit?) or I'm wasting people's time but it's so hard to decide and I would really like to know more information and get more advice before joining any of the ones I mentioned above... Thanks for reading! That is all. (And glad to be here, once again.)
