Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ivan Chaika. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ivan, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Finding a purpose in life…
For me, it means knowing exactly what, where, and how you want to spend your life, or at least most of it. After school, I was drawn to computers, probably like most guys my age, so I decided to study programming. It was interesting and promising. Regular sports training gave me confidence and physical fitness, but I didn’t want to be a “typical athlete” with muscles and a limited mindset or outlook. After a long journey through college and university, while still continuing with sports, I met many smart, strong, and educated people. And it was towards the end of university that I heard the following:
“Each of you will go your own way, regardless of your knowledge or lack of it. Education doesn’t make you smart. It helps you see the world more broadly and find the right paths for your development.”
At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but soon I tried to combine my technical knowledge with the skills I had developed in sports and martial arts, which I had been practicing by that point. I found that I was best at this during training, both learning and teaching others.
Having gone through many stages in life, including the war in my country, I came to the conclusion that what gives me the most drive, so to speak, the fire in my eyes and soul, is engaging in my favorite activity — practicing and teaching people Aikido and other Japanese martial arts, which captivated me so much at one time, thanks to my teacher, Shilin Maxim.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hello, my name is Ivan Chaika, and I’m from Ukraine. Thank you for inviting me to this interview.
Since childhood, I have been involved in sports: swimming, karate, basketball, triathlon, and more that I can hardly remember. At some point, I grew tired of competitions that were unfair and corrupt, both from the opponents and the judges. Incorrect weight categories, age groups, favoritism toward the “preferred” participants, and many other issues regarding the lesser-known or overlooked sides of sports can, quite literally, destroy lives.
I realized I didn’t want to be part of that world anymore and sought something new. I had seen martial arts clubs, but the term “sports” always pushed me away. Then, a Yoshinkan Aikido club opened in my city, and I decided to read about it to understand why it’s not just Aikido. It turned out to be a vast world with its branches and paths, sometimes running parallel and at other times diverging dramatically. The important thing I discovered is that Aikido is not a sport, it is a martial art, and the Yoshinkan style is studied by Japan’s special forces and police to this day.
Being in good physical shape from my sports background, I thought, “I’ll check this out,” as my understanding of Aikido came only from movies, and books could never replace practice. When I attended my first class, I felt that being in shape wasn’t everything needed to defend oneself and loved ones. Moreover, I learned how the culture and philosophy of martial arts work and why it isn’t a sport, how the psychology-reaction link operates, why strikes are often ineffective and dangerous in our world, and why it’s essential to know how to fall.
That’s how I met my teacher, Maxim Shilin. Over the following years, I also got to know many other teachers, including Japanese instructors from the school.
In my more than 13 years of practice, I became a teacher myself. I opened federations in various countries, but my main activity and students were in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, after the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, classes stopped. I volunteered in every possible way to fight the occupiers and help the Ukrainian army. However, after 1.5 years apart from my wife, who had to evacuate to Poland and lived there alone all this time, I suddenly began to reflect on where everything was heading. I realized that many of those with whom we fought back against the invaders mostly died, and those who survived had left the country. I tried to do everything I could while I had savings, but as the war continued, my family and I were left with almost nothing. I had to sell my business and even the equipment from the dojo to buy medical supplies for the military and myself, as the situation with corruption during the war was appalling, and everyone knew about it, yet ordinary citizens still tried to help.
Soon something changed in my government, and people began to be grabbed from the street like animals to be sent to war. My comments on social media displeased someone in higher circles. In the end, a familiar person from ‘high circles’ called me and recommended that I leave the country, as quote, ‘People like you are not needed here.’
After nearly two years of full-scale war in Ukraine, I was reunited with my wife. We immediately understood that we needed to start rebuilding our lives from scratch, with a clean slate, so to speak.
So, I reached out to an old friend who lived in America, Hi, Elijah, I know you see this :), we had trained under the same coach and were on the same team. He didn’t refuse to help and he with his family assisted me and my family in coming to the States and settling down.
In the cozy town of Anderson, South Carolina our life story continued. Right now.
Right now, me and my wife Daria are finishing the renovation of our Dojo (training hall), where we will be happy to welcome friends and students. Thanks to my wife (she is my driving force and main assistant), I decided to reopen the school and teach people martial arts, helping them become better, learn something new, and get inspired by what inspires me.
We also have grand plans for the future, but for now, we are happy to invite you to the first training sessions at our School of Aikido Yoshinkan.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Perseverance. Discipline. Calculatedness.
To persist in pursuing your goal, your dream, even through failures, injuries, sorrow, and hardships — is praiseworthy.
Discipline will help you move steadily, even with small steps, in the direction you have chosen in your life.
Calculatedness. According to the dictionary, it is a combination of several qualities, but I will try to describe it briefly. It will help in weighing all the pros and cons, strictly planning what needs to be done, choosing the right moment for action, and planning most of your steps to achieve your goal. This includes weighing all the “pros” and “cons” of your undertaking.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
As the instructor of my own martial arts school, I am always open to partnerships and collaboration opportunities. I am particularly interested in connecting with other martial arts instructors, schools, or organizations that share a passion for promoting physical and mental growth through martial arts. I also welcome opportunities to collaborate with local community groups, sports clubs, or wellness centers to expand the reach of our programs and create new, exciting learning opportunities for students.
If you are interested in collaborating, feel free to reach out to me directly. You can contact me via [email protected] to discuss potential partnership ideas and how we can work together to inspire and empower individuals through martial arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aikidoschool.space
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aikido.yoshinkan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/schoolofaikidoyoshinkan
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
