Apprehending criminals was part of Patrick Chan’s job. He was a police investigator when the streets were tough in newly independent Singapore. His skill in various martial arts helped him subdue the unruly he encountered. Now a silver sensei teaching the ancient Japanese martial art of aikido, his stories of Singapore’s past liven up aikido classes for his students today.
On this day after class, the 65-year-old aikido teacher pauses after one of his stories and looks over at his wife, petite 71-year-old Lily Chan with her halo of soft white hair, and says with a laugh, “But she’s tougher than I am.”
They often train at home in their apartment in Serangoon. Lily, also a sensei at the dojo, loves to train.
"Even when I was teaching private classes one-on-one, big-sized men could not take 45 minutes with me. It's very tiring. She can go on for two hours. And I say, enough already! Take a break!"
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The path to being a silver sensei
Aikido, sometimes referred to as the Art of Peace, is a martial art revolving around self-defense. Joint locks and throws are the weapon of choice over fists and feet, with the majority of techniques focused on redirecting opponents’ energy rather than meeting them head-on.
Watching her expertly do body falls in the dojo today, it’s hard to imagine that she struggled to get out of a chair when she started practicing the Japanese martial art a decade ago.
She was very reluctant at first. “When my family started doing aikido,” recalls Lily, “They asked me to join, but I said no, it’s not possible. I have knee trouble, I have osteoporosis. I cannot squat. In aikido you have a lot of throwing, a lot of falling. It’s impossible! So, I went to learn tai chi. Same problem. Cannot squat. But tai chi was so much easier.”
Meanwhile, Patrick and their eldest son Shamus were driven by their passion for aikido and its concept of oneness and harmony through practice. They began to teach it.
Credit: Kim Lee
Osteoporosis aside, and with squats no longer a problem, Lily rose through the ranks and is now a 2nd Dan black belt, one level above a basic black belt.
Trials and tribulations of the Chan family
Credit: Chan family
Second son Sean also holds 2nd Dan black belt. According to Patrick, Sean’s the only person with Down syndrome who was awarded this high rank in Singapore.
It was a great achievement, considering that Sean’s birth marked the start of turbulent times for Patrick and Lily. His condition was alien to the young couple then and the advice from their doctor was to expect a child with all kinds of health problems. They struggled to accept it and turned to religion for solace and guidance.
“Before,” recalls Lily, “I never liked Down syndrome or special needs children because I was afraid of them. When I had Sean, I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do. I was ashamed. I wanted to hide him. I thought this kind of kid was a curse. But now I see it differently. As I took care of him, I realised he is still my son. I started to have empathy for all those people who are like us, who have these kinds of kids.”
Credit: Kim Lee
Speaking of bigger problems, there was more in store for them after coming to terms with Sean’s condition.
Jonah came next, three months premature, barely a kilogram at birth. He spent most of his first year in the hospital. He was in and out with one emergency after another for the next 10 years and had several close shaves with death.
Lily gave up her career as a draughtswoman to take care of their sons, and to homeschool them.
Enoch, who came shortly after Jonah, was another Down syndrome baby. But this was easier for Patrick and Lily to accept this time, and they received him as a blessing. However, Enoch also had a congenital heart issue. Surgery to correct that was successful, but an issue with his tracheotomy cost the child his voice.
Distracted by the numerous medical alerts in these early years with his children, Patrick gave up his police work and became a medical representative. It was a job that gave him a new understanding of his children’s medical issues, but its biggest lesson for Patrick was humility, even as he succeeded at it.
From aikido interest to silver sensei
It did lead him back to martial arts though. First son Shamus was old enough to be interested in sport, so Patrick took him along. He was looking to return to the Shaolin martial arts he knew when he chanced on aikido.
Credit: Kim Lee
But all these arts are full contact, hard-core, beat-up-the-guy. In sparring, it is either I knock you out, or you knock me out. Aikido, it's not like this.
"To be honest, those other arts made me very aggressive. But they also taught me to never give up. No matter how hard I get hit, I get up. There is this saying in martial arts: 'If you get up one more time, you will win'."
"I fell in love with aikido because the concept is so different. It taught me to handle conflict in a different way. I don't go in to kill the guy, I let him come in and handle his aggressiveness — and handle him gracefully, and not hurt him. So the concept applies to what I went through."
"The concept of aikido, I understand, is to make the best of it. I have to stay positive. If I go negative, everything goes. And I have to take care of her (gesturing at Lily), and everybody else. If I go negative, I cannot support them. I was in sales for 25 years. It was a job I did not like. It was totally different from the CID (Criminal Investigation Department)."
That is history now.
What is now and the future is running Aikido Tai Shin Kai, which Patrick does with Shamus, who will be recognised for 5th Dan in Japan in April 2025. 5th Dan is high acknowledgment. Apart from just 10-15 years of training, it is prestigious validation of strong focus on teaching, leadership and technical mastery in aikido.
Credit: Chan family
Today, where most silver-haired couples protectively watch over grandkids, Patrick and Lily are happy to teach them to fall and throw one another — but always with respect to their partner. That also goes with the special needs kids in their classes. Interestingly, children with Down syndrome seem to take to them most readily, waving at them from afar, and coming up to hug them at classes.
Oneness, through aikido, perhaps?
Oneness is also in the answer they give when the couple is asked what they enjoy today.
