Mado is a name that made the future young father Rachwen Riahi has dreamed of for many years, a name that evokes softness and lightness but hides strength and depth: a force certainly
inherited from the creator himself.
Who is the founder of MADO?
Since the age of five, Rachwen Riahi has been given martial art training courses . He never had the profile of a champion of martial arts through out his whole life. Yet , he had a special gift. which was moulded by the hands of Ahmed Toueti, founder of AIKIDO in Tunisia. He had taken care of him and treated him like a son of his own. For Rachwen, he was a role model, he was his spiritual father. He was the one who taught him to live by instilling in him discipline cleanliness, values and empathy.
Most martial art enthusiasts follow the path of glory and dream of receiving medals and being applauded by the whole world, however Rachwen's dream was different. He had an eager desire
to knowledge, he was "rather interested in discovering the magical world of martial arts". Indeed, he did not limi himself to this pleasure only he also followed courses in several other disciplines such as judo NaijiMudo, Ju-jitsu, Taekwondo and karate...
But his greatest passion remains AIKIDO.
It took him ten years to aquire the black belt in AIKIDO, it was for him "the grail" but "when I wore the black belt" he admits"
they told me now you have the basics ,
you're ready to start learning how to train.
"It was then that he learned that it was not the point of arrival that counted but it
was all the way that remained to be achieved.
And his path kept taking different turns until he received a revelation that made him clearly perceive and trace his path, that of the conception of MADO.
The design idea, conception : a revelation?
MADO: a name that took time to form. The M refers to the English word "Martial", the "A" is the equivalent of the word "Arts" and the DO means the way in Japanese. Which gives: the way of martial arts.
My primary ambition was to "reform the training system for soldiers in Tunisia" why wasting so much money on calling foreign experts who have no knowledge of the security problems
we face on every day basis? He wondered. Indeed, they have no background knowledge of the street fighting" that we need to to face nowadays. He gave the example of karate by explaining
that this combat sport is certainly impressive but it cannot respond to the real life situations, where people use blades blades, large stones or broken bottles…
The coach must take advantage of the environment in which he lives. It is a place that is best characterized as a "chasm of corruption". It is located in el Kasbah near Malassine, Zarkoun street, Hafsia and Sabaghine where everything is permitted ; drugs, jihad, crime etc ...
"Most often the fights end up by blood being shed" .Thus, he wondered why not create a sport that meets the needs of the Tunisian in such situations? "French or American experts would not be able to teach us a combat sport which would be adequate for our situation because the problems are not identical" insists M Riahi.
He noticed that the police did not have the best means to do their job without resorting to violence. In reality, the police are not familiar with the controlling methods that allows them to subjugate the "felon" without recurring to violence. They do not have a strategic force nisi, they use force as a strategy.
"In 2013, when I was going through an enlightening stage, several ideas came to my mind," says Rachwen. Questions crossed his mind: why not combine techniques from two or more martial arts (even if the philosophy of each sport was distinguished) to create a martial art that would serve and survive in real life?
The decision to bring MADO into the world
Since he started contemplating about a Tunisian martial art that combines several combat sports such as NaijiMudo, Aikido, Ju-jutsu, Taekwondo, judo etc…
Rachwen Riahi conceptualized his baby Mado before even conceiving it. Indeed, MADO is a unique baby of its genre. To make it perfect, his creators had waited four years until he was born on August 17, 2017. This was the happiest day, when the first name MADO was finally registered
in OTDAV.
Nothing has ever pleased Rachwen Riahi as much as seeing hir offspring finally come
to life. It was at that moment that he had made the promise to put the interest of his son before his own. Thus,the registration was one day before the date of birth of the Creator.
Mado's birth was very difficult that it nearly came to be aborted but Rachwen held on it
well. Seeing his baby being born and alive in his homeland, Tunisia was already a dream come true.
Talk about MADO!
"MADO's favorite and most dominant color is red because it represents action, strength and resistance" the kimono is Thus red. It is in addition a tribute to the Tunisian flag and to the blood of the martyrs who sacrificed their souls defending the country. MADO is a combat sport which, like the others, consists of several levels.
MADO follows the belt system to symbolize the evolution of the trainee.
The first belt is white, it consists of 3 periods during which the learner acquires knowledge about values namely
respect, loyalty and finally integrity. The white color was chosen because it means nothingness there fore the beginning since it is the beginner level.
The second belt is brown. It is the color of
the earth, that of the beginning in the sense that the student takes root and learns the basics.
Then the blue belt which represents the element of water which is at the heart of life.
The fourth belt refers to the spirit of nature knowing that its color is green, it symbolizes growth and evolution.
The next belt is red, obviously it represents the element of fire which evokes strength
and power.
Then before the final stage the belt is yellow. Symbolically, it stands for the color of the leaves in autumn in the sense that it calls for resistance to the difficulties of the weather.
As for the last belt, it is purple representing wisdom and the connection with the spiritual world.
MADO levels are hierarchized in a way to harmonize the energies of the body and mind.
Why is MADO special?
This combat sport is unique because it takes into practice all the shortcomings of other martial arts. For example AIKIDO is a reaction art, it contains attacks but it is deprived of actions.
As for kick boxing, there is a problem with obstacles. The fighter does not get up when he falls to the ground.
In judo, the fighter needs to be in contact with the opponent so there is no distanced
resistance.
Rachwen Riahi made sure to create a martial art that takes into cinsideration the
weaknesses of its competitors. Everything seems easy but in reality, the path was not without difficulties in terms of research efforts but also the process of making this project into practice Though the path to the creation of MADO was long, it only succeeded thanks to those who believed in the idea.
The first person who believed in MADO was the mother of Mr.Rachwen. Several members of his family also really trusted him, especially his uncle who was
present from the start,at his young age but also his wife who encouraged him to take the plunge.
Rachwen is "born with a golden spoon" it seems. It is mainly his students who fell in love with his sport and who decided to go hand in hand to ensure that MADO does not only see the light of day but that it continues to shine. Rachwen admits that his students "sacrificed many things
like their time" They did not miss their training for anything in the world, they agreed to train late at night in a room that did not even have a rooftop. "They surrendered themselves up to the
unknown so that I could experience these new practices on them," he says.
It was difficult at first because of the very limited financial means and the adversaries who did not want MADO to exist.
Nevertheless, MADO has been able to grow thanks to its effect on newcomers. Parents have noticed a real change in the behavior of their children who have become more and more calm, more and more confident and above all more disciplined.
Mado's growth
MADO is growing little by little, it is gaining maturity, it is a sport which at the same time helps the trainee mature physically, cognitively and spiritually. Indeed, this martial art allows the muscular reinforcement as in gladiators to have more resistance to physical aging in the sense
that biological age becomes equal to organic age. This sport helps regulate the cardiovascular system and strengthens the rate of endurance and adaptation. MADO is also being able to manage the emotions thanks to the balance of the heart rate that is being trained , it also applies the technique of gentle breathing to learn calmness and serenity as in meditative
practice. MADO is also very strong in terms of anticipating the opponent's actions during a fight.
The level of concentration makes it possible to have an increasingly rapid reflexive
response over time. This is called the safety distance.
On the spiritual level MADO is an art which develops the five senses. Thanks to concentration exercises, each sense gains more and more acuity. The trainee is in touch with his inner self before even being in touch with the other, he has self-control and self-awareness before anything
else.
He is able to anchor and surpass himself each time. He not only learns to expend energy in the event of hyperactivity but he especially learns to channel and control it.
MADO is not only a martial art it is an art of life. This is why it is being taught in several countries already MADO is known in Algeria and Morocco.
But his adventure will not stop there, MADO is very ambitious: he intends in the next five years to be present in 13 regions in Tunisia, to go to Canada but also to one or two countries in Asia and in the south of Africa . It seeks to have 1,000 followers in Tunisia and 10,000 followers worldwide.
Will he know Death?
MADO is a very different and unique child, his creator faced death at one point but MADO was born to stay and "as my master Ahmed Toueti said:" you will leave one day but the imprint that you will leave will always be there, here below ".
