| From: | JSB@**************.net (JS Bracher) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Martial Arts [was: Re: [OT] He's baaaack! And this time with |
| Date: | Thu, 10 Oct 2002 11:02:42 -0700 |
Instructors make a huge difference. Where I learned TKD, the school was
all about combat. We spared 80% of the time. A school I looked at later
did mostly katas, and almost no sparing.
Another issue is breaking (breaking boards or ice). None of the places
I've trained have done it, but many do. It's a good way to see if your
technique works, and to get the feel of actually hitting something. Body
bags are fun for that too.
When I studied TKD, we had Leon (3rd degree black belt) who taught us, and
Master Yun (9th degree black belt) who was the head of the school.
Leon was cool. This big, happy parole officer. He was a great teacher and
we enjoyed learning from him. He would slowly move around and help us
perfect our style & technique. He was asked one time about fighting
multiple opponents. So he talked about moving so only one can attack you
at a time (and keep the others having to race around the guy in front to
get to you). Then he had 2 of us go at him. He didn't have to do any of
that. He just kicked so fast, that the 2 folks just saw a face full of foot.
Moral - if you can do it faster, life is much easier.
Master Yun was really really good. But we were always nervous around
him. His english was difficult to understand, and if you asked him for a
demo, he'd do it on you so fast and hard you didn't see what he did and it
often hurt. But his mastery of technique was fluid and amazing.
The story was that when he lived in Korea, he would train up in the
mountains, then go down to a town, beat up all the people in a bar, wait
for the cops, beat them up, then go back up to the mountains and practice
his imperfections away. Then he'd go back to town, repeat the bar scene
again, beat up the cops again, and see what still needed work. I suspect
this was just dojo myth however.
