The Karate Years

Like most little kids, I grew up loving heroes. I watched Star Wars and read the Hobbit and dreamed that one day I could be an almighty conqueror on whom men would look with awe. When I learned about marital arts, I thought that my dream had come true. People learned how to fight? At all ages? Without joining the army first? I begged and begged to learn. At length I suppose that my parents decided that I was in earnest, so they signed me up for Taekwon-do lessons. I would be in martial arts for the next ten years.

My first teacher was a Korean that we called Master Kang. He was a middle-aged Mr. Miyagi type, who spoke with an accent and behaved as though his parents had been samurai. I remember him as a fantastic teacher, and though he was a little rough – he would give us a smart knuckle rap on the forehead for being late, which he called a “peanut” – he was fair – whenever an older/bigger/more advanced student beat up on a junior student, Master Kang would pair them next with someone even bigger. I stayed at Master Kang’s for about six months, where I earned my Yellow Belt and a going away trophy that is still in my room.

After Dad changed jobs and we left Florida, I spent a year or so without any Taekwon-do. But after some searching we discovered a local school run by Mr. Edwards. He was a good teacher and fun to be around, but at his school I learned two important truths about most martial arts instructors: they are always looking for new real estate, and they don’t always stay in business. After several changes of building location, Mr. Edwards turned over the school to a subordinate, who in time turned it over to Mr. West. Mr. West lasted a while, but he too changed locations once or twice and subsequently fell on hard times, so before long his business closed. I moved from there on to Mr. Place. He had been a subordinate under Mr. Edwards and I spent several good years at his new school. But as I grew older and earned more ranks until I was a Black Belt, I grew tired of the competitive atmosphere and decided to give Taekwon-do a break.

A year or so passed before I grew restless and started again. We looked around, but several familiar schools were on hard times and not terribly functional. So I turned to karate. Where Taekwon-do was a kicking-based Korean variant, karate was a fist-based Japanese variant. I wound up at a kenpo karate dojo run by Professor Cale. Unlike my previous instructors, the professor did not have to close down, though he did change locations several times. I consider my time spent at his dojo to be the best period of my martial arts career. Prof Cale was easygoing, but serious and did not push his students beyond what they would not willingly do. However, the style that he taught was much more dire than what I had experienced in Taekwon-do: a certain move as taught by Edwards would disarm an opponent, while the same move as taught by Cale would shatter an elbow.

I enjoyed my time at Professor Cale’s but as college became my new life, the trouble of setting up a contract for only summers – busy, part-time job summers – was too great a headache and I’ve since ceased attending classes. I miss martial arts and have not really found a comparable experience on campus. Maybe once I settle down after college I’ll give the Professor another try.