Archive for June, 2011

It was really strange knowing that last night was the last I’d spend in our current dojang, my home-from-home for the last three years. At first It didn’t really bother me; training’s training, you get on with it and work hard, but as the clock ticked around to 9 o’clock and we were asked to line up and then choose our favourite hyung to perform one last time, it really hit home. It surprised me that I chose Naihanchi Cho Dan, but I’m glad it was the one that sprang to mind.

Sitting down for muk nyum at the end was unusal too. Normally I’m pretty good at blanking everything from my mind and not thinking for a minute or two (I’ve just got that kind of mind I suppose…), but for that couple of minutes I had a kind of compressed flashback. Getting in there that first time, gutting and painting it, injuring myself, parties, gradings, my own Dan grading, laughs, frustration, pride – after a relatively hard lesson and a long day at work it was a bit like being hit by an emotional steamroller.

I’m a sentimental person at the best of times, so I’m not too surprised that I felt sad to drive away afterwards, but I know it’s just a building, and I know the next place is going to be fantastic too. As I was cooking my food when I got home, for some reason I started wondering just how hard we’ve worked in there over the years, and me being me, decided to try and figure it out. So here is my faux-scientist, quasi-mathematical look at our work in the last three years.

• By my reckoning, an average lesson would probably have burned an effective 300-400 Calories. Some estimates put the amount into the 600+ range, but I’d rather go conservative here. The fitter and thinner people would burn fewer Calories than us heavier guys Sip Soo specialists.

• We’ve always had the equivalent of four lessons a week in there, if you count things like Viper Squad, kids lessons, post-TSD Kickboxing etc. Again, this is very conservative.

• I’d say that an average of eight people being at every lesson is fair, sometimes it was higher, sometimes lower, but this is a good low estimate.

SO….

8 (people) * 350 (average Calories per leson) = 2,800 Calories burned per lesson.

2,800 * 4 (average lessons per week) = 11,200 Calories burned per week.

11,200 * 52 (weeks a year) = 582,400 Calories burned per year.

582,400 * 3 (years) = 1,747,200 Calories burned in total.

As I said, these are very conservative numbers, but even with that we’ve expended over 1.7 MILLION Calories in that building! It takes ~86 Calories to light a 100W bulb for an hour, so between us we could have kept that light bulb burning bright for just over 846 days continuously!

We wave goodbye to the old place with one hand while we use the other to open the door to our new home. Tang Soo, dojang, Tang Soo!

What a great weekend away with ISK

It started with a long 8 hour drive so I must put a thanks out to Master James for providing a lift, Mr Richards for his pick and mix, and Lara, for commentary – it was and enjoyable trip up. Arriving at our usual haunt, the Priory Marina Premier Inn, I was glad to lie down on a bed but with a need to eat before long I was sat down to a nice meal at the restaurant next door to finish the day.

Entering three categories I wasn’t sure what to expect and pre competition butterflies crept in early morning the next day. I had no hunger and little thirst, just the day ahead mulling over in my mind. Following the traditional bow they started with Gup grades; unusual as they’ve normally begun with Dan grades and Masters to free them for judging so it wasn’t long before I was called, which caught me slightly of guard as I hadn’t fully warmed up.

I felt confident with the form Pyung Ahn Oh Dan having practiced it more than anything else, but with my name last in the group all I felt like doing was closing my eyes and hoping for it to be over. I just had to sit still and try and relax. Once I started it felt good, my confidence grew I managed to get decent height on the jump and not wobble too much landing in a low kyo cha rip jaseh. I finished happy, but there was and always is room for improvement.

Although still feeling the excitement I was more nervous and less confident in the following Chil Sung category and made the silliest and probably the most avoidable error by not just  forgetting the form half way through but instantly giving up to start again. My mind went blank and I hung my head. Thinking back if I held for a second I might have remembered, but we live and learn.

Sparring starting and as time went on I was getting more and more anxious as to when I would be up. Hearing a mumbled sound over the tannoy I thought I had been called, though not seeing much movement from any red belts I continued pacing around. All day I was pretty certain that I would be grouped with Dan and Chris being a similar age, size and belt to them so when their names were called I listened intently for a name that never came. I was so sure I should have been in that group I ran over and questioned the referee if I ought to be there to which he sent me to the main table and I got my name added. Phew. We stepped on the mat, and after the rules were read I was put down to be in the first fight against a forth red belt from another club. We bowed then to my shock I heard my name called; I was in the wrong ring and only seconds from starting. All I could do was shove my hand in the air and apologise then run to correct ring feeling a bit of an idiot.

The category was the same size but the opposition looked bigger so I wasn’t sure how well I would fair. With nerves starting to kick in the first fight got off to a bad start, loosing the initial point with a hit to the stomach whilst I was trying to blitz. Not to back off I soon got into a rhythm by thinking back to all the Viper Squad sessions that without a doubt have been the most helpful aid to my sparring, and made it through. The final came and I was determined to win this particular fight, mainly because I didn’t want to let my club down but they were also watching; and I was very glad to have to the support.

I saw many good performances by our club throughout the day from not only the Dan grades whose categories from what I remember looked particularly challenging but the lower Gup grades which for most were at their first competition; showing an eagerness and determination to perform to a high standard, I think they did ISK proud. My highlight of the day was watching the Masters sparring as when everyone gathers round the central ring you know something good is going to happen and I could feel the tension building. The fights were quick and some of the techniques shown are something to aspire to.

It is interesting at such events being able to see how other clubs perform, especially with hyungs and trying to pick out variations compared to how we are taught. Another bonus after you’ve been to one is seeing familiar faces and catching up with students from other clubs. One exchange of which ended with me attempting a butterfly kick along with Dan.

The evening came and with a late finish to the day, I know I wasn’t the only one with a rumbling stomach looking forward to the night’s revelry. It itself didn’t not get off to a smooth start with taxi problems getting such a large group to our regular all you can eat Chinese but I’m happy to say we kept to etiquette (6).

After gorging myself on a heaped plate of food I felt reluctant to make my way back to the buffet not wanting to finish after only one helping (and trying to keep up with everyone else). Mr Leonard’s birthday cake I thought brought a joyous end to the meal though it nearly finished me off, as nice as it was I had no more room to spare. Now past 11pm it had been a very long day and the decision against our usual excursion to a nightclub came as a relief (however tempted I was) and retiring to the hotel to put our feet up with a few drinks turned out to be a better option.

It has been well over week now since this memorable trip away, time seems to be skipping forwards and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Before we know it the trip to Florida will have come and gone and I do not doubt that we will have a good time there win or lose as I always like to think its not what you do or where you go its who your with.

A couple of weekends ago saw the ISK martial arts gang heading up to our favourite premier inn for my second experience of the British Nationals, a competition held annually in Master Kumar’s hometown of Bedford. The drive has become quite familiar over the last year so after the customary mahoosive burger at Exeter service station, the quizzes began and didn’t stop until constant radio contact became too much to bear (:P). Thanks to the very welcome Pick n Mix provided by the Right Honourable Mr Richards (you are forever welcome to travel with me from now on you’ll be pleased to know), hunger was staved off till we reached the hotel after a very long day. Exhausted, an early night was called for and I have to say I sparked out pretty much immediately.

The next morning was as bright and cheerful as lots of stomach butterflies can make it, until that is we realised that the satnav wasn’t in fact making it up and yes it would take us the best part of an hour to get to the Sports centre where the competition was to be held. We eventually made it, thankfully not the last to arrive, and after a quick change we soon realised that the wonderful farmyard smell was not going to disappear *disgusted upper class lip curl*. With a scheduled start of 9am the competition began all guns blazing at half ten with the gup grades going first. It’s already been commented on that this was not the usual order of the day but I think we provided a good start, bringing in trophies here there and everywhere. It’s strange to look back and think what it was like at my first tournament (not that long ago I might add, I’m not old yet!) and how nervous I was. Trust me, that feeling doesn’t change! When your name is called, no matter how ready you think you are, your stomach will always feel that it’s just dropped into an Abyss of Terror. Capital letters and all.

So, the gup Hyungs were first up followed by the Dan grades and finally the Masters, which are always a pleasure to watch. The level of technique and pure physical understanding of the forms is just incredible, and competition is really the only time we get to see SBNs demonstrate high level Hyungs. However, by the time these had been performed it was already half three in the afternoon, and with the sparring still to go before the 6 o’clock finish it was a bit of a rush!

The sparring from my point of view was quite possibly the most memorable. Making three girls cry is both a testament to what a bada$$ I am (Xena told me herself that she thought I was one, how awesome is that! That girl kicks butt and she thinks I’m cool!) but also how different it is sparring girls to boys. It’s quite difficult really to judge how hard you should go when you’re used to putting a bit more aggression behind your technique. Nevertheless from what I could see the others did incredibly well in their categories, I believe there’ll be some more awesome pics once Kitty gets a move on and uploads some!

The Masters sparring was brilliant to watch and I have to admit a bit nerve-wracking. I know it’s pathetic but I was squeezing Mr A Richard’s Dobok the entire time Master James was in the ring with Master Cockram, no offence honey but I thought he’d take your head off! So was very pleased that that didn’t happen and in the end it was a brilliant fight. The remainder of the Master’s sparring was fantastic to watch, with the guy who eventually won showing off some outstanding technique and speed.

Overall, an awesome weekend and as always it was a pleasure to share it with such a fantastic group of friends.

Tang Soo!

P.s. No way are we missing out on clubbing next time, no matter how tired we are!

The world championships: oh jeez.

Even though I’m a mere 7th gup I have a lot to focus on in improvement. At best I manage to churn out an average performance in sparring and forms, so I’m extremely anxious in getting every minute detail as polished as I can get it. In order to improve myself over the course of the following month’s preparations, I constructed a list of items to improve and I’ve broken my aims down as follows:

Sparring

• Stop Being A Wuss: I hardly ever attack, due to a mixture of nerves (of being punched and believing I could actually seriously injure the opponent). Combined, I’m left focused more on defence and will often result in my doom as I’m left deflecting punches after punches after punches and then a kick to the stomach. The most dangerous bad habit of mine is to turn my head away when I see a punch incoming – not just towards my head, but towards my body in general, as though I’m thinking ” if I can’t see the punch it’s not there! 
   
  

  "If I can't see the incoming punch, it's not there!"

  How I intend on sorting this out: If I can, I’ll join a primarily fighting-based class in my home-town and that will hopefully crush my nerves and turn me into a fighting machine worthy of being the child of The Karate Kid and The Terminator. I just need more practice in, essentially, getting hurt. I’ve never been in a fight before and naturally not a violent person, so maybe a few bar-fights will help, too(joke).

• Combos Combos Combos: Usually I’ll start in a defensive stance before leaning forward with a punch and recoiling back into a defensive stance. Then I’ll lean forwards with a punch and recoil back into a defensive stance. Then I’ll often finish this off with a punch (by leaning forwards) and draw it back into a defensive stance. Okay, that’s a bit exaggerated, but I know I always tend to use the same moves throughout a sparring match – and tend not to mix kicks and punches together, resulting in me either using too many kicks (and exhausting myself) or too many punches (and not getting a decent distance during a fight at key points).
  How I intend on snorting this out: I guess practice makes perfect – already I am using my legs and arms more together. For example, I often use my lankiness to my advantage and distract with the arms to let my swirly legs enter in with a kick. I must simply be more aware of the fact my body is one being and that every limb should be either attacking or preparing to defend.
• Punches: Mixed in a bit with the “Stop Being a Wuss” category I guess, but I gave this its own little category. Basically, I tend not to punch. Or, bluntly, I tend to avoid using punches. I hate the idea of getting close to an opponent and thus use my legs more.
  How I intend on sorting this out: Get used to the pain by being punched in the face? I’ll admit, I’m not a big fan of this whole “pain” thing, not really my thing, but I know I have to get over this as soon as I can before it really does start affecting the entire future of my martial arts. But I know I have to be more risk taking. Besides, Dave, you’re gonna be wearing a head guard for god’s sake, get over it. Although…

Forms:

• Just be better: Yeah, pretty much just this. I’m following Master Giaccobe’s advice from his biography and taking inspiration from the elements of nature, such as the gracefulness of the deer he mentions when transitioning from my positions. Specific aspects I need to improve are the high-blocks, the punches across the centre-line and widening my stances to get more balance.

Well that sums up my situation and my ideas to improve, although if anyone has any other tips etc I’d most welcome then. At the end of the day, I have every intention of doing my best and getting a medal for my forms. A big goal for anyone, never mind me, but I intend on surprising people and show that I can shine in at least one aspect of Tang Soo Do.

Dave

I’m still not sure why they are called ‘British’. We had Dutch, Danish and German clubs there ?

So last weekend was the EMTF British National competitions. Although i’m not really a big competitor any more i do still attend the British (and European when possible) competitions every year. It’s as much about the social aspect as competing. It’s a great way to get to know people from the other clubs and meet the chaps from the EMTF.

This time was my turn to drive. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic twice on the way up (We decided on the M5/M42/M6/M1 route to Bedford as opposed to M5/M4/M25) which means the journey in total took 8 hours (including a couple of stops). Food that night was courtesy of the harvester next door to the hotel. A pint and burger taste so much better after a long slog on the road. Up bright and early the next day we soon realised that it was another hour on the road to get to the sports centre. More driving . . . The hall itself was a decent size. Enough for ten rings plus spectators. Although there wasn’t a dedicated warm-up space for competitors which was a bit of a shame. The other shame was the smell. The hall was next to a stable (agricultural college) so there was a constant smell of manure and urine for the entire day, not too pleasant really. Still, being a black-belt (god i hate that phrase) mean’t i was kept busy for the day. i firstly had the Pleasure of helping Master Uberlander from Germany run a ring for Hyungs (kata). It was also nice to note that our score were almost identical all the way along so i must be ‘seeing’ the same things as him. Later i helped Master Preston run a ring for sparring.  The day started in backwards fashion with the gup-grades first. There were a lot of gups from our club competing and nearly all (if not all ?) of them won something, whether for hyungs or sparring. Then we sat through the masters forms . Some great displays. Then lastly we got to the dan-grades forms. This was me.

I had decided beforehand to only enter two categories; Traditional (Japanese) and Chil-Sung (Korean). I normally enter chang-bong (staff) too but i didn’t really fancy it this time around despite it being one of my best categories. I was trying to do the weekend on a budget. I also was not bothered about winning anything. Normally people only compete with forms they feel very good at so as to have the best chance of winning something. This time around i fancied doing something different, a risky prospect indeed. For my traditional form i choose Jin-To. This particular form is great to perform but technically quite hard. It involves having to balance on a single leg with arms outstretched then snap the hips around 90-degrees and throw a (good !) front-kick. Not once but three times. Of course the risk is of loosing your balance or fluffing the kicks which is so easy to do. Especially on the soft competition mats (wooden floors are much easier for keeping balance on). The form started well enough for me until i got to the first balance point. As i pulled into the correct posture i though ‘Christ this floor is wobbling !’ Of course it was my legs, not the floor. This mean’t i couldn’t hold the positions for as long as i would have liked to. I also almost made a mistake towards the end. I managed to stop myself in time but i knew the judges would see the stall. With no fewer than 14 people in our category (unheard of) i knew it was not good enough. Still i took a risk and i enjoyed the performance, trophy or not.

Our second category of Chil-Sung was called immediately after. Once again there was a lot of us, 10 i think ? This mean’t once again we had our work cut out. The judges then announced that we would be performing one at a time (you usually go in pairs). Now i was crapping myself ! For this category i again took a risk with one of the Yuk-Ro (Joon jul) forms. Most clubs don’t know these forms so i was worried that the judges wouldn’t either. The form itself is quite complicated so required complete concentration from start to finish. To my surprise the master running the ring did indeed know the form so i was allowed to compete with it. Big sigh of relief . . . Having made a mistake in the first performance i was determined to do this one well. I love the form and wanted to do it justice.  The form passed in a bit of a blur but i had the feeling i had done reasonably well.  When the placings were called i had managed to scrape third place ! The master also called me over at the end and said a personal well done, this was just as good as getting the trophy.

Although in the past i have picked up golds and silvers this trophy was definitely my hardest won one yet. No i didn’t win any of my categories but i took a risk instead of playing it safe. It felt good. I’m very happy with my overall performance considering.

The competition didn’t wrap up until 7PM and by the time we all got to the restaurant that night it was 10:30PM before we sat down to eat. Most of had eaten literally nothing all day (I had three wine-gums i found in my car). We were all on our last legs. But MAN did that pint and Chinese buffet taste good ! After eating all notions of clubbing went out the window. We were all totally knackered. We stocked up on a few goodies from behind the bar and headed back to the hotel. I had planned to sit down and enjoy a quite cup of sake with a couple of the chaps. The next thing i know there’s 23 people in our room !

Looking forward to getting back to training now. Competitions always leave me feeling enthused and proud. Regardless of how i have personally done.

A long 8 hour journey awaited the Cornwall contingent ( a little longer for those in my car that got left behind and lost ) and an early rise on the Saturday in order to make it across to the new hall in time. Well, tbh we left it a little late and arrived later than planned although it didn’t seem to matter too much as the Championships started a little late, eventually running from 9am to somewhere past 7pm. A very tiring few days indeed.

Another weekend down, and another tournament under our belts. Our club once again sent a sizable squad to Bedford and Northampton for the EMTF British Championships, hosted under the watchful eyes of Master Kumar Sr and Grandmaster Salm. It’s always nice to see Grandmaster at these events, and even moreso when I didn’t even realise he’d be there this year. After an arduous trip up, thanks to traffic, accidents and a wayward satnav, we checked-in to our home from home at the Premier Inn in Bedford and managed to get a meal before the next day’s early start.

To be fair we probably should have been up earlier, we’d underestimated how long it takes to get across to Northampton, but we were still there in plenty of time to get changed, feel some butterflies and line up with scores of our Tang Soo Do family. Once I’d been told what was expected from me for the day (Dan grade and above don’t get much of a chance to sit around doing nothing) the competition began quickly and it wasn’t long before our girls were the first to take the mat. They did a great job as the forms categories starting rattling through, and at times it was difficult to know where to look, you couldn’t turn round without seeing one of our guys on the mats!

As the day wore on it was fantastic to see our gup grades walking away with trophy after trophy, the high standards we strive to keep and the effort put in by everyone really shone through. It wasn’t too long before the Dan grades – me included – got called to the mats to stand in front of three or four masters at a time and try to show them why we deserve to win anything. I couldn’t believe how big our first category was, the names over the tannoy just kept coming. In the end I think we had fourteen people in our traditional forms section, and eleven for chil sung, I’ve never been in a group that size before. Despite not coming away with anything myself our guys did great and placed in both categories, and for once I really enjoyed performing, rather than just feeling incredibly nervous the entire time. It doesn’t mean my performance was any better, but at least this time I can still remember some of it!

I didn’t spar again this year, which meant I spent the afternoon on a ring helping to score and judge those who were fighting, but I quite enjoy it to be honest and it makes the day go a lot quicker. Again, our guys did a good job of taking trophies at all levels from 8th gup upward, and the standard of sparring was very high across all schools. Watching the Masters compete in forms and sparring is always one of the highlights of the day, and this year was no exception. The standard of sparring and forms was very high, right across the board, but still the best bit is watching your own instructor training. It sounds silly but it’s so unusual to actually see your own instructor performing a form, especially one of the ones needed at their level. Normally you only ever see them breaking down a form applicable to your own grade, so it’s a treat to see them performing.

When the day finally ended at just after 7 in the evening we lined up, bowed off and until the next time (which seems to be sooner and sooner every time,) said goodbye to our extended family. I guess everyone took away their own particular highlights for the weekend, but for me they were watching our students looking stronger and more confident in sparring than any time I’ve seen them, running a ring with the very nice Master Christensen from Denmark again, and watching a particular bout in the sparring. The more I go to these events, and the more time I spend with the practitioners – both at home and away – the more grateful I am for having been lucky enough to have found this art and club.

Well I did it, no nothing to do with a grading, just managed to get onto the blogs!  So I’ve now got to say something reeeaallly interesting and without any swearing, I’m buggered.

Its the night before the British, my last training session, not that I’ve done any for the past 3 weeks. Which can only be blamed on my fellow martial artists. Who got me drunk, dragged me into a cow field and made me play baseball until I dropped.  I’m still going up, not sure what I’ll be able to compete in but won’t miss everyone else grabbing medals off poor misguided competitors.  Having recently been given the honour of wearing a midnight blue belt I am dying to get up there and play with the big girls. Having seen everyone performing there forms last night there are some serious skills being taken up tomorrow.  Plus I do enjoy the whole thing, not just the competition,the laugh’s, the walkie-talkie!, the quiz, the night out, which I’m sure will end up as bit of a session, the stories, some of which we have all heard before, and yes even the bas****d of a drive, its all part of it. Its all going to be a bit different for me and Elly this time as we are supposed to know what we are doing and are looked on in a whole new light. We wont let Cornwall down, I’ve seen Miss Jahnz Chang bong form and it is sooo good, you can go off people real quick.

Well it’s my first time so I’ll keep it a quickie, see you all soon. Joe Chinn