ISK Martial Arts

Wow what a trip! The first few days of heat, sunshine and water parks meant that none of us wanted anything to do with a competition, holiday mode had certainly set in in Villa 1! So it was reluctantly that we swapped swimming gear for team tracksuit and Dobok mid week and headed over to a conference centre for an EMTF team chat and bonding experience. This was just what we needed in fact to get us back into the Tang Soo Do mood. After a couple of hours of meditation, victory visualisation, a quick forms run through with the UK contingent and then a photo shoot (but of course I’ll sign your belt! ), it was back to the pool though this time with heads fully back into the game.

The following day, during which we were treated to three seminars with KJNs Ferraro, Ah-Po and Khalid, exceeded all our expectations. It was very surprising that almost all of the EMTF representatives at the seminars were Cornish as they were of great interest and much of what was taught was a one-off. The Gups, Dans and Masters were all separated and each took a turn with each KJN. KJN Ferraro was easily the most charismatic and worked mainly on the different uses of the hip – defensive, offensive and reactionary, the third of which I’d not hear of before but turned out to be the one used in back stance (defensive and pulled right back). KJN Ah-Ph was as intimidating as all the stories say, demanding absolute attention and proper observation of etiquette. Not someone I’d like to cross! His seminar was based around how we learn and the five steps of learning –

1. Look with the intent to Learn
2. Listen with the intent to Learn
3. Record
4. Imitate
5. Practice Practice Practice!!

I have a horrible feeling I’ve confused the first two but it amounts to the same thing…hopefully! The content of these seminars seems so basic when written down but in their essence worked on exactly the building blocks that needed the most attention. Having a greater understanding of the uses of the hip and what to look for and how to process what your instructor tries to teach you has greatly helped my ability to improve.

The last seminar with KJN Khalid was certainly a rapid departure from the first two! He’s one of those characters who looks slightly crazy but is all the more awesome for it, with a bandana adding to the overall hippy image. His seminar was based around the stance in sparring – the “Lurve” stance as he called it, which was much shorter than the one we use with feet placed just wider than the shoulders with the front foot facing towards the opponent and the back foot at a right angle (forming an “L”). The shorter stance enabled much longer reaching kicks which was demonstrated by KJN Khalid’s son that Sunday during the Master’s sparring. After a very long day it was back to the villa for a relaxing session at the pool.

The tournament itself began at 9am with a two hour line up session with speeches and ceremonies which just never seemed to end! Twelve countries were in attendance including South Africa and Korea with over 400 competitors in total, with over 140 Masters alone! Both days of competition were incredibly long, gup grade forms were on last so I had to wait over 10 hours to compete! Luckily gups were on first with sparring so my part was over by midday. It was a fantastic experience taking part in the team competition which I’d been pretty nervous about beforehand. Sadly both UK Men’s teams got knocked out before the finals, perhaps when we’re on home turf in 2013 we may be slightly luckier. However the women’s first team went through to win the finals against the South Africans with all of us cheering them on – the EMTF raised the roof! The competition was brilliant, it felt so good to part of a worldwide community all fighting for the same thing. The banquet on the Saturday night and the after party with the Germans was just what was needed after a long couple of days. I’m still reeling from all that went on.

Hopefully we’ll be able to take a much larger contingent from Cornwall to the Worlds in 2013 as its never quite the same without our whole family. But thank you to all who made it the special trip it was, and a massive thank you to Master James and Mr Leonard for organising and coaching over the last year and taking the time to make it the incredible experience that it was.

Tang Soo!

Last night marked the end of a long few months of wrangling, back and forth and phyiscal labout, as we took to the mats for the first time in the new ISK Martial Arts academy. There were still a few things to get done in the last few minutes before the start of the class (if I never have to cut a jigsaw mat again it’ll be too soon), but we got there, and the place looks amazing.

It was a big class to start, which was good in a way, as it gave us a chance to see how things would work with a full hall. On the flip side though, it was HOT. I mean seriously hot. Combined with the lingering fumes of the white spirit we’d been using to take the last of the tape glue off the mats, and it made it a very uncomfortable warm-up.

The rest of the lesson followed suit – hard work, regardless of it being line work, forms, self-defence, sparring, we gave the place a worthy christening. If you check the latest news post you’ll see some red faces and some very sweaty doboks, and I’m really suffering for it today. I feel absolutely drained, which I’d love to put down to the hard gym session on Tuesday, but I think it’s that first lesson that did the damage. As a result I’ll be skipping my Thursday session at the gym tonight, as there’s nothing left in me to give.

To the uninitiated this might read like a bit of a whinge really, but anyone who was there last night, and there at any point during the renovations, will know just how awesome it was, and how much of a high we all left on (nothing to do with the white spirit fumes either!). Training should be hard, it should leave you exhausted, sweating and ready for bed; in my opinion anyway, and that’s exactly what we got last night.

It’s great to be in our new home, I look forward to many years of self-imposed pain and tiredness

Last night saw our return to the art’s, this time in our new Dojang.

For the last week students and instructors have been beavering away at, what was once, ‘Body & Soul’ gym in Redruth. The building had lain dormant for the last 9 months or so and was in a hell of a state. Holes in walls, no electricity, no water, broken stuff everywhere. It’s by no means finished but it is at least now habitable.

After a first mad rush to get the mats finished and a foolhardy attempt to clean mirrors with less-than-clean cloths we began our first class in our new home. The first thing that struck me was that we were no longer on the ground floor, it felt a little weird. The next thing was that we were now on a high-street. The sound of 15-odd students ki-hap’ing in unison reverberated through the street like an express train, there were a few wide-eyed faces looking up . . . The next thing that struck me was the heat. It was a beautiful day, hot with no wind. Needless to say the room with the low ceiling soon turned into a sauna. Within minutes i was drenched. When we came to perform a hyung (Kata)  i honestly thought for a minute i might pass-out. I returned to the back of the class feeling very wobbly!

Still, all things considered it was a good first lesson in our new home. I have a feeling the club is going to get very busy . . .

Things are getting exciting over at ISK Martial Arts. If you have been looking on the main site, you’ll know that we have recently moved into bigger premises. We are now above Wilkinsons’ on Redruth High Street – a prime location. It’s a bit shabby at the moment though, it’s stood empty for a while and is in need of a little bit of TLC…which is exactly what we have been doing!

Last evening saw a small contingent head over there, roll up our sleeves and start the decorating process. Walls scrubbed, wallpaper peeled off, holes filled and mirrors polished. Lots more work to go, but everyone from the club is chipping in and giving a little bit of their free time to help. It’s one of those things that makes me thankful to train in a club where everyone is committed and cares deeply about what we do. When we open the doors to the public we can say we’ve all built this club together. Quite a nice thought.

Despite not having a permanent base at the moment, training continues in the Falmouth class as usual. Still working hard in the preparation for the World Championships. Less than 3 weeks to go – haven’t even brought me suitcase! Uh-oh! Got some serious packing to do…well, who am I kidding, all I need is dobalk, changbong, sparring gear, sun lotion & a bikini! Sorted!