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Stumbling into Taekwondo
Dec. 6th, 2017 09:13 amMonday evening, after our regular karate class, Master Tony invited me to join his taekwondo group in the hour following.
This was interesting on multiple levels. Firstly, I had no idea they were doing taekwondo at all in the subsequent hour. My untrained eye couldn't see the distinctions between karate and taekwondo, so I presumed the class after mine was advanced karate, just as the schedule had indicated. And they meet again Tuesday nights at 8pm. Who knew?
I was too exhausted to participate, as I had paced myself for a one hour intensive workout rather than two, but I could at least sit to the side and observe. And as Yogi Berra said, you can observe a lot just by watching.
I learned more about grappling, striking & blocking in a single hour of observation than in the past three months of karate. That's not to say that karate doesn't include these, it's just that it's not been part of my curriculum yet, so nearly everything I witnessed is novel to me.
Monday evening, I was intrigued and fascinated by this new style; Tuesday morning, however, I was wondering if it was all a mistake. How much time and how many evenings could I possibly spare for more classes? Two classes a week is OK, three is a stretch, but adding more? And where would it end?
Still, Master Tony made a personal invitation and it would be rude to decline such kindness. I went to the Tuesday night class out of respect & appreciation, but with apprehension about commitment. Unfortunately, I had a great time, dammit.
We did more grappling and deflecting work, and I got some excellent coaching on my side kick, my back stance and long stance. It was one of the best hours I've had in the dojo lately. I'm still a novice so I'm easy to impress, but being a novice means there are huge gains to be had for little effort. Taekwondo will become harder for me because it must, eventually.
My thoughts at the moment are to attend the taekwondo session immediately following my Monday karate class. If I'm available, I'll try to squeeze in the occasional Tuesday session as well, but I'm making no significant commitment to that. I'll still continue the Thursday karate class, and will try to squeeze in the Saturday morning kick boxing session, and the karate session which follows. I'm still going to the gym 4-5 times per week for weightlifting. We'll see how long I can sustain this.
This was interesting on multiple levels. Firstly, I had no idea they were doing taekwondo at all in the subsequent hour. My untrained eye couldn't see the distinctions between karate and taekwondo, so I presumed the class after mine was advanced karate, just as the schedule had indicated. And they meet again Tuesday nights at 8pm. Who knew?
I was too exhausted to participate, as I had paced myself for a one hour intensive workout rather than two, but I could at least sit to the side and observe. And as Yogi Berra said, you can observe a lot just by watching.
I learned more about grappling, striking & blocking in a single hour of observation than in the past three months of karate. That's not to say that karate doesn't include these, it's just that it's not been part of my curriculum yet, so nearly everything I witnessed is novel to me.
Monday evening, I was intrigued and fascinated by this new style; Tuesday morning, however, I was wondering if it was all a mistake. How much time and how many evenings could I possibly spare for more classes? Two classes a week is OK, three is a stretch, but adding more? And where would it end?
Still, Master Tony made a personal invitation and it would be rude to decline such kindness. I went to the Tuesday night class out of respect & appreciation, but with apprehension about commitment. Unfortunately, I had a great time, dammit.
We did more grappling and deflecting work, and I got some excellent coaching on my side kick, my back stance and long stance. It was one of the best hours I've had in the dojo lately. I'm still a novice so I'm easy to impress, but being a novice means there are huge gains to be had for little effort. Taekwondo will become harder for me because it must, eventually.
My thoughts at the moment are to attend the taekwondo session immediately following my Monday karate class. If I'm available, I'll try to squeeze in the occasional Tuesday session as well, but I'm making no significant commitment to that. I'll still continue the Thursday karate class, and will try to squeeze in the Saturday morning kick boxing session, and the karate session which follows. I'm still going to the gym 4-5 times per week for weightlifting. We'll see how long I can sustain this.
