aurik

Well, it's been almost 2 years since I posted this, and things have changed quite a bit. I finished my degree (PhD in Computer Science), moved to the Denver area, and (most relevant to here), found a new martial arts school to attend. It's actually right across the street from my son's grade school, and he's doing great there. He started out with lessons at his before/after school care, then we moved him to classes taught out of our local rec center, and now we're at the instructor's main school. (All these classes are with the same instructor). My son has advanced to junior green belt (rokkyu-sho), and is having a great time. I have been thoroughly impressed with the instructor as well. He's in his early to mid-30's, and has been training since he was around age 4 or 5. He is testing for his rokudan (6th degree) in Uechi-Ryu next month, and he will bringing the head instructor for the organization out to our dojo to teach several seminars and help administer the black belt tests. What I really like about this instructor is that he still travels to seminars several times per year (for example, he went to Okinawa at the beginning of August to attend the 1st annual okinawan international seminar/tournament, even though he had just broken his arm the month prior. So about 3 weeks ago, I went ahead and signed up in his classes too. I was worried about being out of shape (I'd really beat myself up over the past year and a half finishing the PhD and had gained a fair bit of weight back). I'm a white belt again, but I'm having a lot of fun at it. The basics are slightly different from what I'm used to, but the muscle memory is still mostly there. Most importantly, I'm having fun in the classes, starting to feel better (albeit with lots of soreness for a couple days after each class), and on Saturdays, he hosts a sparring class that my son and I get to attend together. I'm now working on 2 new katas (sanchin and kanshiwa), and I've got the basic techniques down on both of them, so now Sensei is just correcting me on my mistakes, instead of having to teach me the moves. It's a good feeling and a lot of fun.

This is the type of discussion that I have pretty regularly with my 6 year old son. He has been a white belt 3 times now. His first time was with a guy who came to his day care once a week, and he eventually got promoted to yellow belt there. His second time was with ATA, and he left that school when we moved to Denver. Now he is in a Uechi-Ryu school with an instructor I have high regard for. However, he was very upset when he found out he would have to start out as a white belt again. He did earn his yellow belt (9th kyu) very quickly, but at that point he was put into the regular testing/promotion schedule (2-3 months between stripes/grades). This frustrates him to no end, because he is always wanting to earn his next belt/stripe. What I haven't yet told him is that even if he earns his junior brown belt next May, he won't be able to test for his junior black belt until he turns 11 or 12, and his senior black belt at least 3 years past that. So, I'm trying to teach him the value of patience, the value of doing his very best each class, and trying to learn everything he can, because I don't want him getting even more frustrated when the time in rank requirements get even higher.

I last studied any throwing-based martial arts in 1996, and that was only for one year. However, about 6 years ago I was visiting my brother-in-law in Aspen over Christmas. When I was unloading the car, I slipped on the sheer ice on their concrete driveway and went immediately horizontal. In that instant I had the presence of mind to flatten my back and tuck my chin to my chest. My hands were full so I couldn't slap, but I suspect remembering to tuck my chin probably saved me from a concussion or worse. I ended up with a sore upper back and my neck was sore later that night and into the next day. However, learning to fall definitely saved me from much more serious injuries that day.

Congrats! Many a moon ago, I trained there, and I remember how awesome it was to get those first few belts! Once you get to yellow belt, the promotions will slow down a bit though, but keep up the hard work. It will definitely pay off!

Yes, I trained with him. And I remember Joey as a cocky 9-10 year old brown belt Those were some really good times. This was when the Peoria dojo was the only one they had.

Hello everyone, I'm Ken, and I'm currently a 40+ year old full-time grad student at UT-Dallas. I have just started back up into the martial arts for my third go-round, and I'm hoping this time will stick longer than the last 2. When I was in my late teens, I studied Shorinji Kempo and Aiki-jujutsu in southern Illinois, earning a Gokyu in Kempo and Black Sash in Aiki-jujutsu. I then did what many college students do -- got really drunk, and (unlike most college students) ended up falling down a steep hill and severely broke my ankle. Given that I was a full-time college student and finding other interests, I didn't end up going back into the martial arts until after I graduated. A few years later in my early 20's, I found an awesome school in Peoria, IL and studied Shuri-Ryu karate, some weapons, and Judo. I earned my Gokyu in both shuri-ryu and judo, but then I ended up losing my job, I had to move to Atlanta, and then I never really found a school where I fit in. Now I'm in my early 40's and I have a 4 year old son. My son's daycare had a guy coming in to teach a mix of shotokan karate and taekwondo. He loved it, but the daycare eventually ran out of room for him to teach so un-invited him. I have since enrolled my son in a local TKD school here. The head instructor is really good with young children, and my son's attitude and self-control has improved by leaps and bounds. Well, the instructor also talked me into trying out a class and I found it to be a lot of fun. The old muscle memory is still there to a certain extent (my hand techniques are still pretty good, my right side front/side/roundhouse kicks are great, but the left kicks and anything past that are atrocious). I went ahead and signed up last week as well. The head instructor is great with kids, and he has several assistant instructors (one in particular is a 3rd-degree) are really good with pointing out the fundamentals, like how to generate power, etc. The important thing is that this is something I can do together with my son. He's enjoying watching daddy do martial arts with him, and I'm already feeling like I'm in better shape. Since I'm in the final year of my degree (PhD, Computer Science), the family is considering moving to somewhere with better job prospects than Dallas, so if I do that I'll try to find an Okinawan and/or Japanese style school there. However, for where I'm living and with available time, TKD is the only style available within a 30 minute drive.