tessone

A lot is going to depend on what college or university you're applying to. But the most important things are: Get good test scores. We don't like to believe that SAT and ACT matter, but, well, they do. Find a lot of things you're interested in, and do them. Colleges are less concerned that you can beat people at MA tourneys. They want to see that you're a well-rounded person with lots of interests. Do well in your classes, both to get good grades, and so teachers will write good reqs for you. Try to form relationships with your teachers. Do the best you can to convince the college or university that they really want to pick you. This is done through essays, your interview, etc. In the end, MA will probably not get you a scholarship--for that, you'll have to do fine arts, write well, and/or play a sport well, and sadly, there are very few (if any) college martial arts teams. But the mindset you apply to learning MA will help you in applying yourself in the classroom and other activities.

Hi, all. I've been looking around for lists of styles (and descriptions) on the Internet and found nothing really satisfactory. Every resource seems either to be pretty obviously incomplete, or else it's pretty comprehensive but tells almost nothing about each art. So, I'm working on my own listing, but I need your help. Please post a short description of any art you know a decent amount about, or at least a link to official information about the art. For things posted here, I'll cite you as "[username], from karateforums.com". If you want to be cited by real name, please email me. Obviously there may be disagreements about particulars--I'll try to include as many opinions as seems reasonable. Thanks!

I began recently, and I'm 19. The nice thing about martial arts is that you can begin at most any age. Certainly one can excel at a martial art and not begin at age 5 or 6, as is the case with musical instruments (always wanted to play the violin!), dance, etc.

If I may ask, what was your weight before you started the diet?

4-6 months training how often? There just isn't all that much to learn for the yellow belt (as far as I can see), and while obviously there is always room for perfecting one's techniques and forms...how far can you go with it before it's becoming stagnant?

Oh yes. It's all about the peanut sauce. And pad thai. Why wasn't I born an Asian?

I personally love sushi. Incidentally, there's a great Vietnamese-French fusion restaurant in Chicago, though I forget the name. Somewhere on the north side. But it was definitely a good combination.

I have to admit that I like Jackie Chan just for his sense of humor. Watching outtakes from his films, interviews, etc., he seems like a genuinely amusing guy to be around. As for genuine martial arts, I loved Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I would suggest that that viewpoint is even a historical one. Certainly the martial artist of feudal Japan was certainly concerned with saving his neck, but that wasn't the focus of his studies (at least not from what I know of history). Similarly, a lot of people that I've seen, both before and after I started training, went into the dojo/dojang concerned about getting up the ladder, how much they had left til their next belt, etc. I'll admit that I think that way too, sometimes. But more often, it's very powerful to think of each new form or technique you learn as another step towards more comprehensive knowledge, and think less of "I have to learn X and Y and Z for my next belt test," and more along the lines of "this aspect of the form develops this aspect of my body, mind, or spirit, and directly contributes to this other form, technique, or whatever that I need to improve." For me, that's what martial arts is all about. It's in some ways just a construct--I'm not in MA to learn how to fight, because I likely won't have to use it. I'm in MA to be in MA, for the challenge of it.

Cobra, do all of your belts have multiple stripes before promotion? How many? In KSW, it's just belt-stripe-belt-stripe, etc. on up to brown-black belt.

My chief instructor is KJN Bob Zefo (you can see him on the WKSWA "Masters" webpage). The asst instructor is my friend, KSN Will Culbertson, who is a student here at Knox. I don't think our school went there. They're going to a tournament in St. Louis this weekend, though. I have fraternity stuff to do, so I can't make it to watch.

I like pizzaboy's idea. It'd be the only language in the world where punctuation is pronounced, and very loudly at that.

Are you serious? In that case, carrot sticks, anyone?

While it's true that no one ever masters anything, the system of masters, senior masters, and grandmasters can be useful. In particular, if a style is particularly unified, they often look to the grandmaster for guidance. In Hyuk Suh, the grandmaster of Kuk Sool Won, is present at the testing for every black belt in the entire art. It's also important to remember that the term "master" is often just an English translation and not meant to imply that the person has truly mastered the art. For instance, "Kuk Sa Nim" is the title of the grandmaster of Kuk Sool. In Korean, this just means "National Martial Art Teacher".

If you want web resources, check out the links under Language -> Korean on http://www.polyglut.net/links.html I plan to add more if I find good resources. Pay special attention to the site run by the Korean government--it has LOTS of material and will get you very far if you already know hangul.

It's one of the joys of being a college student. I've been thinking about Berkeley for grad school for a while, and the fact that there is a KSW school nearby sort of sealed it for me. I'm definitely in this for the long haul. _________________ Chris Tessone White Belt, Kuk Sool Won [ This Message was edited by: tessone on 2002-04-24 23:07 ]

It's the "Questions on sparring" thread. http://www.karateforums.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=2617&forum=2

Thanks for the advice. I'm all for moderation, and I have decent self-control, so I'll start with pop (well, sugary drinks in general), fast food, etc. What healthy sources of protein would you suggest, especially non-meat? Most of the meat in our cafeteria is very high-fat, very greasy, etc.

Is that typical of most Kuk Sool schools? Our dojang is in tournament training right now, and there are yellow belts sparring who have been there I think two or three months. Of course, KJN is very very careful about the whole matter, and he goes through what everyone should be doing before they spar. Basically, the lower belts do light contact sparring, and the upper belts I think do more full contact. But for the tournament they're going to this weekend, if you do full contact to the head, you're likely to get disqualified. With the torso, a lot (not anything!) goes.

I'm a lowly white belt in Kuk Sool Won, though I hope to get my yellow stripe at the next testing. I've fallen in love with it (for reasons I've posted elsewhere) and train four days a week (sometimes five), as do all the serious students of our do-jang.

I'm interested in this question, too. Just generally speaking, what do you all eat to keep yourself in top form? I, too, would like to see those burgeoning stomach muscles and what-not.

I wonder if any of you students of Korean MA have looked into studying Korean at all (beyond what you learn in the do-jang)? _________________ Chris Tessone White Belt, Kuk Sool Won http://www.polyglut.net/ [ This Message was edited by: tessone on 2002-04-24 20:40 ] [ This Message was edited by: tessone on 2002-04-24 20:40 ]

I've seen names thrown around of a lot of styles I've never heard of. My knowledge is pretty restricted to the popular stuff (so, TKD, Kung Fu, Karate, Aikido, Hapkido, Tai Chi, etc.). Does anyone have a website or three that gives short descriptions of a lot of styles so that I might have a better idea of who's doing what? Thanks in advance...

I absolutely love it. Compared to the things I do at school (Russian and mathematics), it's very humbling. There I can learn something once and just get it. In KSW, I learn part of a form or a technique. Then I practice it. Then I learn the thirty other things I should be doing at the same time. Then I practice and refine more. It's nice to know that you'll never finish.

Hi. I'm new. I'm a pretty new student of Kuk Sool Won (still a white belt, til the next testing). I'm looking forward to talking about martial arts, which is something I don't do enough of. I wonder, what was it for each of you that made your style(s) the one(s) you just had to study? Was it a friend? The way the martial art looked in demonstration? Something more mundane? I'm curious! Chris