First Exposure to Martial Arts?

[GOM]

I used to watch my father train and teach. I had my first class when I was 4, and cried the whole way through.....

[ebff]

When I got thrown on the floor aged 10 by a 12yo kid who did what I think was probably judo, over a couple of centimes (like 0.2p or some ridiculously low amount of money). I remember being surprised at both his complete superiority in the altercation (cos I hadn't lost a single fight before then) and the fact that the teachers watching the scene just told us not to do that in front of the principal's office but nothing else happened (similarly a kid tried to murder my maths teacher and nothing happened to him - probably because she recovered a month later). Turns out his parents were the kind who would go and stab the principal if something happened to their kid (it's happened a few times in France). Even now I remember it as a disgusting display of lack of morals, both because he was using his MA training to bully, and because he was older and bigger

Started training 3 years later, when I saved enough money as my parents didn't want me to do MA and wouldn't pay for it. I think they still don't know I've started Muay Thai.

[ps1]

Karate Kid -1984, started training 1 week later.

[LiTtLeDrAgOn]

Um, Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....

[lilkarate75]

when i saw a jet li movie.

[Zatoichi]

My first exposure was my dad beating me up as a little child and throwing me over a cliff to see if I was strong enough to make it back on my own.

Just kidding.....

My first exposure was actually Star Wars. I remember saying to my parents that I wanted to be a Jedi.... no wait that's not it either.

[Blackbeltblonde]

My dad has done it since he was 14.. so yeah he'd been doing it about 10 years when I came along.. pretty much my whole life I've been exposed to it and he would grapple/throw my brother and I into the couch for fun!

~BBB

[cnada]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, then WMAC Masters

[scottnshelly]

My dad and grandpa were Black Belts when I was born. I can't remember a time before martial arts.

[jaymac]

I followed my babysitter around all the time. She started taking classes and I asked if I could go along. She quit after a short time but I was hooked. I wonder now if she knows how much she has affected my life.