Beginning Your Journey

[StrangeBacon]

Hey there guys,

I was thinking it would be interesting to know a bit about each of your individual MA historys such as what got you into the MA, when you started and how long before you fell in love with it and got seriously into training.

Whether its been started before or not i thought it would be a fun idea and let some of the newer members get to know the older ones and vice versa.

I'll start.....My training began in Kickboxing about 15 years ago in a small outbuilding converted into a gym, we had about 12 guys in there so it was quite a squeeze! I ended up getting my black belt 3 years later and stopped for a while due to exams and work, keeping up my training on my own so i didnt go rusty.

A few years later i got into Karate, the Bushido Academy of Martial Arts to be specific, but due to reasons that are to be discussed at another time (keeping this positive ) my sensei left the organisation.

Due to the mark he had left on us all we followed and he went on to form Shinkido Martial Arts a style based upon his vast experience in karate and aikido with a focus on modern day street style combat. Katas are still performed and all of the "arts" are present and correct, we even teach sword, sai and bo with a seperate gradings system and have bookable weekend courses in a seperate location in the hills to get away from all the hustle and bustle of modern day life.

We're still a small organisation with 3 dojos and a small number of students, but we're growing steadily Quality over quantity has always been important to me.

And thats my journey so far!

I look forward to reading about everyone else!

[brickshooter]

I was 10 years old. My father said it was time to start martial arts training. So the next day my adult cousin came over and built me a makiwara. And off I went training with other cousins.

So for me, the MA has always been about recreation like others who grew up in a golf family all played golf. 30 years later I still start the day with a couple of Katas to stretch out my aging bones.

I've trained in Shotokan, Itosu, TKD, boxing, wrestling, judo, and aikido. Not because I want to be some ultimate fighter. But because schools keep on popping up and closing down near my home.

If I was a golfer, I just want to play golf ... regardless of the course.

[Excoastie]

I started out about 5 or so years ago. I had heard from my (then about 6) son that he "wanted to do karate". I kept putting him off, as I knew it to be quite expensive, and neither his mother or I really had the time to be taking him to classes several times a week.

Fast forward a bit. One of the local TKD schools was on a recruiting drive. One of the instructors was friends with the owner of my son's day care. They did a demo, and we went to the school for a hands on "seminar" on the ABCs of TKD. Afterwards we signed up for classes.

We attended classes 2 or 3 times a week for about a year or so, signed the contract for 3 yrs, the whole 9 yrds. I then started working even more than I had, my wife was having trouble getting my son to class, and add to the fact that he was quickly losing interest. About this time they started morning classes twice a week. These morning classes for ideal for me, as I am often at home during the days, where when I'm not working my evening are usually pretty full.

My son decided he wanted to quit, though I was livid my wife and I allowed him to quit, as it was too much of a fight to get him to go to class, and when he was there, he wasn't putting in any effort. Talking with our instructor did very little good, though he tried his best.

Fast forward about another year. I had received my green belt, and my son had been away from it for awhile. Our instructor sold out, and joined the army. I didn't much care for the new instructor, though I tried for several more months before I also lost interest. I had never realized just how important the instructor and his/ her style of teaching was until this point.

Fast forward another year. This is about the time where my contract with the old school was about to expire. I had tried to get out of it, but there was no way. My son started showing interest in getting back into MA, though at a different school where several of his friends trained. I was highly resistive, and put him off for several months, as I didn't wish to go through what I had gone through at the other school again.

My neighbor convinced me to stop by the school. Her son had been going for almost 9 yrs (he's currently almost 16 and a 2nd Dan), her husband for almost 3 yrs (he's now a 1st Dan), and she's been attending classes for about 2 yrs now. I immediately liked the instructors, and my son was showing a level of enthusiasm I'd never seen outside of video games.

We've been attending that school for almost 2 yrs now. We've both just received our red/ white stripe and are about a year away from our 1 Dan. I completed the instructor certification course about this time last year.

That has been our journey, full of it's many ups and downs.

Exco

[bushido_man96]

I started around 15 years ago, when I was in the 8th grade. My dad was into Martial Arts when I was younger, and so I had been exposed to it. I liked it, and when it came time that a friend brought me along to the TKD school, I was hooked on for good.

Now, I'm in a different TKD organization, and have also had exposure to Combat Hapkido, Aikido, and various self-defense systems. I don't imagine ever not doing it.

[ninjanurse]

So...33 years ago I got talked into taking a judo class at the community center and really enjoyed it, however, the instructor left abruptly leaving us in a lurch. My dads friend taught Tang Soo Do at the same center so I switched over to his class and was hooked! In college I tried the local Tae Kwon Do club but found it less than exciting so I decided to take Karate for PE credit. Several years (and 4 kids) later I received my nidan and my husband and I started teaching (with o-sensei's blessing) at a local after school program.

When our oldest child was old enough to train we encountered difficulties due to his severe ADHD so we sought out a program more his "speed"-enter West Coast Tae Kwon Do. He loved it, we loved it-and eventually I decided to train there so that I could make my karate better (increase speed, flexibility, etc.). Needless to say, I enjoyed it so much that I took up TKD full time. Through a series of fortunate events we fell into a JuJitsu program on the side and I trained to shodan, while my husband pursued a professorship.

Twenty years later the kids are all grown up (all Black Belts), my husband is teaching jujitsu, and I own a small TKD school. Life is good!

[Jay]

I started when I was 7 in shotokan. I trained until I was like 11 and then quit. I decided to start again when I was 14 until I was 17 and then I had to go off to uni.

Since then I have done a year of Hung Gar. And two years of JKD. These have really been the years when I have started to enjoy it I think. I think when your little you kinda just do it to blow of steam and don't concentrate too much on what you were doing.

I have since been taking up judo and BJJ for a few months and hope to carry on.

[KarateGeorge]

I grew up, fascinated by martial arts, but I lived in a small town where there wasn't any schools at which I was able to train. When I was in high school, someone actually opened a dojo there in town, but it was more than my parents could afford, so I wasn't able to enroll.

It wasn't until my mid-20's that I finally had the opportunity to begin taking classes. I enrolled in a karate school not far from the home of a friend of mine. A few years later I received my black belt in Shuri-te Karate. Due to the varying backgrounds of some of the other black belts at the school, I also had the opportunity for some grappling training, though we didn't rank in that class, and I also had the opportunity to train in Wing Chun for a while under one of the other black belts at the school, which I ranked up to a purple belt.

I then returned to grad school and had to quit martial arts because of the time constraints of work and grad school. I trained some on my own during that time, but it just wasn't the same as going to the dojo. During my time at grad school, the karate school had to close its doors due to the poor economy. However, I later learned that my sensei had converted part of his basement into a new school and was teaching a small "adult" class as well as a kid's class. I still wasn't able to attend the "adult" class because it conflicted with class times, but I got back into things by starting to come in to help out with teaching the kid's class as it didn't conflict with work or grad school.

The school had to take a few month hiatus earlier this year due to personal matters that the sensei had to handle, during which I used the opportunity to visit an Aikido school for a few lessons, but once things were back up and running at the karate school, I was right back in there again.

[wolverine uskf]

I started 17 years ago, i was boxing and wrestling, then my cousin invited me to go to his karate class, and i was hooked. We trained there for a couple of years, then we found a new school closer to home, and studied there until it closed do to money issues. After that we went back to the old school that had moved, but it wasn't the same because we got used to looking at all styles with respect, and they were taught that theirs was the only good style. Then i hurt my knee, and when i was done healing they had moved again. So i continued to train on my own, but i had found a new passion for atv racing. So using what i had learned about mental and physical toughness, focus, and conditioning i became a nationally ranked cross country atv racer, going as high as number 4 in the country in my division, using my martial arts as my conditioning training. Then in 2006 i was in a car accident that destroyed my left arm, the doctors said it would be over a year if i ever healed, but using what i learned over the years i was back to work and riding in 10 months, but my arm still isn't the same. I did race again just to complete one of my goals, but my arm still wasn't strong enough, so now i teach my kids, and try to get back in shape. The martial arts are a big part of my life again, and i still continue my journey.

[Shotokan_Tigress]

I had been bullied in primary school which made me grow into a depressed teenager. I trusted nobody and I enjoyed nothing. When I was fourteen one of my classmates went to a karate club. I had always been fascinated by the martial arts, so I asked the address of the dojo and told my parents that I wanted to enrol there, but they wouldn't accept. It took me six months to convince them and I finally started karate in June 2007. It's been amazing. I've never missed a lesson when I've had a choice. I can't remember enjoying anything more. There's also the fact that I've learnt much more than striking and blocking techniques from my sensei. She's taught me how to live. Her advices have helped me more than all the psychologists and psychiatrists in the world could have done together.

[sensei8]

My martial arts journey began when I was 7 years old; I'll be 53 this October 18th. My journey began because I was constantly being bullied at school, and in that, my lunch money was stolen from me everyday at school. No, I never told any teachers or the principal/vice principal because I was scared that they'd beat me up. My mom got tired of me raiding the frig, and by that, she got to the bottom of the problem fast. My mom enrolled me in a Shindokan Karate-do dojo for no other reason than that it was close to the house, which allowed me to ride my bike to and from the dojo.

Fast forward to the present; 46 years later. My martial arts journey still continues and I've never regretted one day or one hour or one second. I've been blessed in the platitudes that I've earned, and even more so, I've been blessed with the many, many students that I've trained.

My journey continues, even though my Dai-Soke is no longer with me/us. These recent days have been lonely without him, and I can only hope that I made him proud of me. I pray that my Dai-Soke saw that unquenchable fire burning within me, and in that, he saw the man that I came to be was good.

My martial arts journey continues!