Why did you join the martial arts?

[shaolinprincess]

My friend got me interested. It turned out I had a real nack for it. The self defence comes in handy, cause I have seen a ki!!ing, in my little town...its not like I am gonna sit around not knowing how to defend my self.

[three60roundhouse]

[color=indigo]My brother Sean was about 7 and my teacher suggested he do something on his own for space (he was the middle child of 5 kids at the time; now there are 6 of us). He chose martial arts. But the "by himself" thing couldn't last too long once he showed us his white belt form . Within two weeks my brothers joined (they were 9 and 5) and after their first grading my parents finally gave in and let me (I was 11). I wanted to do it mainly because there were so few girls! I wanted to show that I could kick butt too! I was kind of "the freak" in class...I was always the oldest. A few big kids joined I think because they saw me in there. Some of the parents used to point at me like I was a sideshow, a head abive all the other kids. But the trouble with pre-pubescents is that they don't stay that way for long and now a lot of them are bigger than I am.

 

After almost 4 years of training, I have taken up a new art , BJJ. I'm teaching TKD now and see a SURGE of females joining. I think it's great!! [/color]

[koreantiger81]

I was a fat kid. My parents wanted me to slim down, so I was forced to take Kuk Sool Won. I hated martial arts, but now it's become an obsession...I"m currently practicing tae kwon do

[Martial_Artist]

I didn't choose to. I was just brought up that way. I never knew anything different until I got older.

[kicker]

Well I started Martial Arts to learn how to fight and to know some self defense. Also I had been doing Martial Arts before but then I quit and a few years later I came back and started a new Martial Art.

[monkeygirl]

I started martial arts because my Dad decided if he was going to spend money on a program, it would be karate instead of dance. That way, I could at least defend myself.

[hobbitbob]

I find everyone's stories fascinating. Here's my boring one. In Karachi, Pakistan there was one english language program on state run TV at night in teh '70s. One of those was "Kung-FU" (one of the others,"Emergency"I blame for my 16 years as a paramedic! ). I was, therefore, most interested in the "martial arts" whatever those may have been. Flash forward to the early 1980s when, at aged 14, I had finally convinced my family to allow me to try "kuhrotty." After a few desultory month at a McDojo, I found the Japan Karate Centre (Wado-Ryu), and was hooked!

[tsdstud]

My story is sadly close to monkey girl's. My freshman year, after soccer season, my mom asked me what I was gonna do. I said sit around and do nothing. My brothers had been in Tang Soo Do for about a year at this point. I had done my share of making fun of them for the breathing and things like that. My dad, though, said I couldn't sit around I'd either have to join karate or the dance studio that 2 doors down. I chose karate and am now on course to open my own school. (hopefully!)