Favorite Martial Arts Memory

[Kacey]

That is cool about the stripes, Kacey. Are you planning to had them down to your first IV Dan?

I haven't decided yet, although that's certainly a possibility; so is giving them to my first I Dan if she makes it to IV Dan, whether she's first or not... but at the moment, my senior students are all I Dan, so it's going to be a while. In the meantime, I intend to get the certificate framed with the stripes (they're made of red cloth); I was presented with my certificate during the school year, and haven't had the time to get the framing done.

 

[tkd_jen]

This one is still fresh, so i'll use it here: At our BB test there were 4 ladies ranging in age from 18-28. We tested in from of a panel of 3 4th Dans, 1 5th Dan and our association president, a 6th Dan. At the end of the test he said we were the most impressive group of ladies he's seen. Then as a disclaimer he added "at least since Master Teresa (the 5th Dan~also his wife ) tested for 1st Dan"

Coming from him who has seen soooo many BB tests that was really cool!!

 

[ArmorOfGod]

This is an easy one for me.
Back in 1996, I had a guy my age (20-21) bug me for lessons. I would not teach him since I was only brown belt. Later that year I tested and got my shodan. To shut him up, I told him to meet me at a local park. The park had a 30 foot by 30 foot covered picnic shelter with no walls. I worked out with him and had a great time.
Over the next couple weeks, he told his friends about our workouts at the park and asked me if he could invite them. I agreed and invited a few more guys. Within a month, I had 6 guys my age and a few years older working out in the park under the picnic shelter and in the adjacent softball field. We worked out there in good and bad weather. After several months of that, I ended up with an offer from a local church to move it into their church gymnasium.
I have to say, the park class was the best several months of my martial arts career, and there have been lots of other great moments. We were just 7 guys having a good time, with no uniforms or belts, just learning and working on the material from the style I taught. I am positive that I learned as much as they did.

AoG

 

[KOROHO]

There are so many. I had such good friends in my first dojo. We trained extremely hard together for several hours 4-5 days per week.

One story I still kind of chuckle about was the time I knocked my sparring partner out a window. It was on the first floor and actually it was a tall window that ran from approximately knee high up to close to the ceiling.
I hit him, he staggered back, his knees met with the window sill and he rolled out.

There were a couple of other matches going on and Sensei had his back to us watching others. He turned around and my partner was gone. he said "Where did he go?". I was still laughing a bit and just pointed out the window. Sensei yelled at him to sop fooling around and get back in here, and made him do 25 pushups at the door before he came back in. Sensei did not know I knocked him out the window, he thought he just went out there to take a break and cool off some.

 

[KOROHO]

I have to say, the park class was the best several months of my martial arts career, and there have been lots of other great moments. We were just 7 guys having a good time, with no uniforms or belts, just learning and working on the material from the style I taught. I am positive that I learned as much as they did.

AoG

this is what training is all about!

 

[Drac]

Great thread...
Favorite memory: I was still studying Shorin-Ryu..Sensei was tough, knowledgeable but tough..The 10 or so white belts dropped off to about 2 of which I was one..It seemed that I was paying to get my butt beat by everyone in the dojo, I mildly "whined" that sentiment to a few higher ranking students..
Then one day while sparring with Sensei I actually blocked one of his punches and countered with one of my own catching him on the chest..He stopped the kumate amd said "So your not learning anything eh?"..

 

[tradrockrat]

This one's easy. A female student from my very first semester teaching self defense came to class one night a year later and asked to tell the class about how what I taught in that class saved her from an assault and possible rape over the summer.







As far as glory days - I'll let you know if I ever get to them...

 

[IcemanSK]

This one's easy. A female student from my very first semester teaching self defense came to class one night a year later and asked to tell the class about how what I taught in that class saved her from an assault and possible rape over the summer.







As far as glory days - I'll let you know if I ever get to them...

How incredibily cool is that!!!!!

 

[tradrockrat]

How incredibily cool is that!!!!!

I actually left class that night and went to my parents house to talk to them about it - might be the most profound moment of my life.

I was literally giddy for a few days after, but humbled too - I think it was then that it really hit me how powerful MAs actually are

 

[Jonathan Randall]

Getting a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do. I really, really prepared for the exam. Funny thing was, it was from what many (including myself) consider a McDojang. Fact is, I probably could have fallen on my face and still passed. Still, it was a great moment for me because it was the first "formal" grade I ever achieved.

 

[JC2005]

I think by far my favorite MA memory is when during sparring class one day it was the very last round and my sensei put me up against two of our sempai's which were sisters so they were trying to defend themselves and each other at the same time. this made it easy to set them up for traps by pretending to go for one with a roundhouse and easily switch it to a hook and hit the other instead. My sensei saw that both of them were about to cry so he jumped in and tackled me and starting hitting me in the head. so I put my knee into my sensei's back and I slid out from underneath him and jumped up and landed in sparring stance and the two sempai's backed out and it was me verse my sensei for the very first time. needless to say I lasted for the rest of the round but I think I landed only one punch barely on my sensei and I woke up the next day with a couple bruises on my chest and ribs.


:ultracoolJC2005

 

[trueaspirer]

Also I had two others:

One was where this really cocky kid came to class, had just signed up and never taken an ma before, and after one class thought he was good enough to be sparring us, including some of us who were much higher rank, and/or much larger than him. I was the senior there that day, so the kyosa asked the kid if he was sure he was that good, that he was ready. The over-confident kid said he was. So, the instructor motioned to me that I would have a match with him. It was mainly non-contact, asid for soft blows, but I really taught him a lesson. I never did see him again.

The other was where I had this friend who was the same rank as me, and we both took a test. I passed but he didn't. No! Wait! Dont get disgusted! Thats not the happy part! - so he retested, and failed again. We had always been the same rank, so it was kind of humiliating for him to drop behind me. However, the master let him take another retest, and he passed. Even though it didn't really involve me, it felt good to know that we were back at the same rank and were more comfortable together again. As we got older, our ranks have split apart again, both ways, but we are older now, and we don't care as much, it's a non-issue.

 

[tradrockrat]

The other was where I had this friend who was the same rank as me, and we both took a test. I passed but he didn't. No! Wait! Dont get disgusted! Thats not the happy part! - so he retested, and failed again. We had always been the same rank, so it was kind of humiliating for him to drop behind me. However, the master let him take another retest, and he passed. Even though it didn't really involve me, it felt good to know that we were back at the same rank and were more comfortable together again. As we got older, our ranks have split apart again, both ways, but we are older now, and we don't care as much, it's a non-issue.

not to highjack the thread, but I lost a friend over this very thing. It was his fault - he wouldn't put in the time - but after I moved on, he got very jealous and seemed to blame me for his failure as a student. It was sad, but it happened. We were even roommates, but I had to move out as he just got worse and worse in the way he behaved around me.

 

[Ronin Moose]

This may sound a little goofy, but mine was when I received my yellow belt (almost 5 years ago). It wasn't the actual belt, but the initial sense of accomplishment that a guy in his mid 40's was in a training situation with students mostly half his age and doing well at it. More than anything it was realizing that I was now being accepted into a family of what have turned out to be the best people I have ever met. This was a leap of faith for someone who had spent a lifetime in law enforcement, which is a very tight and "clickish" group, to say the least. The friends I met in Tai Chi, and then Kenpo for the last 5 years are, after my immediate family, the finest folks in the world! This is my THANK YOU to them for showing me how much more there is to life than we might think.

-Garry