I became a Martial Artist because...

[Carol]

Ultimately, I got in to training because of an annoying boss :lol:

It was something I always wanted to do. I decided to seek out the opportunity after a reorg at work that insisted that we all take formal, scheduled lunch breaks. I tried sitting in the cafeteria for an hour and went stir crazy. I had other reasons to do be interested in training, but the desire to have something to do for an hour during the day was what got me out of my chair

 

[David43515]

Andre was a great guy and so was his role in "The Princess Bride".


I have a soft and sensitive side. I am real sensitive with my training and instruction. Unfortunately may people take a sensitive touch or being kind by big guys as being a sign of weakness. They attack or assault you and then find out otherwise.

Quoted AGAIN for truth.

I began because when I was a little kid all men could fight if they had to. I stuck with it because I was a pudgy kid and knew I`d never outrun anyone who wanted to fight me. I found out I really enjoyed it and was good at it. By the time I was in good enough shape to outrun alot of folks I was good enough that I didn`t need to. Now it`s come full circle and I`m a fat old guy again who would run off IF I COULD, but.....:ultracool

 

[Sukerkin]

(And while I'm at it, a technical question; for some reason I could only paste about a line and a half of that at a time. Is that normal? I don't remember it being like that before.)

Back to your regularly scheduled thread now ...

Sometimes the board software reacts poorly to sections copied from text on the Net. How I 'fix' it is to paste into Notepad first and then post from a copy of that - that strips out any annoying codes and formatting that the board doesn't like.

 

[Black Belt Jedi]

I was a shy chubby kid and was picked on in elementary school because of my weight. Another reason was that I grew up watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers as a kid. My big influence was Jason David Frank (Tommy the green ranger and white ranger), and I wanted to be like him, and I was imitating his karate moves in the basement of my house. I also idolized Bruce Lee, Jean Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, Jim Kelly. So I got into the Martial Arts.

 

[fenglong]

Oh nice thread...
Why I became a martial artist? I think it started off the most typical way, I was a little boy growing up with movies with Jackie Chan and Jet Li and the fascination caught me.
Although I hate violence and trouble in general, I still love combat and movement arts.
Now its my own style that keeps me going, without it I may have already quit MA long ago, not being able to find what I was looking for.
To me personally, spiritual/philosophical aspects are even more important than effectiveness. Practicing every day or many times a week, I think a MA should offer more than just brace you for self-defense situations that will hopefully never arrive. MA should offer a path for life, for many or all parts of daily life.

 

[Twin Fist]

i was a small white boy with a big mouth in a very bad area of south dallas.

i NEEDED something to stay alive.

I found martial arts.

 

[WCman1976]

I wanted to learn self-defense. In school I was the kid who always got picked on by bullies. It was only verbal, but I had a fear that if I stood up for myself, it could quickly turn physical...and I wanted to be able to handle that. This journey started with judo, but the school I went to was more tournament-based than street-ready. (I'm sure you could apply what you learned if you got far enough, but I needed something that could be applied a little sooner.) From there I went to a kung fu school that taught more flashy kind of techniques along the lines of wushu. They had us sink money into sparring gear that we never used. Then I found a wing chun school, and my life was forever changed.

 

[OKenpo942]

My father asked a friend of his if he would take me on as a student. Dad wanted me to learn to defend myself as well as develop a positive self esteem. I was a 13 yr. old kid with no clue about the real world. All I knew was baseball, church, and school. Baseball and school are now things of the past, however, Kenpo and church are still a very big part of my life. Thanks for this thread. Really made me reflect on where I came from and where I am now. What a ride!

James

James