Well, that was pretty much exactly a year ago. I can totally remember it. Actually, I've kind of had three of them.
First, I started with Shorin Ryu Karate - We started with this introductory lesson thing - I got my dad to take it with me, just cause I'm really shy. They were supposed to be private lessons, then if we decided we wanted to stick with it, we'd going the real class. We didn't even have belts yet. You had to get through these introductory classes before they'd give you a belt. But ANYWAY, the sensei wasn't there when we showed up and the senior instructor had to teach the next class - the beginer class - white to yellow belters. So he threw us in there. It was the coolest thing I'd ever done. I felt like a complete fool. I had no idea what I was doing. Everyone was more advanced than I - I was watching everyone else, and it was a kind of learn-as-you go thing. There wasn't a lot of explaining. But it was SO cool. We did pushups of course, and I don't know what else, but I was sore for days afterwards. My dad did not continue on, but I did - I was hooked.
And then I met an older man that we'd go sailing with sometimes (I live on a sailboat). We got talking about martial arts and he told me that he'd used to do kung fu. He was some sort of professional fighter/world champion. Anyway, he knew Kung fu. So I got up the courage to ask him if he'd work with me. It was SO cool. I mean, the man was so peaceful - I mean I love karate - but he talked like kung fu like it was spiritual, a way to live and achieve peace. The first lesson was in the parking lot of our marina. We had to a move a bit to get out of the way of cars, but he demonstrated to me some kung fu and then taught me some basic blocks and told me to work on them until I saw him again. I worked with him for about five months, but then he fell seriously ill.
But my contract ran out at the shorin ryu place, and I'd just been accepted at the University of south florida. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't afford to pay for karate on my own, but I couldn't give it up. I checked and they offered shotokan at my school. I signed up - my scholarship covered it, so I was set. I thought I was the big fish. I was a recently promoted blue belt, and had just moved into the intermediate advanced class - I thought... well, I was a bit over confidant. And it was HARD to switch styles. There are miniscule differences between the two styles, so I got confused all the time. The basics were the same, but some things, like the stances, felt widely different. But the coolest thing about switching to shotokan was that you get to do kata from the beginning. In my old style, we were not taught kata until we reached blue belt level. And not I've changed campuses again and am about to start at a new (shotokan) dojo. I've got to remind myself not to get cocky. I really don't know ANYTHING.
Sarah
