The martial arts journey

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puunui

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Sometimes people forget that a martial arts journey is a personal journey of self realisation. We are all critics and being criticized in all manner of things. Funny how what you say about your journey is the same as the journey of life as we age.
You tell us what brought you to TKD,why did you stick with it. You are high ranked in Hapkido as well so the KMA's are your main study,yet your origins would seem to lead you down another path.I hope this is not too personal,if so feel free to disregard.I am leading us way off topic as it is.


I started in Japanese martial arts and to tell you the truth, I enjoyed it when I was a kid. Then, in intermediate school, a Korean boy transferred in. One day he came into the bathroom that my friends and I took over and used to smoke in. When he was using the bathroom, I asked him if the rumors that he was a taekwondo guy was true or not. He ignored me and just looked straight ahead. So I told him, hey I'm a shotokan guy so let's spar. I lightly reverse punched in him the face a couple of times, and on the third move, he back kicked me so hard that I folded over. I looked up in time to see his roundhouse kick coming at my head, so I ducked and my friends all mobbed him after that.

I had heard about taekwondo kicks but never felt it up front and personal like that before. I told my uncle about it, and my other friend told his father, and they both recommended the same taekwondo teacher who they both knew. So a bunch of us joined that club. I was taking Shotokan at the time, and so my purpose was to supplement my shotokan and learn how to mainly defend against kicks, and if I learned some kicks, that would have been great too, because shotokan wasn't really into kicking other than front kick.

But after a while, I found that I really enjoyed Taekwondo and stopped Shotokan completely, which I found to be stiff, rigid and unbending. There was no adding in Shotokan, and you had to do it one way and that was it.

My first Taekwondo instructor, a non-korean practitioner, had a background in kung fu, judo, aikido and other arts so he was open minded and flexible. So I stuck with it.

On the way to my friend's house, we used to catch the bus and it would take us past this Hapkido school that opened up. After driving past a few times, I decided to check it out. The instructor, who was Korean, was again very open minded and didn't care if you took other styles, as long as you did what he wanted in class.

I like Taekwondo and Hapkido for different reasons. I enjoy Hapkido because it is a combination martial art and anything really goes. I remember when I was leaving GM JI Han Jae to move back to Hawaii and asked him if there was anything that he wanted me to focus on. He told me that Hapkido has no rules and I could do whatever I wanted. So Hapkido satisfies the need for freedom of expression, because the art as envisioned by GM Ji, who many recognize as the modern founder, actively encourages innovation and creativity in his students. Or at least he used to. Maybe he is saying something different to those that came after me, I don't know. Hapkido I can study in the comfort of my own club or my own house, with little interaction with the outside world. It is a completely personal study for me and I am less apt to share my discoveries and innovations and technical insights. I do Hapkido for me and a big part of me doesn't care how other people do their Hapkido. My Hapkido, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but it is rarely tested unless I or my students go out and test it in a self defense situation.

Taekwondo I like because of its constant evolution and change and yet there is a unifying principle behind it as well. I like the idea of a unified taekwondo, with a unified curriculum and unified certification. Being a part of Taekwondo makes me feel like I am part of something that is larger than myself or my own little private dojang world. I enjoy interacting with people from all over the world through Taekwondo. It is an awesome thing, different from any of the other arts that I have studied and I try as much as possible to give back. I have probably spent more time and effort attempting to understand Taekwondo on all of its levels, so while it is one of the most simpliest, it is also one of the most complex. Whether Taekwondo works or whether it doesn't comes to bear in tournaments. There, you can see whether your training or your teaching is effective or not, in a controlled situation. If it is, you win. If it is not, then you lose. I try as much as possible to go ""conventional" with Taekwondo, to the point of trying to understand exactly what the developmental course was, and why. I inject as little as possible into my Taekwondo and do it as much as possible "by the book", or or accurately, "by the pioneer's book". Creativity and self expression and veering from the established path I save for Hapkido.

Some people do it the opposite way. They try to standardize Hapkido or they feel they do not have to follow what the Kukkiwon or anyone else says about Taekwondo. To me, that goes contrary to what the pioneers wanted. I'm interested in the original intent of the arts and practicing how it was meant to be practiced, with freedom or standardized. And most of the arguments and criticisms of me and with me revolve because people disagree with that or have a different picture in their head as to what the "original intent" was.
 

Gwai Lo Dan

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I asked him if the rumors that he was a taekwondo guy was true or not. He ignored me and just looked straight ahead. So I told him, hey I'm a shotokan guy so let's spar. I lightly reverse punched in him the face a couple of times

Did he answer "sure, let's spar", or where you being a jerk?
 

Gwai Lo Dan

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If the Korean student said, "sure, I'll show you a few things", then Ithat's fine to throw some punches. If he stayed silent, then picking a fight is the exact opposite behaviour of a self-actualised martial artist.
 

terryl965

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Sounds like puuniu was a bully back in the days, because if he was truely being trained right in shotokan than he would have never ask that question. I have seen alot of people bag about be in a M.A. when they are around a few friends. I am sure puuniu has mature over the years and teach his student you should never brag or tell people what you know, but back in the sixties and seventy there was alot of Cobra Kai type schools out there.
 
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puunui

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Sounds like puuniu was a bully back in the days,


Maybe by today's standards what we did could be considered being a "bully". Back then, we just liked to fight, and generally we didn't care who it was. No one reported it to the office, no one got into trouble. But it was a different time. Now, no one fights. Here, if a kid gets into a fight, they get severely suspended or expelled, the police get called, family court may get involved, the parents get called in, all kinds of stuff. Back then, if the school somehow found out, our parents may get a phone call, but no expulsion or suspension. I did have to do detention a few times, which involved mopping the school cafeteria after lunch, but that was about it.
 
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puunui

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Steach his student you should never brag


Bragging, you mean like not telling people your dan rank or the fact that you claim 50 years of experience (when you're 51 years old) every chance you get? :)
 

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Maybe by today's standards what we did could be considered being a "bully". Back then, we just liked to fight, and generally we didn't care who it was. No one reported it to the office, no one got into trouble. But it was a different time. Now, no one fights. Here, if a kid gets into a fight, they get severely suspended or expelled, the police get called, family court may get involved, the parents get called in, all kinds of stuff. Back then, if the school somehow found out, our parents may get a phone call, but no expulsion or suspension. I did have to do detention a few times, which involved mopping the school cafeteria after lunch, but that was about it.
By your own admission, you and your buddies "took over" the bathroom. When someone came in, you "lightly reverse punched him in the face" a few times.

I'd say you and your buddies were jerks, at a minimum. Doesn't mean you didn't grow out of it. And it's just my opinion.
 
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puunui

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By your own admission, you and your buddies "took over" the bathroom. When someone came in, you "lightly reverse punched him in the face" a few times.

I'd say you and your buddies were jerks, at a minimum. Doesn't mean you didn't grow out of it. And it's just my opinion.


Feel free to think or say whatever you want about me.
 

terryl965

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Maybe by today's standards what we did could be considered being a "bully". Back then, we just liked to fight, and generally we didn't care who it was. No one reported it to the office, no one got into trouble. But it was a different time. Now, no one fights. Here, if a kid gets into a fight, they get severely suspended or expelled, the police get called, family court may get involved, the parents get called in, all kinds of stuff. Back then, if the school somehow found out, our parents may get a phone call, but no expulsion or suspension. I did have to do detention a few times, which involved mopping the school cafeteria after lunch, but that was about it.

Please do not get me wrong we all fought alot back in the days and must of us would be consider a bully
 

terryl965

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Bragging, you mean like not telling people your dan rank or the fact that you claim 50 years of experience (when you're 51 years old) every chance you get? :)

My rank is 5th if you must know and never said fifty, it has always been over forty. Let see started out in 1962 in Okinawa Karate, that is what my father tought along side Judo. So 1962 - 2010 = 48 years, remember my oldest started training when he was two and has 14 years in.
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Just to add this in as well hold several BB but who really cares, my base art has been TKD forever and that is what matters to me.
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Do not always go by what the info says here sometimes it needs to be updated, I just choose not too because rank means very little to me and those here that knows me know that.
 
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puunui

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My rank is 5th if you must know and never said fifty, it has always been over forty. Let see started out in 1962 in Okinawa Karate, that is what my father tought along side Judo. So 1962 - 2010 = 48 years, remember my oldest started training when he was two and has 14 years in.
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Just to add this in as well hold several BB but who really cares, my base art has been TKD forever and that is what matters to me.
icon10.gif


Do not always go by what the info says here sometimes it needs to be updated, I just choose not too because rank means very little to me and those here that knows me know that.

When did you start in Taekwondo?
 

terryl965

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When did you start in Taekwondo?

My very first time was in 1967 to 1972, then I went another direction for a few years and just did TKD on the side a day or two a week. Then started back on that path with TKD being my primary again around 1975 -1977, I was part of the ITF and then TexKwon do here in Texas and then took something else for a few years in college. Then in 1981 it became my base art all over again, in 1998 my school got heavenly involved in sport TKD with Chang Lee's here in Texas. Never was part of them just went over and started training for JO with the Pinorocs before JO's with they used to have there six week camps before Jr and Sr Nationals.
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What about you when did you start TKD?
 

Daniel Sullivan

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Oh for Pete's sake, the guy related an experience in high school, a time when pretty much everyone does things that belong in high school. We all had our jerky days in high school and then grew up. Why are we picking it apart?

The point is that this experience opened up a world to him that he had not previously seen (that of Taekwondo) and took him in directions that he had not previously considered.

Daniel
 
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puunui

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>When did you start Taekwondo?

My very first time was in 1967 to 1972, then I went another direction for a few years and just did TKD on the side a day or two a week. Then started back on that path with TKD being my primary again around 1975 -1977, I was part of the ITF and then TexKwon do here in Texas and then took something else for a few years in college. Then in 1981 it became my base art all over again, in 1998 my school got heavenly involved in sport TKD with Chang Lee's here in Texas. Never was part of them just went over and started training for JO with the Pinorocs before JO's with they used to have there six week camps before Jr and Sr Nationals.
icon10.gif


You might want to edit your webpage then, because that isn't what you say here:
http://twindragontkd.com/aboutus.htm
"Master Terry Stoker 4th Dan Kukkiwon Certified, Master Stoker has been training in Tae Kwon Do since 1981 under the guidance of GrandMaster Gin Kim."

Here is another one you might want to edit:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19405&page=2
" 11-24-2005, 10:46 AM Texas
45
Tae Kwon Do
Okinawa Karate
Linage in Okinawa, W.R.Stoker Sr. USMC Master Drill Instructor and Grand Master Yon Kin Kim

Tkd is Grand Master Gin Kim

Okinawa karate for 20+ years and 5th Dan
Tkd for over 20 years and 4th Dan

Terry Lee Stoker
 

terryl965

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>When did you start Taekwondo?




You might want to edit your webpage then, because that isn't what you say here:
http://twindragontkd.com/aboutus.htm
"Master Terry Stoker 4th Dan Kukkiwon Certified, Master Stoker has been training in Tae Kwon Do since 1981 under the guidance of GrandMaster Gin Kim."

Here is another one you might want to edit:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19405&page=2
" 11-24-2005, 10:46 AM Texas
45
Tae Kwon Do
Okinawa Karate
Linage in Okinawa, W.R.Stoker Sr. USMC Master Drill Instructor and Grand Master Yon Kin Kim

Tkd is Grand Master Gin Kim

Okinawa karate for 20+ years and 5th Dan
Tkd for over 20 years and 4th Dan

Terry Lee Stoker

I guess Iam trying to understand your point, I have and still dabble in Okinawa Karate and I am 5th so what, it also says I have been training in TKD since 1981 under GM KIm and that is true, simple put that is when I moved to California and started training with him. Do I need to list all my instructors to you hell no so get off my back.

Next thing my webpage has not been updated in many years so when it say 4th who cares, those that tested me for my 5th passed me and that is what matters to me.

I can tell you are having a problem with me, get over it. I maybe off a few months here and there and if you need to know anything more about me just ask but to try and make me look like a fool because you cannot understand certain things means very little to me. I know you are Glen from TKD.Net so what and I know how pro you are about the old USTU and the USAT go for it and have fun. Me I only take a few to those events everybody else is AAU because they are a better org.
 
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puunui

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I guess Iam trying to understand your point


The point is you said you have been practicing Taekwondo since 1967 and yet your webpage and prior postings say something else. Personally, if you wish to constantly state that you have 48 years of experience, that is your business.
 

terryl965

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The point is you said you have been practicing Taekwondo since 1967 and yet your webpage and prior postings say something else. Personally, if you wish to constantly state that you have 48 years of experience, that is your business.

Yea I am lieing about everything you are the only man here, so all these years in USTU and USAT and AAU has been a figment of my imagination.:erg:
 
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puunui

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Yea I am lieing about everything you are the only man here, so all these years in USTU and USAT and AAU has been a figment of my imagination.:erg:


or maybe you did have experience in ustu, usat, aau and taekwondo, but just not 48 years worth or even going back to 1967. maybe it is what you said it was on your webpage and prior posts, that you started in taekwondo in 1981 under Master Gin Kim, which is less than 48 years and less that 43 years that you said earlier. The person you should be getting mad at is yourself, not me. I'm not the one who put the information on your webpage or wrote your prior inconsistent posts.
 

terryl965

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or maybe you did have experience in ustu, usat, aau and taekwondo, but just not 48 years worth or even going back to 1967. maybe it is what you said it was on your webpage and prior posts, that you started in taekwondo in 1981 under Master Gin Kim, which is less than 48 years and less that 43 years that you said earlier. The person you should be getting mad at is yourself, not me. I'm not the one who put the information on your webpage or wrote your prior inconsistent posts.

What ever you say you are the greatest TKD person, please list for me all your info. since you do not provide anything for anybody. Also please show your doc. about your converstation like you ask Karatemom? See you are good about twisting everything, I said I started under GM KIm in 1981 but never said that is the first time I started. Never said TKD 48 years, said MA for 48 years please get it right. I am done with this pissing match with you, like I said earlier you are the upmost authority of TKD in the world, period!!!:asian:
 
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