When you first started TKD was it for the pure majestry you saw in the instructor or was it the impressive way they could move will preforming all those kick or was it simply what was available at that time.
TKD the Art
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For me it was watching this little bitty older man just man handle this big brawler type guy and the way he was able to generate so much power in all he did was just fantastic in my eyes. He was quick like a cat but had the strength of a tiger and when he hit you, you felt it for days not just seconds or an hour but days.
EmperorOfKentukki
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This thread got me to recalling my start...and I had actually forgotten that it WAS Taekwondo that I first took formal lessons in. But it wasn't TKD that caused me to get interested in martial arts. My interest actually was inspired by Egar Rice Burroughs.
The Emperor
The Emperor
It was a combination of my instructor's personality---total integrity written all over him, obvious love of teaching, no egotism or showboating, intense interest in the students I was watching---and the grace and economy of his moves in doing forms and demonstrating basic (but far from easy!) techniques such as rear leg side kicks, turning kicks and back kicks. I watched him, and the class (in which my son was enrolled), and found myself thinking, hey, I want to be able to do that too... and so....
OK, I'll bite---what was there in ERB that got you interested in MAs? I can't say I've read a huge amount of his work, but I don't remember anything in any of what I read (mostly the Mars stuff) that touched on MAs directly... on the other hand, my memory isn't what it used to be, and never was, so...
I started TKD, as I've said before, because I was dragged in by the guy I was dating at the time. By the end of the first class, however, I was hooked. I wasn't sure, at the time, what caused it - I just knew that I wanted to come back for me, and not my then-boyfriend. By my 3rd class, I had purchased a dobok I couldn't afford (they weren't required unless and until the first time you tested), and I was hooked... I fell in love. I'm still not quite sure what it was at the time; the feeling of mastering a skill that seemed so hard the first time I saw it, but was taught in small chunks and recombined into something I could actually, to my shock do; some of it was the fact that there were other women there (which I wasn't expecting; my then-boyfriend thought I might be the only one); the fact that the people there all seemed to be enjoying what they were doing so much, even when they were sweating and gasping for breath... even now, I'm not sure quite what hooked me in at the start - I'm just really glad I was hooked! TKD has given a focus and direction to my life that didn't exist at the time, and I'm not sure what I'd have done without that.
Miles
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I'm with Exile. I've read the 24 books of the Tarzan series when I was a kid. Outside of the quiet endurance and indomitable spirit, not sure where John got his inspiration from? "Ready to spill?" as my teenaged daughter would say?
Miles
EmperorOfKentukki
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LOL! I knew someone would bite.
Well...first stop thinking "Tarzan" and start thinking "Princess of Mars".
The books are about John Carter who goes to Mars and has swashbuckling adventures. It was the swordplay that captured my imagination. I decided I'd like to learn how to use a sword. So I began to read up about swords...and it was the Japanese Katana that impressed me as being the best type of sword. So I ordered a copy of Kenjutsu Shoden and a bokken and tried to learn practicing in my living room (hey...I was 17....sue me). The book said if you had any experience in traditional martial arts (such as Karate) then it would be easier to learn how to use the sword. Well...the only Karate school around was out of my price range....so I signed up for a Taekwondo class at the YMCA in a neighboring town. But I didn't stay but about three months. Two reasons....one....I ran out of money for lessons. Two...I didn't really like the guy who was teaching the class. So it was about a year before I was able to take up study again, and at that time it was in College and the art was Shorin-ryu Karate Do. Which I got my first Black Belt in. I didn't get involved in Tang Soo Do until four years after that when I was stationed in Seoul, Korea during my military service. It was there that I finally met and study sword (Sim Do Kwan Kum Do) under an actual sword master (Yong Chong Sik).
And that is how Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired my initiation into the martial arts.
Well...first stop thinking "Tarzan" and start thinking "Princess of Mars".
The books are about John Carter who goes to Mars and has swashbuckling adventures. It was the swordplay that captured my imagination. I decided I'd like to learn how to use a sword. So I began to read up about swords...and it was the Japanese Katana that impressed me as being the best type of sword. So I ordered a copy of Kenjutsu Shoden and a bokken and tried to learn practicing in my living room (hey...I was 17....sue me). The book said if you had any experience in traditional martial arts (such as Karate) then it would be easier to learn how to use the sword. Well...the only Karate school around was out of my price range....so I signed up for a Taekwondo class at the YMCA in a neighboring town. But I didn't stay but about three months. Two reasons....one....I ran out of money for lessons. Two...I didn't really like the guy who was teaching the class. So it was about a year before I was able to take up study again, and at that time it was in College and the art was Shorin-ryu Karate Do. Which I got my first Black Belt in. I didn't get involved in Tang Soo Do until four years after that when I was stationed in Seoul, Korea during my military service. It was there that I finally met and study sword (Sim Do Kwan Kum Do) under an actual sword master (Yong Chong Sik).
And that is how Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired my initiation into the martial arts.
My 1st impressions were of a sense of awe & wonder I felt reading "Kick Illustrated" (a short lived MA magazine in the early 80's). They made training & being a BB sound like the coolest thing in the world. I was blessed to find the an instructor who not only exuded that same sense of love for the Art, he wanted to instill it in his students.
Well, most of my friends probably regard me as the poster kid for the saying `Fools rush in...' :wink1:
OK, but remember... the `Mars' ones are the ones I said I'd read, and I didn't remember any MAs, though there was a lot of fighting...
Ahhhhhhh.... it all comes together now. I don't remember what kind of sword he used, but yes... it just wouldn't have had the same magic if he'd been packing a Tec 9 instead, eh?
It makes perfect sense now---J Carter to swords to karate to TSD to Gum Do (the local transcription here in the Heartland).
Dang, why didn't I think of all that!? :wink1:
zDom
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It was what was available at the time, but soon after I was impressed with the power and precision in the instructor's techniques.
"Yep," I thought as I watched him do anything from a block to a kick. "If that were to hit you it would HURT."
Among the earliest things that impressed me was the way he could throw a block so hard it would make the sleeve on his dobok go "POP!" The acceleration -- and then sudden, precise stop -- required to snap a uniform sleeve, for me, is a beautiful thing.
andyjeffries
Senior Master
I was looking for a martial because I was being bullied at school (I started at age 12) and got a book from the library on all different martial arts. In the Taekwondo section it had step by step instructions on how to do a jumping reverse turning kick (no idea why, no Taekwondoin would have really bought a book on so many arts as an instructional manual).
Anyway, this kick (and some of the other photos) really impressed me so I went looking for a nearby club. No Taekwondo in the area, but there was Karate. So I went down on a Monday night to visit the Karate club, walked past a door and saw a small asian guy teaching one child and he had TAEKWONDO on the back of his uniform. I saw a poster as I went in of the instructor doing a flying side kick and instantly knew this was where I'd learn. It turns out he'd only started the class a week before and wasn't advertising yet.
I stayed with that instructor until he stopped teaching there and handed over the class to a 3rd Dan. That 3rd Dan (now a 5th Dan) is still my current instructor and I'm still just as in love with the art of Taekwondo!
I started TKD training from the need for improving my kicking skills. I ahd been training for several years in Chito-ryu and EPAK prior to that. Both styles left me wanting more in the way of clean kicking technique.
It was a combination of wanting self confidence and wanting to do things I saw in the movies. I grew up in a small town so we had only one school but it happened to be a good one with a very understanding instructor.
I started with hapkido in the summers as a kid. I did Judo and Wrestling as a teen and for the Marines. I began hapkido again. I had seen tae kwon do my whole life, I always thought it was the poomse art and didn't think anymore of it.
I did start to learn it and got to orange belt in 03-04. However, it wasn't until I came off a medical sebatical in March of this year that I think I really appreciated tae kwon do for what it is. Now I am a poomse junkie. It amazes me how much power can be generated while doing the patterns.
I did start to learn it and got to orange belt in 03-04. However, it wasn't until I came off a medical sebatical in March of this year that I think I really appreciated tae kwon do for what it is. Now I am a poomse junkie. It amazes me how much power can be generated while doing the patterns.
TraditionalTKD
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I started in Tae Kwon Do because I was tired of being picked on in school and TKD was taught at the local YMCA. The first class I ever went to, this intense Korean guy was leading basics, basic kicking, and free fighting. I saw black belts kicking each other across the room. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. 23 years later, I am still with the same organization.
