What was your best experience
- Thread starter terryl965
- Start date
matt.m
Senior Master
Terry to answer your question it happens to be this past May. I went to one of our tournaments, I had not competed in a long time. Anyway, I came in 1st in my division and 3rd over all. I figured I must be doing ok if I was wearing two leg braces and was able to beat people in poomse.
What made it so special is the fact that I had not competed in Tae Kwon Do competition in over 4 years at the time.
After Matt's experience this is probably going to seem pretty anticlimactic... anyway, it was at the end of a very, very intense workout at our dojang, and I was the senior student present. Our instructor had me run through seven poomsae, one after the other, `combat speed' as we call it, with barely a break between performances, and had me rotate 90 degrees after each performance, just to make it interesting. I did them all in good form, and when I was done the other students applauded... that was definitely the best, for me.
I'm just a lowly gup in TKD and was sparring with a 4th Dan at a black belt workout. I checked a strike attempt and closed in for a clinch and did a sweep throwing him to the floor. On the way to the mat I managed to get a hold of the arm I checked and put him in an armbar just about as soon as he hit the mat. He was tapping out in seconds. As we stood back up he complimented my teacher, which made me feel really good too.
rmclain
Black Belt
Difficult to say. My best moment is usually when one of my students has a big success outside of the classroom by applying the philosophy I teach to their lives.
For technique success, it is when they escape a situation successfully. The following is a link to an on-line story about one of my students. This is a June 2004 newsletter, but the incident happened in 2001. BB Mag published a mention of it as well. The story is about 3/4 of the way to the bottom: http://www.defendu.com/newsletterjune2004.htm
R. McLain
For technique success, it is when they escape a situation successfully. The following is a link to an on-line story about one of my students. This is a June 2004 newsletter, but the incident happened in 2001. BB Mag published a mention of it as well. The story is about 3/4 of the way to the bottom: http://www.defendu.com/newsletterjune2004.htm
R. McLain
OK... I was taking a TKD class and the Black Belt I was sparring noticed that My guard was loose. He kicked my hand and broke it. There is more to the story but I did learn to keep a tight fist when sparring.
Sean
Sean
For one of my students:
Mason had a short temper all through school, and got in trouble a lot for reacting without thinking. When he was at his middle school one day in 7th grade, another student tried to pick a fight with him - called him names, called his brother and then his mother names, and finally took a swing at him. Mason stood there and blocked for nearly 5 minutes until a teacher showed up. Not once did he try to hit, kick, or throw the other student, and not once did the other student hit him, other than the blocks. This was a turning point for Mason, and changed his whole view of himself as incapable of keeping his temper - he never got in trouble for that again. When asked how he did it, he said "I just did what you and Mr. Miller (the other instructor) told me to do"
For another:
Josh has diabetes. His doctor wouldn't clear him for his learner's permit when he was 15 because the doctor felt he didn't have sufficient control over his blood sugar. After about 6 months in my class, he told me that his doctor had finally cleared him. He went on to say that the discipline he learned in class was what he needed to learn to monitor and react appropriately to his blood sugar, instead of relying on his parents (he was 16 by this point).
I could go on... things like this are why I teach.
For myself, it had to be the look on my instructor's face when I was testing for IV Dan, and, when asked what my technique break was, said high twisting kick (head high, ball of foot, basically kicking back over your own shoulder). It took me 6 months to work up to that level of flexibility and strength at that height - but it was worth it for that one expression.
Mason had a short temper all through school, and got in trouble a lot for reacting without thinking. When he was at his middle school one day in 7th grade, another student tried to pick a fight with him - called him names, called his brother and then his mother names, and finally took a swing at him. Mason stood there and blocked for nearly 5 minutes until a teacher showed up. Not once did he try to hit, kick, or throw the other student, and not once did the other student hit him, other than the blocks. This was a turning point for Mason, and changed his whole view of himself as incapable of keeping his temper - he never got in trouble for that again. When asked how he did it, he said "I just did what you and Mr. Miller (the other instructor) told me to do"
For another:
Josh has diabetes. His doctor wouldn't clear him for his learner's permit when he was 15 because the doctor felt he didn't have sufficient control over his blood sugar. After about 6 months in my class, he told me that his doctor had finally cleared him. He went on to say that the discipline he learned in class was what he needed to learn to monitor and react appropriately to his blood sugar, instead of relying on his parents (he was 16 by this point).
I could go on... things like this are why I teach.
For myself, it had to be the look on my instructor's face when I was testing for IV Dan, and, when asked what my technique break was, said high twisting kick (head high, ball of foot, basically kicking back over your own shoulder). It took me 6 months to work up to that level of flexibility and strength at that height - but it was worth it for that one expression.
I've been blessed with many great and memorable experiences in TKD. One of my earlier ones was when I tested for my 1st Dan. In 1983, while on deployment with the USMC to Yechon AB in Korea, during my off duty hours, I traveled on a bus to a nearby town, Jeomchon, and trained as a red belt at the local Dojang. As I was the only foreigner, I brought a lot of attention and many high ranking belts from other nearby towns & villages etc., would come to observe. Towards the end of my deployment, my instructor said I should test for black. It was probably the most unorthodox test I have ever taken. It was more like a tournament in that after a short warmup all I did was fight Black Belts from all over the region that had been invited to "play" with the foreigner. Throughout the next couple of hours, I was kicked several times in the body and shoulder but no one managed to kick me in the head. I did manage to tag a few so I felt rather good about it and was humbled to be promoted afterwards. The next year I did attend a formal provincial Black Belt testing in Taegu, Korea but that's another story. I do have some pics but I'm new on this site and not sure how to upload pics...Respectfully, Lou
