Why I shouldn't be a blue belt

[HighKick]

You were in the "void" where action takes place outside of thinking, or even consciousness. You don't need to know what you did or how you did it. "Knowing" how to do it again, or perhaps more accurately, allowing yourself to do it again is another matter.

I've experienced this too a few times, like sparring in a tournament and suddenly, in a flurry of action, finding myself at the guy's back firing punches to the back of his head, having no idea how I managed to get there.

It's a small taste of what's possible in MA when mind, body, spirit (and luck?) are all in alignment.

Yep, that is the level of ability we work for, when you really, truly know a technique.

 

[skribs]

Exhibit AI
Today in class I got hit with an Ameri-Do-Te technique. The Thrust of Freedom. Specifically the Thrust Back...right to my nose.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Exhibit AI
Today in class I got hit with an Ameri-Do-Te technique. The Thrust of Freedom. Specifically the Thrust Back...right to my nose.

The Thrust of Freedom has legitimate uses in a number of martial applications.

 

[skribs]

The Thrust of Freedom has legitimate uses in a number of martial applications.

It's also one of the few techniques that has as much potential to create life as to destroy.

 

[skribs]

Exhibit AJ

Coach taught the tornado sweep from lasso guard. My partner (white belt) and I think we have it figured out. Coach calls all eyes in. "Some of you are having trouble when you invert."

Me and my partner look at each other. "We're supposed to invert?"

We were doing a completely different sweep.

 

[skribs]

It's fun re-reading this thread. A few of the stories reminded me of people that have moved away. A few others of folks that have since been promoted. Nice stroll down memory lane.

 

[skribs]

Exhibit AK

During a round of takedowns-only, I hit a lateral drop I've been working on. Professor said, "That was sweet!"

I went up to the brown belt who taught me that throw and told him this.

He laughed, and corrected me. "Professor said, 'That was sweep.'"

He told Professor what happened.

Professor laughed. "That was a butterfly sweep; you cheated!"

 

[skribs]

No exhibit number for this one. Just an amusing observation I made today.

We had one of our guys get promoted to purple belt. He's the first person who started at our school to make it to purple. (We've had a few others, but they came into our school as blue belts). This man works incredibly hard. He's essentially our gym's manager, he volunteered with the tots for a while, with the kids now, he sets up fights for our MMA fighters, he does a lot of manual labor around the gym. Super passionate about martial arts. I think he's the heart of our gym. He trains hard, but he doesn't hurt people. He watches tons of instructionals on the side. Just all around great guy and great training partner.

Today, he got his purple belt. He cried. Professor, the other coaches, me and all the blue belts were all tearing up too.

That's when I realized something. The tots class and the adult class have this in common: when someone gets promoted, everyone else cries. Only difference is in the tots class they're crying because they didn't get the promotion, too.

 

[skribs]

Exhibit AL

I normally take the evening classes. There's a bigger guy with a beard that takes the morning classes. I've known this guy for about two years now.

I just realized today that it's two different people.

There's two bigger guys with beards that normally take the morning class. But I'd never seen them together at the same time. It's no wonder I could never remember his/their name.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Exhibit AL

I normally take the evening classes. There's a bigger guy with a beard that takes the morning classes. I've known this guy for about two years now.

I just realized today that it's two different people.

There's two bigger guys with beards that normally take the morning class. But I'd never seen them together at the same time. It's no wonder I could never remember his/their name.

I can relate to this all too well. I'm really bad with faces and names. It's not quite prosopagnosia, but I'm definitely in the bottom 5% of the population for being able to recognize faces until I know someone well. (Especially when people do something inconsiderate like changing their hairstyle or losing a bunch of weight.)

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

No exhibit number for this one. Just an amusing observation I made today.

We had one of our guys get promoted to purple belt. He's the first person who started at our school to make it to purple. (We've had a few others, but they came into our school as blue belts). This man works incredibly hard. He's essentially our gym's manager, he volunteered with the tots for a while, with the kids now, he sets up fights for our MMA fighters, he does a lot of manual labor around the gym. Super passionate about martial arts. I think he's the heart of our gym. He trains hard, but he doesn't hurt people. He watches tons of instructionals on the side. Just all around great guy and great training partner.

Today, he got his purple belt. He cried. Professor, the other coaches, me and all the blue belts were all tearing up too.

That's when I realized something. The tots class and the adult class have this in common: when someone gets promoted, everyone else cries. Only difference is in the tots class they're crying because they didn't get the promotion, too.

That’s a pretty good story!