Trendy (a parody of Lorde's Royals)

The following is a parody of the song "Royals" by Lorde. If you don't know the song, you can check it out here:

With apologies to my fellow Korean Martial Artists, I have used Japanese terms since they are both more familiar to most and fit the lyrics better.

TRENDY

I’ve never done a 540° spinning kick

I cut my teeth on basic drill in the dojo

And I won’t brag about my skills,

In a simple school, no belt rank envy

But everyone’s like gold trim, grey gi, no sweepin’ in the ring, dear,

No bloodshed, contact, or sparring without full gear,

We don’t care, we’re repeating low blocks in our dreams.

But everybody’s like glow sticks, backflips, diamonds on your nunchucks,

Contracts, Upgrades, Black Belt-in-a-year plans,

We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your mass appeal.

And we’ll never be trendy (trendy).

It don’t run in our blood.

That kind of flash just ain’t for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your teacher (teacher),

You can call me Sensei

And students I’ll teach, I’ll teach. I’ll teach.

Let me live that fantasy.

My friends and I we still break boards

We count our dollars to pay the rent and keep the door open

And everyone who knows us knows that we’re fine with this,

We’re not just about money.

But everyone’s like gold trim, grey gi, no sweepin’ in the ring, dear,

No bloodshed, contact, or sparring without full gear,

We don’t care, we’re repeating front kicks in our dreams.

But everybody’s like glow sticks, backflips, diamonds on your nunchucks,

Contracts, Upgrades, Black Belt-in-a-year plans,

We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your mass appeal.

And we’ll never be trendy (trendy).

It don’t run in our blood.

That kind of flash just ain’t for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your teacher (teacher),

You can call me Sensei

And students I’ll teach, I’ll teach. I’ll teach.

Let me live that fantasy.

Ooh ooh oh

We're smaller than we might have dreamed,

But I love not being too mainstream.

Ooh ooh oh

Life is great without compromise

We aren't caught up in winning the prize.

And we’ll never be trendy (trendy).

It don’t run in our blood.

That kind of flash just ain’t for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your teacher (teacher),

You can call me Sensei

And students I’ll teach, I’ll teach. I’ll teach.

Let me live that fantasy.

Don't Blink.

    To me, it is a crime that, until recently, Doctor Who has been a relatively unknown property in the United States.  I remember watching random serials from the fourth and fifth doctors showing up on PBS when I was a kid, mostly leaving only vague memories of Tom Baker's scarf, the oddity of what appeared to be a cave girl (Leela) crawling around in a spaceship, the brilliant absurdity that is a Dalek, or the wonders of a tin dog (K-9). Truthfully, I had even less memories of Peter Davison, and merely recalled his clothing and the fact that he was the same guy as Tom Baker in a new body, or something like that.  It is only with the relaunch of the series with the Ninth Doctor, the availability of BBC America, and the development of internet connections that make streaming video truly viable that The Doctor has finally made a lasting impact on this side of the pond, and that is good thing for scifi fans in the States.  I have made it a personal quest to watch every serial, and while I have seen the entire run from Eighth through Eleventh, I have only thus far made it from the First Doctor to mid-way through the Fourth Doctor in the original series, and am looking forward to more.

     One of the staples of Doctor Who has always been its imaginative, strange, visually striking, and sometimes downright creepy villains and monsters.  The greatest Doctor Who villain will always be the Dalek, despite what any polls might say, but I'll admit that due to being a more modern fan, David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, will probably always be my favorite doctor (although I do put Baker and Troughton and numbers 2 and 3 on my list) and as such, his run has left me with some of my favorite villains as well.  At the top of the list of "modern" Doctor Who villains has to be the Weeping Angels. 

For those not in the know, the Weeping Angels are out to get you, and can be any statue that you see. Their only weakness is that they can't move if anyone is watching them.  All you have to do to be safe is simple: don't blink. Any child who ever engaged in a staring contest can tell you exactly how easy that isn't. This concept has made for some really great episodes in the tenures of both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, but "Blink" is still definitely among the best.

     Okay, those of you who aren't Whovians (shame on you) bear with me, I am going somewhere with this. I have been struggling to convey to my students the best way to develop "snap", "pop", and precision in their technique for quite some time now.  I have also struggled with students who can't seem to sit or stand still, and consistently fidget, and have stressed the importance of stillness over the last several months.  It seems as if "be still" is an alien concept to some of them, but it is slowly sinking in.  We have even worked through some of the less complex equations of elementary physics and learned that accelerating our mass more quickly while decreasing the total distance traveled between our technique and our target has the result of generating more force, more work, and more power.  Somehow the concept of getting from one place to another efficiently was still being lost, though.  I stumbled upon a teaching technique just today that I will be using more often in the future.  I have dubbed it "The Hyung of the Weeping Angel."

     The concept is actually a rather simple one, much as the concept of the Weeping Angel itself is simple.  I expect the students to perform each move with blinding speed, as accurately and as efficiently as possible, but then to stop all movement to the point of becoming a statue.  While this only works after a student has been taught the correct transitions between movements as well as the starting and ending positions, it does work.  Students' focus, timing, snap, and even attitude all got better.  As I continued, I began to tell the students that they had to complete the movement in the space of time it took me to blink.  At first I would kihap to initiate the movement, and blink slowly, expecting them to have transitioned from one movement to another while my eyes were closed, and expecting all movement to stop when my eyes opened.  Later on, the blinks became faster.  Anyone caught moving while my eyes were open was told, and eventually the blinks were too fast for the students to keep up, but it still became a valuable and fun exercise.  When working with smaller groups, I would even forgo the kihaps altogether, and would instead have students focus on me.  They would have to move as soon as they saw my eyes close, and be completely still when they opened.  While this did shift their focus away from themselves, it still conveyed the message of quick movements with snap and power being necessary, and increased the energy and dynamism of their hyung.

     It occurs to me now that I have seen this type of movement expressed before. I clearly remember a speech being given by Grandmaster Shin during one of the many Regional Black Belt Camps I attended over the years.  Actually, that isn't true.  I'm not sure I can remember the content at all, but I can remember what happened during that speech.  Grandmaster Shin went from a casual speaking posture to executing a textbook Tang Soo Do side kick and back to his casual position again with what I could only describe as the speed of thought.  I don't even think I did blink, and to this day I can tell you that my eyes were unable to register the motion between his foot being on the ground and being fully extended, as well as not seeing any motion as the kicking leg returned to the ground. Having seen that one side kick still inspires me today, and remains one of the most memorable experiences in my martial arts career.

     Some of you may not believe that this type of motion is possible without seeing it with your own eyes. Or perhaps I should say not seeing it.  To those people I present one Rika Usami.  She has her critics, as all sport oriented martial artists do, but I maintain that she must be a hybrid of human and Weeping Angel.   Go ahead and watch her, but don't blink.  Don't even blink. Blink, and you're dead. She is fast, faster than you can believe.  Don't turn your back. Don't look away, and don't blink.

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.

The Black Belt Equation

     Over my years as a martial arts instructor the question "what is a black belt?" is one that is asked as often as any other in my experience.  Of course, we have stock answers: "A black belt is someone who is good at the basics", "a black belt is someone who has shown readiness to truly start training", "a black belt is the real beginning", etc.  In truth though, many of these answers are just as ambiguous as the question posed in the first place.  This is, of course, by design, since a black belt is someone who must derive his or her own meaning from the journey, but none of that really helps in this particular post, and it is decidedly unhelpful when trying to establish a curriculum or a set of criteria for advancement to this coveted rank.  I have pondered this question for quite some time, but it was my recent opportunity to sit on testing panels for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th degree black belt candidates that drove me to put it down in a more permanent fashion.  As I had to make a determination for each of these candidates regarding whether I thought they were ready for advancement, I had to ask myself: "What is it that I really think a black belt is?", ""Are these candidates displaying the qualities of a black belt at the appropriate rank or level?", and "What are those qualities to begin with?"

     In order to answer any of these questions, we do have to return somewhat to the ambiguous, and remember that our training is a journey, and not one with any fixed destination.  In order to evaluate a black belt candidate, then, I must view the journey as a whole, but also as a synthesis of its component pieces.  I must ask both where the candidates have been, and also where they are going.  If we view the journey as a whole, we should be able to look back and see the journey (in the World Tang Soo Do Association) from white belt on through the ranks of orange, green, brown, red, blue, and finally to black, but we must also be able to see the desire for this person to forge ahead to the higher ranks of black belt as well, or what is the point?  If we break down the journey to its component pieces, though, we must of course begin at the beginning: white belt.

     When I ask myself what, in one word, I want a white belt to gain from his or her training, it is, quite simply, coordination. I hardly expect that a white belt  will understand the intricacies of how the body mechanics of the technique make it work, or  to be able to apply each technique in a "realistic" scenario.  I do expect white belts to learn and duplicate the basic movements of required techniques, and expect that they will work towards making these movements more natural to them.  I expect them to begin to learn how to move the various parts of their bodies together in a way that makes sense within the context of a given technique.  In essence, I expect them to be trying to move their bodies correctly, and that is all.  Anything else at this point is extra.  Please let me be clear:  it is not that I do not expect certain white belts to pick up more than this, and it is not that I expect every white belt who walks through the door to suddenly be coordinated in all of their movements.  I do expect that the main focus to the white belt is to work on and develop basic coordination, both in terms of physical technique and in terms of coordinating their personal schedules in order to get to classes.

     In the standard WTSDA curriculum, orange belt is the first step forward in terms of a belt color change for our students.   Once again, if I distill an orange belt's development down to one word, it would be balance. In a very real sense, this is what I want my orange belts to be developing.  I would like to have orange belts who can kick above their waists without falling over, certainly, but this balance extends to other areas as well.  Students at this stage will begin to work more on multi-technique combinations, and in so doing, will begin to balance both left and right sides of their bodies in one step. Stances will gain additional importance and emphasis, and in so doing, the instructor will begin to stress specific footwork and posture in a more in-depth manner.  Techniques will begin to become more fluid and less staccato in nature. In addition, the student must begin to balance their personal lives with their martial arts lives as the required curriculum begins to require additional time and effort.  It is not only balance that is being developed, though.  Balance is being developed by putting previously developed coordination into practice, which in turn develops coordination further as well.  We begin to see that the journey is cumulative, and that we cannot simply discard the lessons learned at one step in order to move forward to another, as this would be akin to trying to climb a ladder while someone removes the bottom rung.

     If we look forward towards green belt, then, the defining area in need of development, to me, is focus.  In a practical sense, green belts must learn that no matter how good a technique looks (ie, how coordinated and balanced a technique is), it matters very little if one cannot hit his or her target.  In this sense, focus is defined through aim and accuracy.  The importance of vital points begins to become more emphasized by the instructor, and the students' development is measured by how well they can land their techniques on a given point.  The importance of Shi Sun, or focus of eyes, is stressed further at this point as well. The student is tested on how well he or she can ignore distractions, and is expected to learn the value of stillness in addition to the value of motion. Additionally, it is at this stage at which many students are truly challenged for the first time.  They must make a critical decision whether to let increasing difficulty overwhelm them or to focus on their goals and press forward.  By developing this focus and stillness, students will find that control (coordination) and proficiency of technique (balance) improve as well.

     At brown belt I expect that the synthesis of previously developed coordination, balance, and focus is power. In general terms, power is the ability to do something, the degree of control over something one possesses,  or the amount of strength one has.  Each of these is being developed at brown belt.  Brown belts begin to find that their techniques are landing with additional force or strength due to the proper coordination and balance of their muscle groups combined with the ability to focus the technique on a given point. They begin to understand that they are in control of how much strength or force is being generated by a specific technique.  They begin to understand that they can, and in this realization comes confidence and personal power as well. While greatly simplifying matters, science (physics) generally views power as the rate at which work is performed upon an object.  In order to really understand this, we must know what "work" is in a scientific sense, but in a more general sense can comprehend that in order to develop power, one must be willing to perform work. In a very basic sense, work is determined by multiplying the amount of force generated on an object by the overall displacement of said object, or how much an object is moved from its original position. Thus, power is a measurement of force, speed, and movement. Force and movement we now have developed, so it is relatively obvious what must come next.

       To me the WTSDA red belt is all about learning how to perform the required techniques and movements correctly, but with greatly increased speed. Scientifically, speed is usually expressed as distance traveled divided by time: 55 miles per hour, for example.  In order to increase our speed, then, we either need to decrease distance traveled in a given amount of time, decrease the amount of time it takes to travel a given distance, or decrease both the distance traveled and the amount of time it takes to travel that distance. Given that acceleration is a function of the change in speed (or velocity) over time, and that acceleration is also a component of force, we know that in order to accelerate a given technique to a certain speed, we can apply additional force as well (Acceleration= Force / Mass).  This is the mistake many new red belts make.  They try to apply more force to a technique  in order to make it go faster; to take less time to perform. What they should actually be doing is attempting to decrease the total distance traveled by the mass of their bodies. This is done by making one's techniques more efficient, and by cutting out all unneeded and extraneous motion. Thus speed is again a product of coordination, balance, and focus, and by increasing speed, we automatically increase power as well.  Red belt is the synthesis of correct movement, but something is still missing. 

     Up to this point, students have been primarily working on the how, and, more specifically, how to move.  It may seem shocking to some, contrived to others, and cliche to the rest, but it nonetheless remains true that until this point, we have merely been learning to crawl, then walk, and have just begun to comfortably run. The journey has barely even begun.  In the World Tang Soo Do Association, blue belt is a stage between the Gup and Dan ranks, known as Cho Dan Bo, or black belt candidate.  If we accept that white through red belt represent childhood, the blue belt is adolescence.  We have learned how to move, and now must begin to learn why.  It is here that application becomes paramount.  When we learn how to move correctly and combine this knowledge with knowing why, we can actually begin putting our techniques to good use, and can begin to develop an arsenal of useful tools for both self-defense and self-improvement.  This is not to say that students are not taught applications for specific techniques up to this point, nor that students are not capable of putting their knowledge into action prior to this stage.  I do however believe that application of techniques up to this point has been, for most students, more through rote memorization of movement than by intuitive action, even when our goal as instructors is to teach and develop the latter. It is this intuitive action, or unconscious competence for those familiar with the term, that we strive to develop at this stage. Being able to apply a technique means being able to effectively use it without conscious thought, and while I do not believe that most blue belts can do this every time with every technique, I absolutely do believe that it should be happening sometimes. If it is, the challenge becomes finding a way to reproduce this, and the blue belt is on the right track. Doing something instinctively and without thought is a great achievement for the blue belt, but it is not, and should not be, the end.

     Wait, there's more?  Those familiar with the Four Stages of Competence know that "unconscious competence" is the final stage, right?  Perhaps not.  I would argue that if one is truly completely competent with something, one must be able to teach and develop that competence in another.  In order to do that, we must be able to do more than simply perform a certain technique or skill without thinking about it.  We must actually know how we perform the skill without thinking about it. This leads to what some claim (and I agree) is a fifth stage: conscious competence of unconscious competence.  For the sake of simplicity, we will call this understanding.  It is at black belt that we should begin to see how all the pieces we have been given fit together, and it is here that we begin to see the "bigger picture".  No, I am not saying that I expect a black belt to show a complete understanding of his or her chosen art.  That would imply and end where there is no ending. Instead I am saying that I expect to see at least a spark of understanding in candidates who are testing for black belt.  I expect that they are just beginning to see how it all fits together, that it is in fact " all the same", and that the destination is not remotely important to the journey itself.  I expect to see the potential for further understanding to be developed, and to see the desire to pass on what they have learned to others.  I expect to see a synthesis and synergy of coordination, balance, focus, power, speed, and application.  I expect to see this understanding grow and change as the student moves through the higher degrees of black belt.  Finally, at some point, I expect to see black belts realize that they have in fact been unconsciously incompetent, and don't actually know what they think they know.  It is then that they can begin their training and learn to become coordinated in a whole new way.

Kick.  Punch. Easy Stuff.  

First!

First! may very well be the most annoying internet meme of all time, but let's be perfectly honest: we all want to be first at SOMETHING.  Unfortunately for us as a society, so many of us underachieve and fail to reach our potential so often that being the first to post a comment on the web has actually become a goal and an accomplishment to some people. By the way, to those of you thinking that typing "First" into the comments section of this blog post would be funny or inventive: no, it's just sad. For those of you who are blessed enough to have no idea what I'm talking about, you can learn more by clicking here.  Warning: there may be some strong language in linked videos.  Overall, though, I think the Venn Diagram below illustrates it best:

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I actually do want do discuss how this relates to martial arts. The simple truth is that most of our efforts and goals to be first at something in the martial arts world are both fleeting and futile. Did you come in first at a tournament?  Are you the World Champion?  These are great accomplishments for you, yes, and I don't want to try to take that from anyone, but in 20 years, will anyone really care?  Will you?  Did you make to black belt faster than anyone in the history of your school?  Can you jump the highest, kick the hardest, or yell the loudest?  Someone will always be better, and physical skills will always diminish in some way over time.  As martial artists, it is important for us to be proud of our accomplishments and inspect our achievements, but it is also important for us to set ego aside and realize that First!  does not always equate to best. Striving to be our best should always take priority over striving to be first.  

There is, however, always an exception to the general rule, and I do believe that there is a special case in which being first in the martial arts world truly does matter.  It is a situation over which we appear to have little control, but is one that nonetheless can create an exceptional martial arts experience.  I speak of the experience created when one becomes an instructor's first student.  There is no doubt in my mind that being a first student allows for a journey in the martial arts unlike any other, and I do not say this simply because I am one (more on that later) but instead because I have had a first student of my own.  Truthfully I have had more than one first student, but I'll explain how that is possible later.

In my own martial arts career, I have been often asked who my first student was, or who was the first student of another instructor or master.  I think that people do not fully understand why they ask this question, and I believe that many instructors do not comprehend why certain names pop into their heads when the question is asked.  I believe that the question is asked often to determine whether this fact is actually important, and that it is answered readily because the answer is, unequivocally, important to the instructor.  

Before I move on further in this direction, though, I think it is important for my readers to understand what I think a first student is.  A first student is not merely the first person who walks through the door to take a class, you see, although I am surprised how often that scenario proves to be true.  A student isn't someone who merely shows up.  A student is someone who studies.  If we look at the definition and origin of the word, we find the following:

If we look merely at the definitions, we find that a student is "a person who is studying", but what does that really mean? By looking further at the origin of the word, we find that a student actually is a person who "applies oneself to" something with "painstaking application". If we look at traditional Chinese characters, from which most Asian languages developed, we see a similar concept. The Chinese word for "student" is xuésheng, which is depicted as follows:

學生

The first character, xué, meaning study, can be broken up into its components in order to better understand its meaning. The 'x' shapes denote mathematics, or knowledge. The strokes surrounding and under the 'x' shapes depict hands grasping or acquiring knowledge that is taught or passed on. Finally, the strokes below depict a child or person. The second character, sheng, is often translated as life, but also depicts growth, development, bringing forth, and other similar ideas. Thus, we can see that a "student" in Asian culture is someone who has dedicated his or her life to grasping or acquiring knowledge, or one who creates growth through the acquiring and development of knowledge.

Why is all of that important? Simply put, it illustrates the point that one can not truly be an instructor's first student unless one is fully committed to the idea of being a student. An instructor's first student is the first one who "gets it."  A first student is the first one who commits to learning the martial arts with his or her whole being.  First students are the first to throw themselves into their training with "painstaking application". The first student is the student who is first to realize and accept that martial arts have truly impacted his or her life for the better. Finally, first students are those who cannot stay away from martial arts, even if they try. First students may not be the first student to set foot on the training floor, but I have seen that they often are. The first person to enroll in a given martial arts school often develops a strong instructor-student bond, and often receives in-depth training at a personal level that is not as often possible as classes grow and increase in size. As those classes do grow, though, it is the first student who shows the way for those who follow.  The first student lets others know what behaviors are expected, acceptable, and unacceptable.  The first student picks up on the instructors nonverbal communication, and often sees that things are done before the instructor needs to ask.  The first student helps to create the school's identity, and is the first to truly become a part of and contribute to the greater whole that is the dojang.   

  I have said already that I personally am a first student. As I cannot say with any certainty that my instructor would agree, I should more accurately say that I believe myself to be my instructor's first student, or that I consider myself to be my instructor's first student. I am not the first person to whom my instructor ever taught martial arts.  I am not even my instructor's first student to reach black belt or master rank, depending on how you look at it. I am, however, the first person to register for classes at my instructor's studio, on the first day he offered classes as a studio owner in the WTSDA, and I am still here, running a studio of my own, so I hope that in some way I "get it" and that this qualifies my belief. 

It could actually be argued that I am a first student of a first student.  My instructor's instructor was Master Michael White, who in the history of his own studio wrote: "Classes were taught throughout the year, in all weather conditions. At this point, the studio had some off/on students. The lone survivor throughout the long succession of students was a student named Charles Vaughn. Charles became Appalachia’s first Black Belt and later on, a Master Instructor himself." As "lone survivor" it could be argued that Master Vaughn was Master White's first student, though again, I do not presume to put words in Master White's mouth.  I merely hope to demonstrate that it could be argued that I am a first student of a first student, as well as illustrate that the concept of the "first student" may in fact mean different things to different people.  If we have learned anything from the Star Wars saga, it is that "many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."  
  So, while I do not mean to create any controversy by writing this, it can also be argued, from a certain point of view, that Master Michael White was a "first student" of Grandmaster Shin after he came to the United States.  Though I am not saying Master White was Grandmaster Shin's first student ever, from a certain point of view it nonetheless could make me a first student of a first student of a first student.  I say this not to be boastful or to brag of my strong lineage, but instead because it helps me understand the strong responsibility I have to pass on what I have learned. I am proud to say, then, that my own first student is now running a dojang of his own, and again, from a certain point of view, is a first student of a first student of a first student of a first student.  I can only hope that he has found a first student of his own.

  I was, at first, very hesitant to write on this topic because I was afraid that the audience to whom it would be relatable was confined to only instructors and first students.  I have come to realize though, that it is possible to have more than one first student.  How is this possible?  While I will only ever have one first "first student", my wife and I now teach multiple classes in multiple locations.  I therefore have a first student at my new location.  There is the first youth student, and the first little dragon to really become a student in the sense defined above. There is the first student to reach black belt and hopefully one day the first to reach master.  There is the first tournament champion and the first youth student to become an instructor.  There is the first student to arrive for class each day, and the first student to realize that sometimes the best lessons are learned by being the last one to leave. Let me clarify:  I absolutely do not care who is the first person from my dojang to do any of the preceding things.  I absolutely do care who is the first student to do so. In some way, we can all find a way to be first students, and we should all strive to do so. In achieving this, I believe it is okay to proclaim that you were "First!"

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.