You Can Only Pick Two.

So, tonight's class lesson was good enough that it inspired me to get back out there and write something. Yes. I know it's been a good while...Life, you know? At any rate, I think this one actually got through to my youth students, if only for the hour that they were with me tonight. Well, the best lessons bear repeating, don't they?

The lesson in question is normally taught as a lesson in Economics, but it turns out that it works pretty well for martial arts as well, and life in general, for that matter. Many of you probably already know the lesson, but I encourage you to look at it again, anyway, and analyze it from the perspective of a martial artist, as well as that of an instructor, should that apply to you.

I started by simply writing three words on the board, with the instructions "Pick Only Two".  I asked the students to pick two in their minds, but not to share with anyone else.

I also encouraged them to consider the fact that "cheap" does not necessarily have to be thought of in only in terms of money, but that the idea of "cost" should be considered, including what something costs in terms of the more valuable currencies of time, determination, concentration, and effort. Only after everyone had picked did I encourage them to share. If I do this lesson again, I will probably print out slips of paper with these three words on them, and have each student circle two, in order to get a truly accurate picture of which two items most students would pick. Nonetheless, I asked the students to share the two items they had picked, and then separated them based on what they had chosen, and ended up with three different groups.

Group Number One was Fast and Cheap. Inevitably, there will be at least someone who has never been exposed to this lesson that will pick these two options. After all, this is how we would all prefer things to be,right?  We have also ll seen students who try to make these two things work, and let's be honest, most of us have probably tried this path at least once, and have regretted it later.  The problem with this, of course, is that if we pick Fast and Cheap, we can't have Good, too.  Unfortunately:

Not in the "I actually mean good and tough" Michael Jackson way, though. Fast and Cheap results in just plain old bad, in the shoddy, sloppy, lazy, unskilled, and ignorant way. The Fast and Cheap mentality results in the Instant Gratification, Fast Food, Mass-Produced, Low Quality culture we see all too often. This is the path of the so-called "McDojo" that will award a black belt in one to two years, simply for showing up. This is the path to nowhere.

This is the path the serious martial artist must push away and ultimately reject entirely. After all, the goal is to "Get Good", right? As Boromir tell us, though:

We must then move on to Group Number two. This group chose Good and Cheap. Whether by conscience choice or not, this is the path most of us probably follow, at least at some point in our lives, and is also probably the path that most of our students will follow as well. Here we must remove the overly derogatory connotations of the word "Cheap". When we look at this option in terms of our martial arts training, we need to look at "Cheap" again in terms of how much our progress costs us. "Cheap" in this context is measured in terms of how much effort we give, how much actual training time we put in on the mat or floor, how much dedication we show, and how much thought we are willing to put into our development. These are the currencies with which we may purchase our martial arts proficiency, and the less we are willing to spend, the more we realize that:

This isn't saying that it isn't possible to become very proficient in the martial arts if you don't dedicate every waking moment to your training. It also isn't saying that those students who expend less effort than others in a given class, or even over a span of several ranks aren't worth our effort as instructors. It is simply important to acknowledge that this path will take much longer. This is the path for those who accept the fact that earning a black belt is probably going to take them AT LEAST five years, and quite possibly more.  This is the path for those who understand that true proficiency will always come only when the ultimate bill is paid. This is the long and winding path that takes the time to see all the scenery along the way. It is the path that will get you there, but only if you are willing to follow it to the end.

The real truth, though, is that you only get out "cheaply" in the short term. In the long term, you will still pay the price if you want the "prize".

Here then, we must look at the final group. Group Number Three chose Good and Fast. We have already acknowledged that there is always an ultimate bill to be paid in order to "get good". The difference here is that the bill must be paid up front. This path shows us that:

 
If we want our skills to improve more quickly, advance in rank in a faster than average amount of time, or see our students improve with each passing class and examination, then we must pay the bill. The cost is in effort expended for both the student and the instructor. The cost is in determination and dedication. The cost is in training: real, deliberate, and unyielding. This is the path for those who are willing to work more than the average person. This is the path that few will choose, precisely because it comes with the highest costs.  It must be the best path, though, right? It does get the quickest results, and only the most hardcore will take it, so it must be the one we should all strive to take, isn't it? Well, maybe, but not necessarily. This is the path with the quickest rewards, yes, but it also the most treacherous path, with the most risk.

I recently watched a video posted by someone who trained at the Shaolin Temple to become what is known as a "warrior monk", one who dedicates himself to learning the art of Shaolin Kung Fu. He explained that the training was grueling and unrelenting, generally taking up 7 hours every day. He absolutely "got good" at his art quickly by following this path, but ultimately, the cost proved to be too much, as he had to leave the temple due to a serious injury. This path will yield rewards, yes, but the dangers of physical injury, burnout, alienation from others, and general exhaustion are all too real.

This then concludes our lesson. Which path is yours? Which options will you choose in order to create that path? In the end, it really is up to you. Just remember, though: You can only pick two.

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.

Martial Arts Will Always Be There

This post is meant as both an affirmation and as a warning.

As an instructor, I have seen many students choose to walk away from the path of training in the martial arts.  I will readily admit that this path is not for everyone. Many students have very good reasons that they are unable or unwilling to continue their training.  It is not the reasons of these students that I wish to discuss, though.  Instead, it is the students’ justification of these reasons to the instructor that I wish to look into in more detail.

First, let me be very clear.  I am a martial arts instructor. I have dedicated my life to doing so.  Therefore, if you ask me whether I am okay with your child quitting martial arts to pursue baseball, or hockey, or any other activity, I will always tell you the same thing: No.  I certainly am not okay with that.  I am a martial arts instructor, and I think your child should take martial arts.  I mention this specific example because it allows me to further clarify my stance through personal experiences with two different students who basically quit for the same reasons, but handled it very differently.  Both of these students had achieved their black belts. 

The first student never spoke to me directly, but instead relied on his mother to handle things.  The mother explained to me that Tang Soo Do was very important to them, but they felt that they needed to devote more time to hockey and baseball, and because of the schedule of those activities, they would be unable to continue training.  I simply listened and replied with, “What you are telling me is that hockey and baseball are higher priorities to you than Tang Soo Do is right now.”  The mother seemed mildly offended by this, insisted it was not the case, and wanted me to agree with her and validate her decision.  She wanted to justify it to me, and wanted me to go along with it.  I did not.  In the end, this changed neither the outcome, nor the students’ reasons for quitting, but nonetheless I held firm.

The second student had successfully tested for her 2^nd degree black belt, but had not yet been promoted.  Shortly after the results had been made known, she approached me directly, without the assistance of a parent.  She informed me that she did not feel it was appropriate for her to accept her promotion, because she had made the decision to drop out of Tang Soo Do to pursue competitive running instead.  I agreed with her that it was not right to accept her promotion, and she never was promoted. The real point here, though, is that while I did not even remotely agree with her decision (I am still a martial arts instructor), I did and still do respect the fact the she had made a decision, understood both her reasons for doing so and the ramifications inherent to that decision, and felt no real need to justify that decision to me, and it didn’t truly matter whether I agreed with her or not. We had formed both a mutual understanding and a mutual respect. Neither of us truly accepted the other’s point of view on the issue, but we did understand both ourselves and each other, and, as Sun Tzu tells us, there is no losing in that situation.  

More and more often, I am experiencing more of the first type of student and less of the second.  Perhaps this is my own failing as a teacher, and if so, it is something that I must strive to fix.  As I do hear more students (or their parents) justify their reasons for quitting, though, I am beginning to notice a common thread. They feel that “martial arts will always be there”, and it is therefore okay to step away, because they can always come back.

Here is the affirmation:

Yes, we will be there.  Yes, you can come back.

Here is the warning:

Statistically, you probably won’t come back, and if you do, you probably won’t stay.

A student may leave for months, or even years, and may decide that he or she wishes to return to training.  I am the last person to stand in this student’s way. If you truly want to come back, we will be there when you do.  If you leave again, and wish to come back, we will be there when you come back. If you do this in a constantly repeating cycle, we will STILL be there when you decide that the path of the martial arts is truly one you wish to follow.  Martial arts will always be there.

On the other hand, what you may fail to realize is that coming back is hard.  While we have always been there, you have not.  You will find other things to fill the time you once used to train, and changing that will be hard.  Many of your peers may have moved beyond you in terms of both rank and skill, and that will be hard to accept.  Your own skills will not be as sharp as you remember them to be, and that will be hard to handle as well.  While the belt you wear around your waist may not have changed, you will nevertheless in many ways be approaching your school and instructor as a white belt once again.  You will be asked to prove that you have earned the belt you wear, and this, too, will be hard. The dynamic of your class will have changed, and it will be hard for you to find your place again in that new dynamic. While martial arts will always be there, the longer you stay away, the harder it will be for you to find your way back to them.

I can already hear the echoes of justification, so let me tell you what I hear and what I think when you say “Martial Arts will always be there.”

What I hear: I have other priorities above martial arts right now.  That’s okay, right?

What I think: Maybe. There are some priorities I accept above martial arts, and others I don’t. Just be honest with yourself and your instructor about what those priorities are. Regardless, I'm still a martial arts instructor, so I'll still think you should make training a priority and show up to class now and again.

What I hear: I’m bored with my training, and want to try something new. That isn’t a problem for you, is it?

What I think: Yes, that is a problem for me.  You are simultaneously telling me I’m not an interesting enough instructor for you to stick around and that you believe something “new” will have more value for you than something you need to work hard at for your entire life.  You’ve missed the point, and if you’re bored, it’s probably your fault.

What I hear: You’ll always take me back, so it's okay for me to take my training for granted.

What I think: I will always take you back, because martial arts will always be there. Unless, of course, too many people accept that way of thinking.  Then….they won’t.

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.

The Gift of a Weapon: Thanks, Trust, Lesson, Hope, and Responsibility

     In my years as a martial artist, I have come to understand that the giving and receiving of gifts is an important tradition.  There are many reasons why gifts are given between martial artists, and that idea could be an entire post unto itself, but there is one type of gift between two martial artists that stands out among the others. This is the gift of a weapon.  As I was training tonight, I began going through the various weapons I had on hand, using each one, and I realized that many of them had been gifts. Of the weapons pictured below, I only "paid" for one of them, and that was such a paltry sum in comparison to its actual value that I still consider it to be a gift.

     In addition to them being gifts, it should also be noted that each was a gift from one of my seniors. This is important.  A gift from a junior is important as well, and should be equally cherished, but a gift you receive from your senior can often hold more meaning than you may initially realize. If I went through additional weapons I do not currently have at the dojang, I could include several more not pictured above, and I appreciate and value each and every one. Why? Because each has meaning, and honestly, I can only touch upon the very surface of that meaning here.

     The first meaning of this gift is often thanks. Thank yous come in as many varieties as weapons, but generally a junior is the one giving thanks to his or her senior for the lessons provided. Often juniors may even feel that they never receive thanks from their seniors for what they do, but they are almost universally incorrect in this belief. Seniors genuinely do appreciate what their juniors do, and often even appreciate their appreciation. In other words, seniors appreciate it when their juniors ask them to come to an event in order to teach or share their knowledge. Often this is a situation in which the junior gives a gift to the senior, but at times, the reverse can be true as well.  The gift from the senior or mentor could be simply a thank you for the junior's (student's) dedication and willingness to learn as well.  It could also be a thank you for being a friend.  There are, as I have said, many reasons why a senior may want to thank his or her junior, and giving a gift is one way of doing so.  The gift of a weapon, though, conveys more than just simple thanks.

    The gift of a weapon signifies trust as well.  On one level, it is acknowledgement that the junior has actually made progress and has learned something.  In this respect, the gift of the weapon is saying, "Here, I acknowledge your ability. I trust you not to hurt yourself with this."  This is a mere acknowledgement of physical ability, though. The senior is also trusting the junior to use the weapon wisely, and to hurt no one else as well. This is recognition of the junior's mental, philosophical, and spiritual development, in addition to the development of physical skills.  Finally, it is symbolic of the senior trusting his or her junior to remain loyal to the relationship existing between the two. The gift of a weapon is a direct physical representation of saying "I trust that you will never stab me in the back." In the case of an edged weapon, this is both symbolic and quite literal. Beyond even thanks and trust, the giving of a weapon means still more.

     Almost any significant interaction between a junior and a senior in the martial arts, including the giving of a gift, should be viewed by the junior as a lesson.  The lesson may even be directly apparent in the type of weapon that is given.  The senior recognizes that the junior has enough knowledge to not get hurt, and to not hurt others, but this certainly is not necessarily an acknowledgement of any level of mastery with the weapon in question.  After all, Ben Kenobi may have trusted that Luke Skywalker wouldn't cut off his own hand with his father's lightsaber...

...but that doesn't mean he was ready to confront Darth Vader with it, now does it?

Okay, geek references aside, there is a point to be made here.  By giving a junior a weapon, the senior is often saying, "I've shown you how to use this without hurting yourself, but you still have a lot to learn.  I think you can learn something from using this particular weapon. Now, go and learn, but don't get cocky, or you might get hurt." Some of you caught the Star Wars reference there, too.  I know, I couldn't resist. Beyond even the lesson, though, there is more meaning to be found in the gift of a weapon.

     More than the thanks, trust, or even the inherent lesson in this gift, there is hope.  The senior giving the weapon truly hopes that the junior receiving it will take it and learn, in order to develop something new to share with others. It could be called A New Hope, I guess, but that might be pushing it.  Okay, I promise, that's the last one... I think.  All joking aside, this hope genuinely exists in many seniors' minds when handing a weapon to a junior, and that hope often blossoms into new knowledge, new instructional methods, and a new curriculum being developed. Granted, these "new" discoveries are often just re-discoveries of something old, but as long as it is new and valuable to the students who are learning from it, the gift has more than served its purpose, and the cycle can start anew.

     The gift of a weapon may signify any one of the ideas above, or it may include all of them at once. There may be deep personal connections as well, depending upon the weapon itself, who has owned and trained with it, and the exact circumstances under which it is given.  As I said, I can only scratch the surface of its true meaning here.  However, I can share one more meaning to this gift. Although it may be in back of our minds, we often do not wish to acknowledge it.  

     To share this final meaning, I will discuss the gift of the weapon that often holds more symbolic meaning than any other, that of the sword:

     

In this case, it is the master's sword, given to each master in the World Tang Soo Do Association as a gift from the Grandmaster.  This gift contains all of the meanings listed above.  It says, "Thank you for your service, loyalty, dedication, and sacrifice."  It says, "I trust you, not to hurt yourself, your students, the general public, your peers, your seniors, the Grandmaster, or the Association."  It says, "Teach with this, yes, but never stop learning.  You may be a master, but you will always be a student as well. Be careful with this, and with all the knowledge you have received, or you will get hurt."  It says," I have great hope for you, that you will go forth and develop new ideas to enhance our art and our Association."  All of these meanings and more are contained in the seemingly simple act of giving and receiving this blade.  I did say there was more, though.

     Some of you may notice that this gift says something else as well.  Quite literally, on the sheathe, it says, "Death Before Dishonor to World Tang Soo Do Association."  The gift at this stage is expected to go both ways.  By accepting the sword, the master accepts his or her responsibility to give something back, and to remain honorable throughout life.  Symbolically, the master swears an oath upon the sword while the blade is bared, and it is returned to the sheathe before being accepted. The oath always remains, though, as does the blade, even when it cannot be seen. This then is the final meaning.  This gift says, "I thank you, I trust you, I promise to teach you, and I have great hope that you will learn and teach as well, but if you turn your back on all of this, I have given you the instrument with which to take responsibility for your dishonor."  

     In a literal sense, soldiers and warriors of ancient times were expected to take their lives with their own swords when they committed an act of dishonor. Many people believe this to be derived from the practice of hara-kiri, or seppuku, by the samurai of feudal Japan, but the practice can be found in Ancient Rome, various European cultures, is referenced in the Bible, Torah, and Qu'ran, and the concept is probably as old as swords themselves.  Today, thankfully, we may not be literally expected to fall on our swords in times of dishonor, but we ARE expected to take personal responsibility for our actions, and to do what is right.  The gift of the sword is a reminder that this must ALWAYS be foremost in our minds, and that sometimes, there are no second chances.

     So, if a senior ever gives you a weapon, remember to think beyond the simple surface meaning of this action. I thank Masters Vaughn, Kaye, Homschek, and DiMarco, as well as Grandmasters Shin and Beaudoin for the gifts they have given, and I promise to do my best to accept their thanks, to be worthy of their trust, to heed their lessons, to fulfill their hopes for me, and to accept the responsibilty these gifts place upon me.

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff. 

  

Get UNComfortable.

     As an instructor, there are numerous sayings I use in my classes in order to communicate certain concepts to my students, some of which I have no doubt they get tired of hearing. One of these is:

"If you're comfortable, you're probably doing something wrong."

This isn't to say that no technique should ever feel comfortable to the student, or even that a martial artist can't feel comfortable in a certain stance or during a sparring session.  All too often, though, comfort on the part of the student equates to complacency or worse yet, laziness.  When I looked up the word comfort, the words relief, soothe, console, satisfy, solace, and ease appeared in the various definitions. While it is true that as we learn to defend ourselves, these words do convey a state which we hope to attain, they are not often words we associate with the actual training process itself, and, more importantly, they are not states in which we should attempt to stay for too long.

     If we get too comfortable at any point in our training, we become less open to new ideas and concepts, and are likely to have certain negative habits become ingrained.  As both students and instructors, we need to fight this. A little comfort is good, but too much of anything will eventually have a negative effect.  Too much comfort leads ultimately to complacency, and too much complacency leads to stagnation, which in turn leads to self destructive behaviors.   As students, we need to always seek new ideas, new training methods, and new ways of seeing the same "old" techniques.  In so doing, we must never forget the "old" ways either, or we are simply cycling back towards becoming too comfortable with the "new".  Only when we embrace both will we find that we are actually training in the true "old school" way.  As instructors, then, when we find either ourselves or our students becoming too comfortable, we must work to become UNcomfortable instead.  If I went into all the various ways to do this, it would be a REALLY long post, and that isn't my intention, so I will instead focus on one method I have used in my own training.   

     I would be lying if I said I was ever truly comfortable using a staff. It is not my favorite weapon, nor one that I feel I am truly adept at using in comparison to my understanding of various other weapons.  With that said, though, I have recognized this deficiency, and have started to spend some more time working with it.  This isn't a post on staff technique, though, so I digress.  Here are a few of the staves I am currently using in my own training:

It may not be apparent from the photograph, but each of these has very different qualities from the rest. They are made from various different types of wood, including  Pine, Canadian Ash, Waxwood, Oak, and others.  I also have a staff made of Rattan, and one that is a solid piece of steel, which are not pictured above.  Some are tapered, some are not, and one is thicker on one end than it is on the other. All are different thicknesses and weights, and even vary in length. So, including those not pictured, why do I need nine different staves?  I don't...I actually think I need more.  I actually don't own just one of any type of weapon, and neither should you. If you only train with one weapon, you will eventually get overly comfortable with it, and we know where that leads.  Each and every staff moves slightly differently in my hands, and each has different properties that will carry through into a block, strike, parry, or twirl. Some are designed more for speed and others are geared more for brute force.  Some are made to use flexibility as an advantage, and others are designed to be rigid.  Some are meant more for spearing or thrusting with the ends, while others are better for striking with the edge.  Still others attempt to be more balanced in their various properties and characteristics. I won't claim that out of all of these staves I don't have a few favorites, because I do.  Part of training is finding what is best suited for you, and this applies to both weapons and individual techniques.  These become our favorites, and  will inevitably be our "go-to" choices.  However, as soon as I become too comfortable using one weapon, I will try to pick up a different one.  I have recently tried this with swords as well, and found that by simply changing the length and weight of the blade, I definitely needed to refocus myself and my technique as well.

        So, if a student comfortable using a light staff, hand him a heavy one.  If another student always uses a heavy staff, give her a lighter one.  If your students are rigid in their techniques, give them weapons that flex.  Across the board, this idea can be applied: weight, length, shape, thickness, etc.  Remember, too, that the staff is merely a tool I am using to illustrate a concept.  As soon as students are becoming too comfortable, it is the instructor's job to make them uncomfortable.  So, what do we do with the student who seems to be adept with every type of staff?  How do I make this student uncomfortable?  Simple, give him two staves:

Or, if that's still too comfortable, how about three?

Is this practical for application of the weapon?  Probably not.  Will it teach students who have become comfortable with how they move their staves new ideas and insights on hand, wrist, and finger dexterity, alignment of the staff relative to the body, and angles of movement? Absolutely.

So, what are you doing to get uncomfortable?

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.

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.