Parents in the Bleachers

   I went to a new  high school football game tonight and things were different.There were several police officers present.  They needed to be there. The kids in the bleachers were insane.
 I love the fact that the bleachers at our high school in  Fountain Lake, Arkansas are always packed with lots of student and adults..  Everybody shows up and half the folks are adults because they are parents and their kids go to Fountain Lake or they are alumni.
Tonight I talked to a police officer at the "other"game, and he explained they had to keep lots of law enforcement present because parents generally just dropped their kids off. And that means there are problems.  But at Fountain Lake there are generally as many adults in the bleachers as kids. We all watch each others kids, we holler at them, give them money, ask them to go get us a hot dog or popcorn from the concession stand. It's a community and I love that.

Two Classic Come Back Lines For Black Belts

As a black belt, as a second degree female black belt, there are alway questions, especially from people not involved in Martial Arts.  How you answer these questions when you are twenty and how you answer them when you are 50 are worlds apart. At twenty the answer to everything is generally, "come here and I'll kick your ass. Then you'll know the anwer."

At fifty I generally respond with a shrug, that's my way of saying, "well come on and we'll see."
But there are two questions my kids and I face all the time, so it was good to come up with some generic and friendly answers. I very rarely tell people what my rank is or how long I've been working out. But people find out. So this is what I say.

#1 Men find out I have a black belt and I swear, all the jerky ones say something like,
"So you're a second degree. That means you could take me right?"
Imagine me, standing there in a pretty flowered dress.  I just smile at the doof who is 6'4 and 250 pounds."Well, maybe you'd end up beating me, but I promise, you would know you'd been in a fight." And I keep on smiling. What's he gonna say?

#2 The kids and I walk into the gas station/connivance store after class. We don't wear our belts but we are wearing our white uniform pants and black tee-shirts.  A guy with a 12 pack of PBR will generally say something to the cashier like, "Ohh, we got us a bunch of black belts in here. They must be pretty tough."
At that point I smile again, cause that's always my answer, and I say, "That's right, so if a bunch of pirates break into the place, we got your back, no need to fear." 

That line always makes folks laugh, takes the spot light off the jerk and we all walk away happy. We are cool, confident and strong.

If you try to confront these guys like this,.... you lose. No matter what you say, you look like a tool, unless you can get them to laugh and then they just wonder about how bad "A" you really are. You don't have to prove anything, you just have to walk away. What you know and how good you are is your business so never take their bait unless you're really really ready.

Blackbelt, You Can't Do That In Football!

Sandor is eight and gets to play tackle football this year. He is excited to the extreme. I explained to his taekwondo  instructor that he would not be around much for the next two months. This is the first time in five years he's taken a break from Martial Arts training.
Yesterday was his first practice in full pads. Sandor looked as though somebody plugged him into a car battery; he was so jacked up. The first thing the tiny players did was the sideways crab run. I watched as my boy fell down, stumbled and came in almost last. I couldn't help myself. I yelled for him to come to me.
"Sandor, this is just rotary jogging, like we do in class."
"Oh, I didn't know that. Ok" He ran back to line up. We rotary jog in taekwondo so we learn to use angles when sparing. Sandor turned into the fastest kid in the crab run.
Next the coach (who is wonderful) lined the little boys up facing each other, to work on blocking drills. I watched as Coach blew the whistle and boys crashed into each other like miniature samurai. Then Sandor instantly leg swept his opponent, slung him over his hip and took the top mount. The kid on the bottom was confused and obviously frustrated. I watched Sandor take down all his opponents with the same smooth jujutsu moves.
When the coach saw what was going on he came to me. "Does he watch a bunch of cage fighting or wrestling?"
I shook my head. "He's been training in  Martial Arts since he was three. It's just muscle memory. Tell him there's no grappling or leg sweeps in foot ball."
"Wow, I've never seen a kid do that so fast." He laughed.
"You're lucky he didn't arm-bar or sidekick."
Now Sandor understands blocking, and what is and isn't involved. But
I want to say "good job" to all you Martial Arts Instructors. Your students do, in fact, remember, exactly what you teach them.

Tournaments, Crappy Losers, Good Handshakes

I love tournaments.  You can leave money, cameras, phones all over the place and nobody steals your stuff. The men know how to shake hands. When competitors win or loose they shake hands and say "good job sir".  Crappy losers are not rewarded, they are shunned.If there's a problem, high ranks talk it out, together.  And if you talk behind peoples backs, it usually gets back to them because everybody is connected. If you break a girls nose or accidental kick a guy below the belt, you turn your back and take a knee. You do not jump up and down and high five your daddy.And at the end of the day you walk around , shake hands and hug. You thank your host for inviting you. even though he weights 200 pounds and doesn't mind round kicking a baseball bat. 
I love tournaments.

The Uniform Is Ironed

Tomorrow we have a tournament.  I just finished ironing uniforms and my heart is starting to clip along at a pretty good pace. It always does, even when I'm not competing, just judging  Lexie is though and I'm hopeful her form will get it done.

Lex and I are both 2nd degrees but at 14 she is on the rise and I'm working hard to maintain.  I love going to tournaments with her because she's pretty, her forms are powerful and flashy so folks like to watch them but she's the pretty high-rank girl that stops to help yellow belts fix their uniform.  She tells first-time tournament moms that things will be ok then shows them where the bathroom is and how to fix a belt.  She's the teenager who approaches the masters and grand masters, is very respectful but at the same time playful and chatty. She loves Taekwondo, she grew up here, and she wants everyone else to have fun too

I stand back from my daughter at tournaments as she works the crowd and gets ready to compete because I just want to watch her in her element.  There are days her work before and after she competes is more  beautiful and rewarding than her form or sparring. She's that girl and she's mine.

Is It All About The Fighting?

At some point in my limited 12 year Martial Arts career things changed.  I realized this morning having, excellent technique and a brilliant form is more important to me than sparring.  I'd rather everyone in my family have a crowd stopping pattern  than win  point sparing. This is new for me. For years it's been about the fighting and sparring. I was the one on the sidelines yelling, "go for the ribs,Honey".

Suddenly, the "Art" part of Martial Arts takes priority. I think it's because anyone can have a killer cross and score points with a sneaky back fist. But very few ever have a form that stops traffic during a tournament. An amazing form is very much like a magnificent dance. It is art and it is awe inspiring. A great form requires, technique, power, grace, stamina and finesse.

It's strange and wonderful  how being part of the martial arts world allows your mind to expand and change. Maybe that's the maturing process. What ever it is...I like it.