Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Chuseok Shim Shin Forms
Wol Ah San is not a famous mountain in Korea, but it is one of Jinju's most distinctive land marks. The two peaks can be seen from many different locations in the city. The two peaks form a kind of U shape. When you stand across the river from the mountains, the peak on the left is called Gook Sa Bong. It is the taller of the two mountains, and the more difficult to climb. The course to the top takes the hiker over two smaller hills in order to reach the main escarpment. The trail then goes on for about 500 hundred meters to a clearing where a final hill has to be climbed in order to reach the top with the best view. Views to be seen on this mountain include stunning vistas of greenhouses, rice fields, and the Nam river. There is also a rock quarry. Along the way you can stop for a drink at a natural spring that is near the top of the mountain.
The right peak is called Jang Goon Dae bong, or "General's Peak." This mountain has two temples on it. There is the thousand year old "Cheong Gok Sa," and there is also "Doo Bang Sa." Cheong Gok Sa, has an enormous Buddah painting, which is a national treasure. The national treasure at Doo Bang Sa, is a very old black stone pagoda. On this venture I didn't travel to Doo Bang Sa, but rather, I took a different path and went to "Sung Eun Ahm." An "ahm," isn't quite a temple, but more of a cloister. It is a place to go and pray by one's self. The trail to Sung Eun Ahm was very narrow, but it had a lot of cool things, like these places were people had built stone towers for making wishes. These things are called, 돌무덕 (Dol Moo Duck) or stone graves. A long time ago people without much money built these stone graves for deceased relatives, instead of giving proper burials. These days people just tend to pile up rocks on the sides of mountains. You make a wish as you put a rock on the top of the pile. If you can put the rock on top of the pile without it falling off, your wish comes true. There are many of these rock piles on Jang Goon Dae bong.
On Saturday September, 19th 2010. I climbed Gook-sa peak and did Shim Shin 1-2. I originally planned to climb both peaks in the same day, but the path to the other peak wasn't clear. Then on Thursday September, 24th 2010. I climbed Jang Goon Dae peak, and did Shim Shin 3-5. This project gave me some good exercise for the week. On Wednesday of this week, Koreans celebrated "Chuseok." Chuseok, is Korea's second largest holiday after, "Seollal" Korean/Chinese new year. Chuseok is often compared to America's Thanksgiving, in that the day involves gorging one's self with food. Chuseok also involves a ceremony where a family's ancestors are remembered. Anyway, I thought that the bike ride to the mountain, the mountain climb, and the performance of the Shim Shin forms, would be a good way to burn the holiday calories, and also a good way to further pay tribute to Grand Master Chung, who celebrated his 40th anniversary in America this year.
At our Tae Kwon Do school in Kalamazoo, we have a rank called "Deputy Black Belt." Deputy black belt is kind of a bizarre rank. It is a six month waiting and training period between 1st gup and 1st degree black belt. Black belts at our school are expected to know the Tae Kwon Do, Teaguk 1-8 poomse series, also the Tang Soo Do/Okinawan Karate Pyung-Ahn 1-5 series, and a form called "Bassai dae." Legend has it that Bassai is a few hundred year old form that came out of the Shaolin temple. Deputy black belts are expected to keep current with all of those forms, as well as their form called 42 basic motions. Also they have to learn the five Shim Shin forms.
Both 42 basic motions, and Shim Shin 1-5 are considered to be "Moo Sool Do," forms. Moo Sool Do, means martial arts united. Moo Sool Do is the combination of Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, and Hapkido, the three martial arts taught at our school in Kalamazoo. So in order to further develop the philosophies of "Moo Sool Do," Grand Master Chung made his own "Moo Sool Do," forms. These include the Shim Shin forms.
One time during a black belt test, one of Grand Master Chung's highest ranking students saw how everyone was tired after going through the Taeguk, and Pyung Ahn forms. He made the announcement that it was time to start the Shim Shin forms. He then told us that Shim Shin means - "heart and mind," and that due to the massive amounts of kicks thrown in the forms, that they were the most strenuous. He was correct.
I haven't done much in the way of Tae Kwon Do training since I left Kalamazoo to come to Korea and work as an English teacher. Back in the days when I was in good shape, I thought these forms were fun. One thing I realized while doing them on the mountains is that they are incredibly difficult. It is difficult to maintain good balance while kicking. It is really difficult to maintain balance, while kicking with a bunch or rocks under your feet that trip you up. A lot of the forms had to be performed 3-4 times in order to get film without many mistakes. I have to admit to forgetting some motions in some of them. I'm not sure what the kick patterns in Shim Shin 1 and 2 are, and there are plenty of instances where good balance wasn't maintained throughout the forms. So if I did a front kick, where I was supposed to do a roundhouse kick, I'm sorry for that. Also Shim Shin 2 was done on the top of Gook Sa Bong. There were a lot of rocks underneath. On the first Jump front kick, I actually jumped off of a small rock on the ground that you can't see, I also stepped on another rock while making a back stance. Once again you can't see the rock, so the form looks really silly. Well, with the music, and the fact that I climbed two mountains by myself to film myself doing forms, the whole thing is pretty silly. In fact, my wife calls it the "wancta video." "Wancta,' in Korean is a word to describe a person with no friends. So yes I will admit to their being a pretty strong "Napolean Dynamite," influence on this movie.
There is also a scene in the video that might not make much sense. At the beginning I ride my bike past Jinju stadium. The stadium was built to host the Korean national sporting festival, which is being held in Jinju next month. It is a new stadium, so I just thought I'd put some pictures of that in the video. The film was taken from my bicycle, along the way to the mountain. Anyway, you can have a good look at Jinju stadium.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Chuseok Mountain Form Festival Update
On Saturday, I climbed to the top of Mt. Wol-ah's Gook Sa peak. I was going to climb to the top of Mt. Wol-ah's Jang Goon Dae peak as well, but the trail was over grown and it was getting dark. Anyway, I did two of five Shim Shin forms. I didn't to a great job of it because the rocky ground made for bad balance... and I forgot a few of the motions. So I'll post the video after I climb the other peak.
Monday, September 13, 2010
추석 무술도 심신, 42두소공방 품새 영화 식!!!!!! 정선환 관장님 만세!!!!!!
Next week is Chuseok. Chuseok is the Korean harvest festival, therefore, I will have a lot of time off.
As a further tribute Grand Master Chung, I will make videos of myself doing the forms that he invented in different picturesque places around Jinju.
As a further tribute Grand Master Chung, I will make videos of myself doing the forms that he invented in different picturesque places around Jinju.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Rational and Impulsive Minds in Sparring
This post is inspired by a guest I saw on "The Colbert Report," about a year or two ago. I forgot the guest's name, and the name of his book, but his topic was interesting. It was about how there are two minds, the rational and the impulsive. The rational mind is deliberative and cautious. It weighs the pros and cons of a situation before making a decision. The impulsive mind goes with "the gut feeling," and decides without much deliberation.
The interview was only a few minutes long, but it got me thinking about how this applies to sparring, and how sparring opponents of all different skill levels can affect learning.
In the Beginning
When a student begins training, they don't know anything. The don't know what to expect. They may know few kicks and punches that had been taught to them, but they don't necissarily know how to apply them. So at this point, when a student attempts to spar, they used their rational minds to figure out just what the heck is going on. More advanced students can react more quickly and naturally because they have been practicing longer and have built the neural pathways in their brain that allow them to act instinctively.
Mid level training
By mid level, I'm talking about people who may be first or second degree black belts. At this point the student has learned the basic techniques and can probably deliver them quickly. They know the rules of the game, and may be eager to fight with people of higher skill so that they can improve their game more. When I was a first and second degree black belt. I was focused on this. I was focused on improving my reflexes, becoming more flexible, and just trying to get faster over all. There was a problem though. I couldn't read situations well and react accordingly. I had fast and accurate defense kicks, and I was beginning to learn how to use fakes in order to attack more effectively, but there was always something missing. I didn't have any "sense," as to when to attack, and I wasn't sensitive to when the other person was off balance.
High Level Sparring
At this point the competitor can use "mind games," against the other person. They can sense the distances for the other person's reach and they can move into the other person's distance and attack the other person in a decisive manor. The attacker at this point doesn't even need to be excessively fast, they just need to be able to accurately figure out what the other is capable of and use distance and timing to position themselves in a way that can maximize their own success.
Geniuses
A genius is a person who has a natural talent and a natural sense for how to attack and defend. These people may have physical or mental attributes that make them able to learn without being taught, or to learn quickly. Unfortunately these people exist everywhere. It is said that the legendary Boston Red Sock Ted Williams could see the strings on the ball when he was taking pitches. These people tend to make poor coaches because they can't really explain how they know these things. Advice from these people may be a bit vague. However, it is possible to try to break down these people's games as they are in action. You can look for their natural tendencies and try to turn their strengths into weaknesses.
The Hard Worker
This type of person earned their skills through hard work. This post is focused on helping this person avoid tunnel vision when they are training.
Sometimes when you train every day, the improvement is gradual. You can't see any improvement from day to day so motivation can sag. You may be an instructor at a school and you may lament the fact that everybody learns from you so you can't improve your skills at all. This type of thinking is wrong. In a martial arts school, everybody has something to teach other people.
When I was the leader of a Do Jang, I learned something pretty cool about the Tae Kwon Do forms from a six year old kid. I might post about that later since this post is about fighting. Anyway this is where the thinking about the impulsive and rational minds come into play.
When you spar with a person of greater speed and skill, you might use a combination of the rational mind and the impulsive mind. Your mind may race to try to figure out ways to beat the person of greater skill, and you may react impulsively to try to block or dodge the barrage of attacks that are being thrown at you. Sooner or later, the other person might figure out what you do impulsively and then exploit those weaknesses. For example, when the other person fakes, they might notice that you instinctively block your head. After your hand goes up to your head they might attack your body. The other person is in a relaxed rational state. They aren't worried about what you are going to do to them because you are in a state of panic.
Now you can train two ways to combat this in the future. 1. You can try to fight people of even greater skill, or 2. you can try to fight people of lesser skill.
Both have their advantages. People of greater skill will give you courage in the future. When you spar against someone who you fear, you get a little bit braver every time you manage to "sneak one in on them."
But people of lesser skill have a lot to teach as well. Suppose the instructor taught a fake out technique that you haven't quite mastered yet. Using this technique on the lesser student can help to encode the rational act of trying to fake out another person into an intuitive action that is less obvious to detect by the other person. Sometimes fake outs are so obviously fake outs that the other person doesn't fall for them. However, if you practice on a person of lesser skill, who is more susceptible to that kind of trick, you can adjust and modify until you can use it on a person of greater skill. So in this sense, you can use lower ranking students as learning tools.
Often times people who are natural geniuses get bored fighting with the same lower ranking students who can't put up much of a fight. This might be because the person of greater skill uses the same skill sets that already work for them. In this situation, I would recommend redefining the goal of the fight. For example, rather than trying to score more points than the other person, it might be interesting to try to used footwork to disturb the other person's balance. Or rather then using a roundhouse kick as the same defense kick, try to use a push kick or heel down kick, so that you can build other skills.
So in sum, here is a break down of the intuitive and the rational minds. The rational mind is the mind that thinks and tries to learn. After something has been learned then it becomes encoded into the intuitive mind. In Tae Kwon Do, we wish to put as much as possible into the intuitive mind. Put everything into the learned behaviors. Put as much as possible into the mind that makes you forget that you drove home. But also be sure to exercise the mind that learns things. This will help you to learn things more quickly in the future.
The interview was only a few minutes long, but it got me thinking about how this applies to sparring, and how sparring opponents of all different skill levels can affect learning.
In the Beginning
When a student begins training, they don't know anything. The don't know what to expect. They may know few kicks and punches that had been taught to them, but they don't necissarily know how to apply them. So at this point, when a student attempts to spar, they used their rational minds to figure out just what the heck is going on. More advanced students can react more quickly and naturally because they have been practicing longer and have built the neural pathways in their brain that allow them to act instinctively.
Mid level training
By mid level, I'm talking about people who may be first or second degree black belts. At this point the student has learned the basic techniques and can probably deliver them quickly. They know the rules of the game, and may be eager to fight with people of higher skill so that they can improve their game more. When I was a first and second degree black belt. I was focused on this. I was focused on improving my reflexes, becoming more flexible, and just trying to get faster over all. There was a problem though. I couldn't read situations well and react accordingly. I had fast and accurate defense kicks, and I was beginning to learn how to use fakes in order to attack more effectively, but there was always something missing. I didn't have any "sense," as to when to attack, and I wasn't sensitive to when the other person was off balance.
High Level Sparring
At this point the competitor can use "mind games," against the other person. They can sense the distances for the other person's reach and they can move into the other person's distance and attack the other person in a decisive manor. The attacker at this point doesn't even need to be excessively fast, they just need to be able to accurately figure out what the other is capable of and use distance and timing to position themselves in a way that can maximize their own success.
Geniuses
A genius is a person who has a natural talent and a natural sense for how to attack and defend. These people may have physical or mental attributes that make them able to learn without being taught, or to learn quickly. Unfortunately these people exist everywhere. It is said that the legendary Boston Red Sock Ted Williams could see the strings on the ball when he was taking pitches. These people tend to make poor coaches because they can't really explain how they know these things. Advice from these people may be a bit vague. However, it is possible to try to break down these people's games as they are in action. You can look for their natural tendencies and try to turn their strengths into weaknesses.
The Hard Worker
This type of person earned their skills through hard work. This post is focused on helping this person avoid tunnel vision when they are training.
Sometimes when you train every day, the improvement is gradual. You can't see any improvement from day to day so motivation can sag. You may be an instructor at a school and you may lament the fact that everybody learns from you so you can't improve your skills at all. This type of thinking is wrong. In a martial arts school, everybody has something to teach other people.
When I was the leader of a Do Jang, I learned something pretty cool about the Tae Kwon Do forms from a six year old kid. I might post about that later since this post is about fighting. Anyway this is where the thinking about the impulsive and rational minds come into play.
When you spar with a person of greater speed and skill, you might use a combination of the rational mind and the impulsive mind. Your mind may race to try to figure out ways to beat the person of greater skill, and you may react impulsively to try to block or dodge the barrage of attacks that are being thrown at you. Sooner or later, the other person might figure out what you do impulsively and then exploit those weaknesses. For example, when the other person fakes, they might notice that you instinctively block your head. After your hand goes up to your head they might attack your body. The other person is in a relaxed rational state. They aren't worried about what you are going to do to them because you are in a state of panic.
Now you can train two ways to combat this in the future. 1. You can try to fight people of even greater skill, or 2. you can try to fight people of lesser skill.
Both have their advantages. People of greater skill will give you courage in the future. When you spar against someone who you fear, you get a little bit braver every time you manage to "sneak one in on them."
But people of lesser skill have a lot to teach as well. Suppose the instructor taught a fake out technique that you haven't quite mastered yet. Using this technique on the lesser student can help to encode the rational act of trying to fake out another person into an intuitive action that is less obvious to detect by the other person. Sometimes fake outs are so obviously fake outs that the other person doesn't fall for them. However, if you practice on a person of lesser skill, who is more susceptible to that kind of trick, you can adjust and modify until you can use it on a person of greater skill. So in this sense, you can use lower ranking students as learning tools.
Often times people who are natural geniuses get bored fighting with the same lower ranking students who can't put up much of a fight. This might be because the person of greater skill uses the same skill sets that already work for them. In this situation, I would recommend redefining the goal of the fight. For example, rather than trying to score more points than the other person, it might be interesting to try to used footwork to disturb the other person's balance. Or rather then using a roundhouse kick as the same defense kick, try to use a push kick or heel down kick, so that you can build other skills.
So in sum, here is a break down of the intuitive and the rational minds. The rational mind is the mind that thinks and tries to learn. After something has been learned then it becomes encoded into the intuitive mind. In Tae Kwon Do, we wish to put as much as possible into the intuitive mind. Put everything into the learned behaviors. Put as much as possible into the mind that makes you forget that you drove home. But also be sure to exercise the mind that learns things. This will help you to learn things more quickly in the future.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Tribute to Grand Master Sun Hwan Chung
Today is September, 11th. In Three Rivers, Michigan, a banquet is being held in honor of my instructor Grand Master James Sun Hwan Chung. Earlier this year in May he celebrated his 40th year of teaching Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do in the United States.
His story is an inspiration for many reasons. He was born in Hiroshima. During World War two, hundreds of thousands of Koreans were forced to either join the Japanese Army or work in Japanese factories in Japan. Also many women were forced into becoming comfort women for Japanese soldiers.
Part of the reasoning behind the choice of Hiroshima as a city for the atomic bomb was the fact that it was an industrial center with many foreign workers. Kyoto, the imperial capital was also on the list for bombing, but was decided against because a high ranking American general thought to place too beautiful to destroy. It's estimated that of the 80,000 people who evaporated in the initial blast of the atomic bomb, 30,000 of them were Korean, Taiwanese, or Chinese.
The Hiroshima memorial caries a placard that says, "We're sorry, it will never happen again" This apology is to the foreign nationals who were forced against their will to work for the Japanese during the war.
Like millions of other Koreans who emigrated back to Korea after World War 2. Grand Master Chung's family faced the hardships of poverty.
He told me a story one time about how when he was ten, during the Korean war, his family's house was in the middle of a battle between North Korean and American forces. His brother, a baby at the time, was still in the house, and Grand Master Chung fled the house with his brother on his back and bullets flying all around. Afterward the house was destroyed by mortar fire.
He also told me about how he attended one of the roughest high schools in Seoul. His family didn't have the money to send him to a good school so he went to a place where twenty to thirty year old war veterans went to school along side high school aged kids. The school was filled with gang members who would attack teachers, and beat up weak kids in the bathroom.
One story he told me about his time in high school was when a teacher was angry with the class. In Korea it is quite common -even to this day- for Korean teachers to beat students for reasons, ranging from smoking in the bathroom to having the wrong haircut. On this particular day his English teacher decided to line the students up and just slap them in the face and kick the kids in the legs because the students were being unruly. When it was Grand Master Chung's turn, the teacher found that he couldn't hit him because Grand Master Chung dodged every attack. The teacher told him to stand still and take his beating, but Grand Master Chung said, "Why are you trying to hit me, I didn't do anything to you."
Later in the day the other students in class plotted to jump the teacher as he was coming out of the school. Grand Master Chung found out about this plot. When the teacher came out of the school the other students laid in wait. Before they could attack the teacher Grand Master Chung came between the teacher and the other students and protected the teacher.
As you can see, life in Korea wasn't easy, but Grand Master Chung took the only thing he knew how to do and made it work for him.
In 1970 he came to Detroit, Michigan. He participated in demonstration fights. His sponsor told him that if he lost a match he would send him back to Korea. After staying a while in Detroit, he moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan where he has made his home and established his martial arts academy called the I.A.M.A. (International academy of martial arts A.K.A. Chung's Black Belt Academy.)
In 1985 he published "Oriental Martial Arts II," the text book that is used by I.A.M.A. students. Now think about this. He came to the United States in 1970, didn't speak any English, but with in 15 years he opened his own business and published a book in English. People like this are what make America great. America truly takes the best people from other countries and allows them to flourish.
Sometime in the 1990s (1991 I think) he returned to Korea and tested for his 9th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. At that time there were only 31 9th degree black belts in the world. In 2003 he tested for his 9th degree black belt in Hap Ki Do. He has achieved the highest rank in two major world Martial Arts.
From 2007 to 2009, he published Oriental Martial Arts III, which is a four part series of text books that include the I.A.M.A.'s testing requirements for color belts and black belts for both children and adults. The books also provides illustrations of forms, one step sparring, and self defense techniques.
I've been lucky to know him and learn things from him. I earned my 4th degree black belt from him, but besides Tae Kwon Do, I think the most important lessons from that people can learn come from his life's example. For demonstrations he used to do things like squat on broken glass with a 200 pound dumb bell in his mouth. He also used to run needles through parts of his skin and hang buckets of water from the needles. One time, he had a car drive over his chest. All of those things pale in comparison to the fact that he was able to come out of poverty from war torn Korea to America, and establish himself as a businessman.
So today on the day of Grand Master Chung's 40th anniversary party, I salute him. I salute him for being the type of man who you don't bet against. I salute him for viciously living life and being a part of the history of Martial Arts in America.
Other facts about Grand Master Chung:
-He has the "Keys to the city Miami"
- He met Elvis and had a slow dance with Priscilla Presley. He revealed this one time during a class. He used to have a picture of himself with the king, but a student who really liked Elvis, broke into his office and stole it.
- He is a first class international referee.
- He was recognized for his life time achievement by the American Grandmaster's Society. There is a Korean language newspaper article about the event.
- He was on a testing panel once to promote Chuck Norris.
-He has branches of his school that reach from Kalamazoo, to Detroit, to Bermuda. (I'm writing this post from Korea - though I don't have a school, nor do I teach anyone taekwondo anymore)
This is an open invitation to his other students to leave more of his achievements in the comments section of this post.
His story is an inspiration for many reasons. He was born in Hiroshima. During World War two, hundreds of thousands of Koreans were forced to either join the Japanese Army or work in Japanese factories in Japan. Also many women were forced into becoming comfort women for Japanese soldiers.
Part of the reasoning behind the choice of Hiroshima as a city for the atomic bomb was the fact that it was an industrial center with many foreign workers. Kyoto, the imperial capital was also on the list for bombing, but was decided against because a high ranking American general thought to place too beautiful to destroy. It's estimated that of the 80,000 people who evaporated in the initial blast of the atomic bomb, 30,000 of them were Korean, Taiwanese, or Chinese.
The Hiroshima memorial caries a placard that says, "We're sorry, it will never happen again" This apology is to the foreign nationals who were forced against their will to work for the Japanese during the war.
Like millions of other Koreans who emigrated back to Korea after World War 2. Grand Master Chung's family faced the hardships of poverty.
He told me a story one time about how when he was ten, during the Korean war, his family's house was in the middle of a battle between North Korean and American forces. His brother, a baby at the time, was still in the house, and Grand Master Chung fled the house with his brother on his back and bullets flying all around. Afterward the house was destroyed by mortar fire.
He also told me about how he attended one of the roughest high schools in Seoul. His family didn't have the money to send him to a good school so he went to a place where twenty to thirty year old war veterans went to school along side high school aged kids. The school was filled with gang members who would attack teachers, and beat up weak kids in the bathroom.
One story he told me about his time in high school was when a teacher was angry with the class. In Korea it is quite common -even to this day- for Korean teachers to beat students for reasons, ranging from smoking in the bathroom to having the wrong haircut. On this particular day his English teacher decided to line the students up and just slap them in the face and kick the kids in the legs because the students were being unruly. When it was Grand Master Chung's turn, the teacher found that he couldn't hit him because Grand Master Chung dodged every attack. The teacher told him to stand still and take his beating, but Grand Master Chung said, "Why are you trying to hit me, I didn't do anything to you."
Later in the day the other students in class plotted to jump the teacher as he was coming out of the school. Grand Master Chung found out about this plot. When the teacher came out of the school the other students laid in wait. Before they could attack the teacher Grand Master Chung came between the teacher and the other students and protected the teacher.
As you can see, life in Korea wasn't easy, but Grand Master Chung took the only thing he knew how to do and made it work for him.
In 1970 he came to Detroit, Michigan. He participated in demonstration fights. His sponsor told him that if he lost a match he would send him back to Korea. After staying a while in Detroit, he moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan where he has made his home and established his martial arts academy called the I.A.M.A. (International academy of martial arts A.K.A. Chung's Black Belt Academy.)
In 1985 he published "Oriental Martial Arts II," the text book that is used by I.A.M.A. students. Now think about this. He came to the United States in 1970, didn't speak any English, but with in 15 years he opened his own business and published a book in English. People like this are what make America great. America truly takes the best people from other countries and allows them to flourish.
Sometime in the 1990s (1991 I think) he returned to Korea and tested for his 9th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. At that time there were only 31 9th degree black belts in the world. In 2003 he tested for his 9th degree black belt in Hap Ki Do. He has achieved the highest rank in two major world Martial Arts.
From 2007 to 2009, he published Oriental Martial Arts III, which is a four part series of text books that include the I.A.M.A.'s testing requirements for color belts and black belts for both children and adults. The books also provides illustrations of forms, one step sparring, and self defense techniques.
I've been lucky to know him and learn things from him. I earned my 4th degree black belt from him, but besides Tae Kwon Do, I think the most important lessons from that people can learn come from his life's example. For demonstrations he used to do things like squat on broken glass with a 200 pound dumb bell in his mouth. He also used to run needles through parts of his skin and hang buckets of water from the needles. One time, he had a car drive over his chest. All of those things pale in comparison to the fact that he was able to come out of poverty from war torn Korea to America, and establish himself as a businessman.
So today on the day of Grand Master Chung's 40th anniversary party, I salute him. I salute him for being the type of man who you don't bet against. I salute him for viciously living life and being a part of the history of Martial Arts in America.
Other facts about Grand Master Chung:
-He has the "Keys to the city Miami"
- He met Elvis and had a slow dance with Priscilla Presley. He revealed this one time during a class. He used to have a picture of himself with the king, but a student who really liked Elvis, broke into his office and stole it.
- He is a first class international referee.
- He was recognized for his life time achievement by the American Grandmaster's Society. There is a Korean language newspaper article about the event.
- He was on a testing panel once to promote Chuck Norris.
-He has branches of his school that reach from Kalamazoo, to Detroit, to Bermuda. (I'm writing this post from Korea - though I don't have a school, nor do I teach anyone taekwondo anymore)
This is an open invitation to his other students to leave more of his achievements in the comments section of this post.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Interesting Article about Taekwondo in the Korea Times
It seems that the World Taekwondo Federation is trying to make Taekwondo fairer and more interesting to watch. I guess that can be a good idea. A lot of times Taekwondo matches at the Olympics can be quite dreadful to watch.
One thing that the article mentions that I fully support is the use of video playback. Taekwondo is notorious for bad judges decisions, or judges getting bribed, or people just straight up cheating. Hopefully an instant replay could help remedy these things.
The article also went on to talk about how other Martial Arts are trying to jockey positions in order to become Olympic sports, while Taekwondo leaders are trying to cock block them.
The W.T.F. should be more proactive in trying to find solutions to include other martial arts. Taekwondo and Karate are nearly the same. Taekwondo and Karate leaders should try to develop a rules system that is fair to competitors from both arts. Also they should lobby so that a forms competition be added to the Olympics. Like gymnastics there could be creative and traditional forms.
Kung Fu practitioners would definitely have an advantage over Taekwondo and Karate athletes in the "Traditional Forms," category since Kung Fu forms are pretty awesome, but an international commission could be set up to determine which forms are usable. For example, the form Bassai dae, is an international form since the form originated in the Shaolin temple, migrated to Okinawa, and has also been practiced by early Taekwondo people. A form could just be an international form that may not be that traditional, but one that many people already know, like Taekwondo's Koryo.
A creative forms competition could be set up where individuals or teams put together martial routines that showcase their skills. Athletes could also perform traditional forms from their own martial arts, that aren't any of the "select international forms," but would be judged according to a similar criteria that is used for gymnastics or figure skating.
Forms competitions at the Olympics for all martial arts would definitely boost viewership. This would be a change to Olympic martial arts like Taekwondo, Grecko Roman Wrestling, and Judo, where people just kind of stand there for a long time without doing anything.
Anyway, we live in a modern age where with youtube people can learn other martial arts forms. It's also possible to both preserve the traditional while pushing the boundaries. Just because something was made up a thousand years ago doesn't mean that it is any better than something from today. But a system that can accommodate for both traditional and modern is probably possible if people would just put away their own selfish interests in promoting their "own martial art," out of national pride.
One thing that the article mentions that I fully support is the use of video playback. Taekwondo is notorious for bad judges decisions, or judges getting bribed, or people just straight up cheating. Hopefully an instant replay could help remedy these things.
The article also went on to talk about how other Martial Arts are trying to jockey positions in order to become Olympic sports, while Taekwondo leaders are trying to cock block them.
The W.T.F. should be more proactive in trying to find solutions to include other martial arts. Taekwondo and Karate are nearly the same. Taekwondo and Karate leaders should try to develop a rules system that is fair to competitors from both arts. Also they should lobby so that a forms competition be added to the Olympics. Like gymnastics there could be creative and traditional forms.
Kung Fu practitioners would definitely have an advantage over Taekwondo and Karate athletes in the "Traditional Forms," category since Kung Fu forms are pretty awesome, but an international commission could be set up to determine which forms are usable. For example, the form Bassai dae, is an international form since the form originated in the Shaolin temple, migrated to Okinawa, and has also been practiced by early Taekwondo people. A form could just be an international form that may not be that traditional, but one that many people already know, like Taekwondo's Koryo.
A creative forms competition could be set up where individuals or teams put together martial routines that showcase their skills. Athletes could also perform traditional forms from their own martial arts, that aren't any of the "select international forms," but would be judged according to a similar criteria that is used for gymnastics or figure skating.
Forms competitions at the Olympics for all martial arts would definitely boost viewership. This would be a change to Olympic martial arts like Taekwondo, Grecko Roman Wrestling, and Judo, where people just kind of stand there for a long time without doing anything.
Anyway, we live in a modern age where with youtube people can learn other martial arts forms. It's also possible to both preserve the traditional while pushing the boundaries. Just because something was made up a thousand years ago doesn't mean that it is any better than something from today. But a system that can accommodate for both traditional and modern is probably possible if people would just put away their own selfish interests in promoting their "own martial art," out of national pride.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
A Few Classes at Home
I went home for a couple weeks in August. Five years ago I came to Korea to practice Taekwondo. Boy did I ever practice Taekwondo back in those days. I stayed for about a month at a High school in Sungnam that had a Taekwondo team. They kicked our asses with the training. These days I have little endurance in my right knee. I kick stuff with that leg a few times and then the knee starts to hurt. I think that month of training might have something to do with that.
After all that training I went back home, only to return to Korea again to become an English teacher. After I became an English teacher I stopped training Taekwondo. I've tried to pick it up again on and off, but I rarely can keep at it for more than a few months here because it is kind of boring to do here.
Then I went home and trained at my old school for a few classes. I had a good time. It's kind of funny how I end up going home to America to do a Korean martial art.
After all that training I went back home, only to return to Korea again to become an English teacher. After I became an English teacher I stopped training Taekwondo. I've tried to pick it up again on and off, but I rarely can keep at it for more than a few months here because it is kind of boring to do here.
Then I went home and trained at my old school for a few classes. I had a good time. It's kind of funny how I end up going home to America to do a Korean martial art.
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