Hi everyone, What is your own personal most memorable martial arts moment, I dont mean for instance the day you passed Dan grade, that's to easy to say. For instance it could be the most humourous, the most rewarding, the most amazing martial arts memory. The reason I bought this up is that over the years in the clubs I have trained in there are some fantastic stories to be shared. For Instance I taught a young boy to defend himself years ago, I think he was nine at the time, his Dad had brought him to our djang to toughen him up. His father was a larger than life character, a doorman infact, he worked locally & had a reputation shall we say. After his son was training with us for about 2 years ( and he did good at it) His father confided that his son would not play spar with him at home or show his moves much & he wanted to see if he was any good at it. I usually set the students some combinations to practice at home so I suggested he help his son with them at home. A week went by the son trained but his dad didn't bring him or pick him up, the following week the boy returned this time with the father who was beaming with smiles. as he dropped off his son to train I asked if he was ill the previous week, the took me to one side and said he would tell me but it must remain a secret from his son, & explained that as his son was carrying out his combination punches at home he jumped in & said come on son show me what u got & promptly started trying to play box him, telling his son to take his best shot right on the chin if he could manage it, the son was reluctant but after much encouragement he agreed & promptly defended and then attacked with the combination that I had given him to practice, hitting old dad on the chin WHAAAp! His Dad was so pleased that his sons tutition was going so well. It was then betime for the son. As his dad watched TV after his sons betime his wife asked if he was feeling OK, he said why? she said because your jaw looks swolen up a little, he laughed & said Oh thats where his son smacked him training, he then took a bite into a sandwich and nearly screamed the house down in pain & as the next hour went by his face got bigger & BIGGER, so big that he had to go to hospital, whereupon he was diagnosed with a blocked salivary gland as a result of the punch that his 9yr old had dealt him, he told his friends that it was from his night time work as a doorman, but only his wife him & me know the true story til this day. I've got loads of these stories but have you got any gems tucked away? lets hear them then........ best regards Yakka
Good story! Here's something that happened about a week ago during Aikido class: Monday Aikido class is a mixture of children and adults (though of course for most of the class the adults work separately from the children), and we had a new youngster join. Well, one thing Coach always goes over with the new children is stranger safety. He told them that as smaller children, they aren't going to be able to effectively fight an adult, and so if someone grabs them they should flop around on the ground (making it hard for the attacker to drag them) and screaming "this is not my parent" (if you just scream "leave me alone" it just sounds like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum). He also made a point that John Ross and myself (the only ones who had showed up for the adult class that night) should fight back, as we are big enough to do some damage. Then he lined everyone up and started randomly grabbing people's wrists (testing if they remembered what to do, etc.). Unexpectedly he grabbed my wrist; I was taken by surprise and unsure if he wanted me to demonstrate what the children were supposed to do, or what I would actually do. I took a chance and went with the second option, punching him in the face (I did pull the punch ) and sweeping his leg. Unfortunately, he had injured that leg pretty badly while training with Mark Hatmaker a couple days before. As I was about to take him down he said "watch the leg" but I was already moving and not really listening. After taking him down he said "Watch.The.Leg." and we rolled around a bit until he landed a rather nasty leg lock on me. EDIT: Just realized this is in the Hapkido section, is my post still allowed or would you prefer to keep it to just Hapkido stories?
Thanks Spinmaster Watch the leg indeed! Good story, yes you are welcome, this is open to everyone to chip in, I have trained in Judo , Karate & Hapkido over the years all stories are relavent. regards Yakka
When you think you can do over the Master ! When you think you can do over the Master ! In my teens I joined a Judo club locally, it really did a lot for my confidence as a youth & I had a great old teacher...well old to me at 17yrs. Master Alan Llyewelyn was in his 60's but still very fit and his techniques were exceptional. He would calmly chat to you about what was on TV the previous night as you struggled in ground work being squashed, choked, armlocked and being relieved of all strength finally just having to submit. As a young guy who thought I was getting pretty good I noticed that no-one could ever get the upper hand in Randori (fighting) with him he was so ellusive I never saw anyone throw him or make him tap out(submit). So I decided this would be my mission, I trained very hard to perfect a certain throw over the next few months, it's called Tomoe-Nage (Stomach Throw). (thats the one where you are pushed backwards by your opponent, you drop downwards to sitting position putting your foot up into their stomach & rolling back throwing them over your head, they have to dive over you to breakfall). I got good at this, in fact there wasen't anyone in the club that I had not done this on successfully, it was good for me in competition too, I could even do it on the biggest guy that trained with us a mountain of a man 6 foot 6 ins a brown belt call Barry O'Brian, so....... It was time to go for the big one...the only guy to throw Sensei, this was it...I couldn't fail, this was my secret mission. We moved around the mat gracefully & gently trying to co-erce each other into a throwing position, I tried a few times to gently push him backwards so that he would counter by pushing back & then I could drop into this throw. He was doing the usual chat about a documentary he had seen... I thought yes yes Sensei carry on, boy, are you in for a suprise! one more gentle backwards push should do it. & just then it happened ... I couldn't believe my luck he went for it he pushed back, & I went for it, dropped down perfectly, put my foot into his stomach to throw him (this was gonna be the throw of a lifetime, something to tell your kids later in life). BUT... just as I launched him into the air, just as his feet were about to go into orbit, something happened...I felt a slight knock on my throwing foot and all of a sudden Sensei had spun around 180 degrees on my throwing foot and as I was still throwing him over my head he held onto that foot with his stomach so I could not release him, he then colapsed down on me crushing me to the mat with my throwing leg being squash up to my face & nearly over my shoulder, the pain in my overstreched hamsting & calf was soo bad I let out a high pitched squeal much like a pig in distress. Pinned to the mat Sensei said calmly 'Yes I have been watching your progress with this throw... I have taught you well, but you know that you can show and teach a lot but there are always some techniques and counters that you put away in the cupboard for a rainy day... and I haven't used this counter since I was training in Japan many years ago now, thanks for giving me the oppertunity, I really enjoyed that'. I was devastated but resigned to the fact thats why he's the Master & I the pupil it also put a stop to any ego problems that might have developed, it made me respect all opponents..... did he show me that counter he did on me?....sadly no....he just put it back in the cupboard for another rainy day. What a memory. Yakka
This is the throw relating to the above This is the throw relating to the above:- [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOIbQ2cXRHU"]YouTube - Tomoe Nage (Instructional)[/ame] regards Yakka
