Karate Tales of a 37 Year-Old White Belt

Karate and Self Defense

I want to take a moment to address a serious subject. In the class right before our first grading, Master Needham was showing us how to do the self-defense forms for karate. Later that day, my husband and I got into a heated debate regarding the use of karate for self-defense. He insisted that karate can be used to defend yourself even when someone is holding a gun on you. I’m not so sure. For one, the person that brought the gun has already shown that they are willing to go to that level of aggression. No matter how good and how fast you are, all it takes is one pull on the trigger. In this regard, I think Hollywood over simplifies situations that are extremely deadly. The bad guys don’t sit there with their guns pointed at you until you come over with some karate move to disarm them. It’s more likely that they are shooting at you if you come at them. I’ll never forget the Indiana Jones movie where the guy was swinging a sword around, and then Indiana pulled out his gun and shot him.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think there are situations where karate can help. Mostly in situations where the bad people don’t have weapons or when the weapon is small like a knife, then I can see where you might be able to disarm the assailant or disable them enough to get away. Part of the reason why I started karate was due to the fact that I commute into New York City every day. Most of the situations that I’ve witnessed are people shouting at each other with an occasional push or two. I feel better knowing that I might be able to block a punch or two if need be. In fact, I already have while on the subway. Even though the man was just falling backwards towards me, I knew that if I didn’t do something he was going to hit me. So, I threw out a down block which prevented him from hitting my leg and allowed him to gain his balance again. The amazing part was that it was all instinctual. I didn’t even need to think about it and suddenly my arm was there.

Being parents of two girls, my husband and I are also hoping that the karate will help them ward off any advances of an overzealous date gone bad. I can also see karate and self-defense moves helping in a rape situation, and have been told that the best bet for the woman is the fight back (providing that the assailant doesn’t have a gun). The advice that I’m going to give my girls though is the same that my mom told me. The best protection is to not go into an unsafe environment or situation. That should be their first line of defense. I don’t want them to think they are invincible and can handle any type of situation just because they know karate.

I promise the next blog will be light hearted again.

- Wendy Austin

First Karate Sparring Class

Sparring for the first time was quite the experience. We got geared up with the school’s sparring equipment, and sat down. Being white belts, they went over what the point zone is for sparring tournaments. The strike zone is from the neck to the belt, and only in the front. At the time, I didn’t realize that this also included your sides. If you hit your opponent’s legs, head, or back, then this is considered an illegal move. Note: Black belts are allowed to strike at your head, but only to demonstrate that they could score, and not actually hit your head.

At the beginning of class, we were paired up with sparring partners to practice. I was paired with a female apprentice black belt. It was about this time that I started giggling and it went downhill from there. Initially, the giggles were due to the realization that a woman’s strike zone has only one part of their anatomy available which increased my nervousness and the giggling. Needless to say, I didn’t actually hit my opponent much less score a point.

After the practice drills, Master Landry matched up students in a pseudo-tournament setting. Being new, I figured we were just going to watch everyone else. Then Master Landry called on me to practice sparring with her. Now, I was extremely nervous, and again let me explain something about myself. I’ve never been in a physical fight before. Sure I’ve been in wrestling type struggles, but not a throwing punches type fight. In my house, I’m the peace keeper, so sparring is definitely out of my comfort zone.

So, here I was facing off with a 6^th Dan Black Belt, and I started to giggle softly. Then the judge called for us to bow to them, bow to each other, and gave the command to start the fight. That’s when it all fell apart. Master Landry did this classic Martial Arts yell straight from the movies including the head shake. AaaaaHaaaaa! And what do I do? I laughed out loud! I couldn't help it, it was funny, and the yell tip me over the edge. Being a good sport, Master Landry says that usually you yell at the beginning of a match, but I needed to stop laughing first. Ok, so we tried it again, I didn’t laugh as hard the second time, but I was still giggling during the entire sparring match. The laughter quickly ended when she got me in my ribs. Ouch! A short time later it was over and I was allowed to sit down.

Next came my kids who also sparred with Master Landry. Being a proud parent, I’m happy to report that they did much better than I did. My husband came next and sparred with another male student. At the end of the class, we were speaking with Master Landry about how we did. We all thought that my husband was the best sparring student. She surprised us by stating that my 8 year old was better than all of us. You go girl! Of course, for me, I need to stop cracking up.

For the rest of the day and into the late evening, I was still cracking up about my first sparring experience. My husband and I spent over an hour before going to bed laughing about it until I got a stitch in my side. I remember doing a Beavis and Butthead type commentary, "Heh heh. That’s her breasts. Heh heh" . It’s good to be able to laugh at yourself once in a while. When I recounted this story to a co-worker, they made a good point about Master Landry’s yell doing its job by incapacitating me. It certainly did.

- Wendy Austin

Karate Fever

During the second month of taking Karate, we were starting to really enjoy going to class. During warm ups, we looked like we knew what we were doing, and we were learning the basic forms easily. It was around this time that I noticed that my family was starting to get what I call “Karate fever”. We were talking about martial arts and karate all the time; before class, after class, and during the week we were talking about what we could do at home for karate.

We started to watch more movies that featured martial arts (see accompanying list of good karate and martial arts movies my family recommends). During the movies, we would play certain karate moves in slow motion to see if they were really doing the move or faking it. The last scene of Karate Kid was replayed at least a dozen times. We would really get excited if we saw a move in a movie that we were doing in class. “Oh, play that back, doesn’t it look like the reverse punch we do.  Ok, maybe they’re adding a kick at the same time, but it was close. Wait, run it back again, I want to see if I can even do that.”

We were researching Tang Soo Do and Karate online and trying to find reference material at the major bookstores. We found a couple of good websites, but most of the books regarding Tang Soo Do are out of print. I would order something online and then be told a week later that the bookstore couldn’t order it from the publisher anymore. This just wouldn’t do for our ravenous hunger for anything to do with martial arts. So, we picked up any book regarding karate and martial arts and compare it to what we were learning in class.

We would practice at home at least three times a week. I learn more from written words, so I would rush home from class and write down all of the moves on a piece of paper along with a little diagram.  Here's a picture of my scribbling. The kids were getting the moves a lot faster than my husband and I. They of course basked in the glow of knowing more than their parents and were constantly telling us what to do. I would hear my youngest whisper in class, “Mom, switch your feet. You have them backwards”, “Mom, you forgot to yell”, “Mom, upper blocks not punches”, etc. My older daughter was beginning to learn the Korean words, and would be our “instructor” during the home sessions. Later I’ll write an entry on how she remembered the Korean words. It’s pretty funny.

The fever finally broke when my husband suggested that we place duct tape on the carpet in the shape of four squares; one for each of us to practice our stances. Nice, bright, silver duct tape on our formal living room floor. That snapped me out of it. Well maybe it didn’t, I am writing this blog after all.

- Wendy Austin

First Month of Karate Class

For the next couple of karate classes, our uniforms started to change. First, the long sleeved shirt had to go; it was way to hot for that. The socks were harder to let go of. My girls instantly shed theirs. I’m not surprised since I’m usually finding a pair of their socks on any floor in our house, stuffed in the couch, on the kitchen table, and once in my purse. My husband was used to going sock-less as well, but I took a little more persuasion. I didn’t take mine off until about the fourth class. Once I took the socks off however, I’ve never put them back on.

Now that I was sock-less in class, I started to pay more attention to my feet and toenails in particular. I’ve never been one to fuss about painting my toes. Mostly because they stayed in my shoes, so there wasn’t much need. Now, I feel naked if my toenails aren’t painted. Additionally, I’ve noticed how dry my feet become, so I’ve started to use shea butter lotion on my feet as well. Who says you can’t stay feminine and learn karate too?

We got our official karate uniforms white belts and all by the third class. Ah, the karate uniform… Let’s just say that as a girl, the karate uniform is not a one size fits all. There is way too much space in the groin area and not enough in the front to allow you to get a smaller size. The larger the uniform the longer the sleeves and legs become. I had to sew up our uniforms to be functional.  Sew being the optimistic term here. It’s a good thing our bodies are in motion during class so no one will notice the “sewing” job I did on the uniforms. During one class, my daughter told me I had pretty flowers on my underwear. Wasn’t that nice of her to notice? After that I make sure to wear light colored ones.

My husband was obsessed with learning how to tie the belt just right so that there wouldn’t be a fold in the back of the uniform. I still don’t know where he learned how to do it, but he found this complicated wrap around technique that goes around your body twice, loops under both parts of the belt and somehow ties it without really making a knot with one of the ends. I think you have to be a boy scout to figure it out, so my husband had to do all of our belts for that first month. Because of this, we started to dress at home in full uniform and drive to class. We would occasionally catch someone on the way to class do a double take, and I would always imagine them turning to someone and ask, “Hey, is there a Martial Arts convention in town? I think I just saw a car full of them.” Of course, the joke is that they can’t see what belt color we’re wearing.

Being of the geeky variety, we practiced our karate yells at home as a family. This is important stuff. You won’t want the first thing that popped into your head to come out. After all, there are children present in our classes. We noticed that there are several different yells to choose from, below are some of our favorites. Try them out for yourself and see which you prefer.

· HiYa – what I would consider the tradition karate yell

· Ya – shorten version of “hiya” made more for an explosive burst

· HeeeYaaa – The movie version of “hiya”

· Ha – the light hearted version of “hiya”

· Ki Hap – Stands for “Yell” in Korean; we’ve heard some of the more advanced belts use this one. I’ve seen this also spelled as “kee-yup”.

· Ty or Tia – not sure if it stands for anything, but it's cool

· Ugh- Primal grunt

· Eeek! – This is my sparring yell

· Eee! – shortened version of my sparring yell

When I remember to yell, it is usually of the “Ya” variety. Sometimes I like to mix it up with a “Ha” just for the fun of it. One note about the longer yell that you hear in the movies, those are reserved for sparring when you are trying to draw the judge’s attention to the fact that you hit your opponent or to intimidate them. There will be more about sparring later. For now, let’s just say that it’s not my best subject in karate.

- Wendy Austin

First Day of Karate Class

I don’t know what I was really expecting on the first day of karate class, so I dressed in a loose fitting pair of sweats and a long sleeve shirt. I was not going to take my socks off, so I had a nice thick pair of socks on and headed to class with my family. Ok, so maybe I do know what I was expecting for that 1 hour class, and it went something like this…

Roll call and maybe introductions of anyone since we are all beginners…

We’re sitting down while the instructor goes through some of the basic karate moves…

They might ask for a volunteer to demonstrate something or another…

Ok, now pair up with someone and practice some of the basic moves, but don’t over do it remember you’re only beginners…

Oh and I forgot since it is the first day, we’ll go easy on you and let the class go early…

Those of you who have done this before are now chuckling. My happy little fantasy popped as soon as the black belt instructor told us to dress according to belt rank. Hold on here, there are black belts, red belts with black lapels, red belts with red lapels, green belts with green lapels, blue belts, orange belts, etc… The ratio of kids to adults is about 5 to 1. The Austin family is the only one without a uniform on and are now told that we are white belts and to line up in the back. Ok, now we’ll begin introductions, oh, maybe not yet, they’re having us stand at attention and now doing jumping jacks. Did he say 15 jumping jacks? That’s not too bad, a little fast, but otherwise fine. Wait, they didn’t stop at 15, or 20, or <pant> 30, or <pant> 40. Going even faster now <pant><pant>… “48, 49, 50. Stop. Now down for push ups”.

Let me pause a moment to explain something about myself and exercise and sports. One I’ve never done a successful push up in my life and my sports activities can be summed up with 2 spectacular events. The first was when I was 10 and helping my cousin practice for little league. I preferred baseballs to softballs because I could actually hold the ball in my hand. I never did understand why they made softballs so large for petite feminine hands. Anyway, my baseball career ended as soon as I was at bat and he threw the ball straight at my head. I’m sure most people would have ducked; not me. I took it straight to the temple. To this day I remember his comment which goes “hey, you’re suppose to hit the ball with the baseball bat not your head”. I think I laughed until I passed out, or maybe I passed out and then laughed later. That part is a little fuzzy.

My next try at being active came in high school during P.E. We had a pretty lax P.E. program as I recall, but for whatever reason we had to run around the track one day. I was running along with my friends and saw a hurdle along the side of the track. You know what’s coming. Yep, I tried to jump it. Of course, being un-athletic and already out of breath, I didn’t even begin to clear the darn thing. I ended up on the ground with a tear in my sweats and pantyhose which were under my sweats and blood oozing out my leg. All I remember is being terribly angry that I had to go the rest of the day with a run in my pantyhose.

Now back to karate…

I went dutifully down for push ups. I think we were to do 15 or so. I think I did one and then tried to use my knees to do them which hurt my knees too much. By the time we finished, my arms hurt, my knees hurt and for some reason my back hurt. Later I found out from my husband that I arched my back with my bottom up in the air. That, must of looked attractive. Oh well. Next came the sit-ups, 20 to be exact. Then the instructor says, “You need to be counting as you are doing these”. I think a small bit of wheezing air came out of me which I’m hoping sounded like at least one of the numbers that others were saying. Hard to say though, since I was focusing on ignoring the pain racing through my abs.

Then we did some stretching exercises and stood up for some stretch kicks. Let tell you that this was heavenly, there is nothing like a good stretch after torturing yourself. Oh, by the way, they called this the warm up and it lasted all of 15 minutes.

Next, we were shuffled over to the corner with another black belt instructor to learn the basic blocks, punches, etc. Now we’re getting somewhere. We were introduced to the instructor and told to start with a left front stance which is basically taking your left leg and putting it in front of your other leg “making sure to create an imaginary box between your two feet”. What makes this stance interesting is what you do to your back foot. Without thinking about it, you naturally put the back foot at an angle or even sideways to your front foot. In karate, you need to take that back foot and turn it until it is pointing forward like the front foot. It’s supposed to be more effective in kicks. All I know at this point is that my foot doesn’t like to be pointing forward when it feels like it’s about to snap off, and what I can’t understand is that I walk with both of my feet facing forward, so shouldn’t this be simple?

Oh, time for a water break! Thank God! There are two things that I immediately recognized when taking a water break; everyone is just as thirsty as I am and they are a lot faster at getting to the drinking foundation. 20 or so people later and with only two sips of water, we’re back in class.

For the rest of the class, we practiced basic blocks and punches, and to our surprise started on the first form. Other than just making the motions, I’m not sure much of that first form was sinking into my brain. Mostly what was going through my mind was how I was going to take all of clothes off when I got home and stand under a fan. The socks were definitely a bad idea since my feet were burning up in them, and I was sure I would never get my feet back in my shoes since they were so sticky with sweat.

Finally class was over, and we were bowing to the instructor and saying something that was definitely not English. I learned later that this is the way of thanking the instructor for teaching you today in Korean. I might have been tempted to throw in the towel at that point, but a strange thing happened. All of the adults and several kids in the class came up to us and congratulated us for attending and that it will get better. Everyone was so genuinely enthusiastic that we were there and seemed to think that Karate was da bomb. So, I decided that since I already paid I’ll give it another chance.

- Wendy Austin