Years ago, I never thought that I was the type of person who would enjoy karate! But as my football ‘career’ ended, I took up this brilliant sport!
You can read about how I got into Tang Soo Do.
When I walked into the Dojang (training hall) for the first time, I felt excited but also very nervous. Wearing a football shirt and shorts, I felt very self conscious that I wasn’t even a white belt! I was a total, absolute beginner.
The lesson started with a warm up and this really helps you to prepare the muscles. We did stretching, bending before moving onto some kicks and punches and it really gets you set you up for the rest of the lesson. I was always a firm believer at football that if you stretch well, you play well and are less likely to pick up injuries.
After the warm up, we paired up to practice punching pads and to my horror, I was paired with a black belt. If I’m honest, my heart sank as I thought that I was going to get taught a lesson - see the black belt hurt the bigger guy. I was dreading it.
So, first of all, I held the pad and the black belt punched the pads and explained what to do. I was surprised he didn’t hurt me and explained what to do well. When we came to give the pad to the black belt, he explained that in Tang Soo Do, respect is a key concept and that when we pass the pads to one another, we bow and present the pad. We did this and then it was my turn.
Left punch, right punch, left punch, right punch and after a while he stopped and said:
“Excuse me but are you left handed?”
“Left handed? Ha! No I’m very right handed and footed - why would you ask?” I replied.
“You hit harder with your left hand than your right that’s all” he replied.
This really surprised me. How come for all these years as a right-handed person, could I possibly hit a punching pad harder with my left hand than right?! However, learning Tang Soo Do is also about learning about your body and what it can - and cannot - do. As I got more into Tang Soo Do (and Yoga and Pilates), I realised he was right and that my left side of my body was so much more flexible than the right! Literally, on my very first Tang Soo Do lesson I found out something about myself than I never knew!
The next thing I learnt in the lesson was that the ‘black belts’ are really ‘midnight blue’ as black represents perfection and no one can reach perfection. Finally, I also realised that the ‘midnight blue’ belts are there to help other people, give encouragement and advice. They help you practice your forms, give advice on how to improve and generally are BRILLIANT. You can ask them anything and they are always happy to help. I hope if I can get to black belt that I can offer others the same quality of advice that I’ve been given by them. They’ve really helped me to learn, practice and understand Tang Soo Do.
I absolutely loved the first lesson. I was surprised that I was so red-faced and sweaty though afterwards. I can honestly say that I thought I was reasonably fit - I had played a lot of football, still played 5-a-side a bit, did running and pretty much do 10k steps day. However, karate exercises muscles I didn’t know I had! I was football fit, but not karate fit!
After my first lesson, I was really pleased with how it went. The hardest part of any achievement in life is taking the first step. I’d done that and now it was just a case of carrying on.
I’d recommend Tang Soo Do to anyone. It’s great exercise, great fun and it’s great being in a ‘club’ again!