Once I’d done the hardest part of doing the first lesson, I settled down into a routine.
After I’d done the first lesson, I started to understand the structure of the lessons and get some idea of what I needed to learn and why.
The best part of the lessons was being able to do the lessons as a family - me, my son and my nephew! We would talk about the lessons together and it was great to see him enjoy the lessons as much as I did. We would practice ‘Ki Cho Hyung Il Bu’ which is the first form we learnt together in our front room!
As our nephew was a red belt, he would offer tips on what to do and also show us what we could expect to learn!
For the first few months, I’d go home and eat, eat, eat and eat again. Because of the stretching and bending my whole body would feel ‘warm’ and as if every muscle had been active. It was exhausting and I felt more tired after one hour of karate than say three hours of football!
I think it took me around 6 months to get to the point where my body was used to the training. I can now come home and I don’t tend to have to eat as much as I used to! I am always hot and sweaty as I like to try my best in class!
One of the biggest challenges so far is memorising the step-by-step choreography of forms. I’m generally a bit impatient, but one of the greatest things I’ve learnt through karate is to be patient with myself. There’s simply no way I can kick as high as I could when I was 20 and I also have to remind myself that sometimes taking it easy is better than getting injured. You can’t do karate if you’re injured! Taking things at my own pace is a skill I wish I’d learnt years ago but I know I have to be patient to progress through the belt rankings.
My favourite part of the classes though is sparring. This is when we put on the head gear and gloves and practice kicking, blocking and pumching another person. We take a lot of care to make sure that we don’t hurt each other in class and I have total confidence that we all respect each other not to hurt anyone. It really is fantastic exercise and builds confidence. If you spar for 5 minutes you will be exhausted and it makes you realise how fit a boxer or MMA fighter must be!
Tang Soo Do has reignited my passion for sports and given me an outlet I was missing after football. The community at the Dojang welcomed me warmly. And training is teaching me discipline while improving my fitness and focus. The beginner stage is demanding, but extremely rewarding.
At first I was quite shy about talking to other people in the club, especially those with a higher belt. However, over months I’ve got to know a lot of people at the club and those with green, red and midnight blue belts were always happy to help and offer advice!