How many knives are out there?

I had the opportunity to ask two Farang Hapkido / Farang Mu Sul training partners, both law enforcement officers, how many contacts they make with people armed with knives. One answered that nearly 100 percent of men and about 30 percent of the women he comes into contact with are carrying a knife. The other said that roughly 70-80 percent have "some sort of stabbing/cutting instrument." I don't claim to be a world class knife fighter, but I train like my life depends on it, and I am thankful to have a grand master (Kuk Sa Nim Michael De Alba) who is considered by people all over the world to be one of the best knife guys around. The sheer number of people carrying knives also underscores a few related ideas: 1) Cardio and conditioning are very important. You can't stab, slash, or cut what you can't catch. 2) Maintain a healthy respect for what even the most unassuming person is capable of doing. Old, young, strong, frail, lucid, or out of it: I am respectful to those around me until they do something that causes me to leave. That's leave, not confront, not challenge, not throw down. As a great man once said to me, "Self defense is not fighting; self defense is getting away and surviving." 3) Reality is nothing like a drill unless the drill evolves into something realistic. Though it looks static, the drill/technique below was dynamic, flowing, and culminated in realistic scenarios in addition to sharpening skills of knife picking and disarming an opponen. In other words, nothing takes place in a vacuum.

Three things are certain: I never want to get into a knife fight, I will train every day for that possibility, and I will avoid the potential whenever possible. 

Farang!

Dedicating My Practice

Years ago I read an article written by a yoga practitioner encouraging others to dedicate their practice to an individual or an idea every time they unrolled their mats. I was so taken by this message that I began to dedicate each class to different people or ideas.
The first night was especially important to me. My Dad had been dealing with some physical difficulties, and before I stepped out of the locker room and onto the mat to bow in, I made a quick mental note that "tonight was for Dad." Throughout that class during every physical challenge and mental hurdle, I kept my Dad in mind and pushed through. Every successful joint-lock or throw was a celebration of Dad. Every shot landed was for him. Every shot I took, I took to shield him. By the end of class, the anxiety I was feeling about him was gone. It had been supplanted by a pure and positive energy. I don't claim to know how it worked, but it did, and over the years I regularly dedicated my classes to various family members, friends, coworkers, social movements, and so on.
When I moved and was training on my own, I was out of my element and the break in routine lead to a loss of this practice until tonight. At the beginning of class tonight I made sure to dedicate the class to my training partner, Farang brother, and dear friend. His mom passed away about ten days ago, and tonight, every kick, punch, joint-lock, roll, fall, muscle cramp, and drop of sweat was for him.
If you're reading this, you know who you are my brother. Everyone at Ferrito Martial Arts has your back.

Martial Arts and Basketball

I would love to see athletes from roller derby to basketball to soccer to hockey to ultimate frisbee come down and get some training in at Ferrito Martial Arts.

http://theawesomester.com/how-martial-arts-can-help-you-become-a-better-basketball-player/

Long Distance Learning

I admit to cringing over the number of academic long distance learning courses offered to young students in recent years. I know that technology is removing lots of economic, geographic, and even cultural barriers for students, but the fact remains that a lot of learning is short changed by the long distance effect. Without a teacher to connect to, without a 360 degree view of things, and without (in the case of martial arts training) physical guidance from a practiced hand, it takes hours and hours of manipulating video for me to gain what others might have with the benefit of physically attending class and having the guidance of Master Schleeter or Grand Master Michael De Alba to learn just this part of Farang Dan Jang Hyung (Farang Cane Form). As always, I can't wait to get to train with them again. Farang! 

Failure to Learn

Sounds negative, right? Like "My failure to learn resulted in multiple parking tickets," or something.

I'm no sure that I have ever cared about being successful more than in the martial arts. We always want to succeed and through successes honor our teachers. I'm the kind of guy that puts lots of pressure on myself when thinking about all of the effort my teachers have put into me. That said, it would be easy to assume that failure in the martial art of Farang Hapkido would be crushing, but those who make that assumption are wrong and so was I in the beginning.

I have played music in front of hundreds. I wrestled in front of a thousand spectators. For 19 years I have stood at the front of a high school classroom multiple times a day. I've even been the officiant at three weddings. I am renown as the worst speller I know, which is a tough row to hoe as an English teacher. But nothing was more frightening than attempting my first "head high" round house kick, mostly because of the result. Falling flat on my side/back, I did more damage to my pride than I ever did to my "opponent" in the mirror.

I had been attending classes for under a week, so I was still very much the new guy, and as such I had some extra helpful eyes on me. Maybe it was athletic related amnesia, but I thought I was pretty coordinated. After all, I had wrestled for just over six years, played youth and intramural sports, coached high school athletes, and ran...occasionally.  Although there were 20-something other students in that class, not one laughed, giggled, or even cracked a smile when I went down hard. A couple glanced over to make sure they wouldn't step on me, and I got a "You good?" from a third. My face was beet red from embarrassment, but I think most students took it as a sign of fatigue since we were all sweating through the warm up that class. My failure seemed so colossal compared to hitting a clinking wrong note during a show or misspeaking during a lesson in a literature class. Likely because this was such a pure endeavor in comparison.

Since that day, I have failed more times than I have succeeded in accomplishing a new technique or owning series of movements, but not once has an instructor asked me why I wasn't being succeeding yet. Over the years my teachers and training partners have offered the kind of encouragement that can come only from those who are still learning, and those who are still learning are still making attempts and failing. At work, in relationships, and in every other part of our lives as martial artists, we should be failing as a result of being learners. Those who expect others to never fail them may never have been truly tested or have forgotten what it is to be hungry for new knowledge and new experiences and to fail in the pursuit of a skill or technique. If you fail on the path of learning, you have taken one more step toward attaining the goal.

Perseverance. Indomitable spirit.

These aren't just words to us. When my students miss classes I'm the first to remind them of the plethora of techniques they can practice at home or on the road. Hotel rooms, classrooms, hallways, living rooms, backyards, patios, in he bar by the light of the jukebox...no matter to us. We train. At least something happens to further our martial training every day.

Today both of my students missed class and for good reason, so I got busy with my teacher's most recent training even if it was on the iPad.

This is how I train with my teacher these days.

The point is we are unbeatable (indomitable spirit) when we are dedicated and will overcome the obstacles in front of us with honor (persevearance) if we train every day. I think the Korean phrase Yubimuhwan sums it up. Translation: when one is prepared, there is no need to fear the unexpected. 

Farang!