The American Martial Artist: Personal History: Part 4
June 21, 1969 was when I first started martial arts. The style that I studied was Kuk Sool Won. The belt ranking system was white, blue, red, yellow, yellow with a black stripe, then black. At the dojang that I trained at they tested for lower belts every two months. I started on an off month and regardless of how hard I worked I wasn’t ready to test for my first belt, which was...
Read MoreThe American Martial Artist:Personal History: Part 3
This winter we have had quite a bit of snow which reminded me of my early training in Korea. When I first started martial arts, the class was downstairs. After about a month the school moved upstairs. At the new location there were several small window panes that were broken out, which wasn’t so noticeable until cold weather arrived. Every day the first person to arrive at class...
Read MoreThe American Martial Artist:Personal History:Part 2
My first day… On our first day in a martial arts class in Korea, my friend Jerry and I both made the decision that we were going to work out for three hours each day. The first day we were shown the fighting stances, kick form and block form. I stayed the full three hours while Jerry left after about two hours. The next day when we went to class, the instructor showed us what is...
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