Sabumnim's Corner

The Misadventures of Master Malo
Part 1- Class

It’s a beautiful sunny day outside. The autumn leaves are beginning to fall and the apple cider is beginning to flow in the distinctive way that only happens in Anytown, USA. Master Malo pulls up his car in the dojang parking lot right at 4:30 and gets out of his car, still talking animatedly with his girlfriend on his cell phone.
He walks up to the door where several students and parents are waiting to be let in. He fumbles with the keys and then gets the door open. “Yeah,” he agrees. “Last night was awesome. The part I likes best was when you…” the rest of his conversation is drowned out as the students rush past him and onto the floor. They begin to play tag and hit each other with kicking paddles. Master Malo watches them a few minutes while bringing in and opening the mail. “Yeah, get him Johnny!” He cheers as one student whacks another. “That’ll teach him to be such a wuss!”
The kids continue to play as Master Malo finally wraps up his conversation. “Well, I gotta go. I have a 4:30 class with the wiener kids again.” Master Malo goes into the locker room and reaches into his bag for his uniform. It’s wrinkled and still wet from the night before, and his belt is nowhere to be found. It’s too much effort. He just changes into his sweat pants and keeps on his Budweiser sponsors Spring Break in Cancun t-shirt.
It’s 4:40 by the time he bows in the class. Mentally, he goes back and forth in his head what to teach. He finally just decided to see how the class feels and go with the flow. “Okay,” he says, looking at the kids. The lines are uneven and belts are tied incorrectly. They’re just kids. He can’t expect too much from them. “I guess everyone’s warmed up. Let’s start with some paddle drills. Everyone go get kicking paddles and a partner.” He pauses while the kids go get their paddles and line up.
“The first combo is my favorite one. Everyone start with high roundhouse, then spin hook, and then 360 spin hook. Do it 50 times.” That should give him some time to think. If only his head didn’t hurt so much. He really didn’t see why they could send a man to the moon but they couldn’t find a cure for a simple hangover. Some of the black belts were doing the technique well, but a few of the white belts were looking confused. He went over to one of them.
“Hey, white belt. You’ve got to turn your hips into it. What are you trying to kick, a smurf?” Master Malo goes to hold the paddle a bit higher. The white belt kicks up, and then writhes on the floor in pain. Master Malo bends to examine it. “It looks like you might have pulled your leg. That’s why it’s really important for you to stretch before class.”
A green belt raises his hand from the middle of the line. “Sir, what can I do to make this better.” Master Malo sighs. This kid has no talent. “I don’t know… why don’t you try… not sucking?”
Just then, the door opens and another student enters the class late. “Hey, Bobby,” Master Malo shouts, inclining his head toward the new student. “You need to show respect for the class and get here on time. Give me 100 pushups.”
“Yes, sir.” Bobby hits the floor and starts working.
Master Malo looks around at the class again and sees that they aren’t making progress right away. “Okay, time. You guys are hopeless. Let’s move on to something else.”
The class stands there while Master Malo thinks for a minute. “Hmmm… no… well… I know. Let’s do some forms. It’s time for Kyukpa!”
The class all lines back up again, except the white belt who is sitting on the side of the floor still in visible pain.
“I guess we better start with Chun-ji,” Master Malo states. Okay everyone, first move, back stance, down block! Make sure you have your weight evenly distributed on each leg in back stance. That will keep you from falling over.”
The door opens again and a smoking hot girl enters and looks around. Some days, Master Malo wished he could afford to hire a receptionist, but today isn’t one of them. “Freddie,” he says, pointing to a black belt in the first row. “You take over for the rest of chun-ji while I go help this woman out.”
“Yes, sir!” Freddie responds. He’s only 12, but pretty good at teaching.
Master Malo saunters over to the lady and puts his hand on the wall next to her head. “So,” he says, making sure his delivery is perfect. “How you doin?”
“Uh… pretty good,” she replies. “I have a 5 year old son and I was thinking about signing him up for tai chi or Taekwondo.”
“Well,” Master Malo replies “Tai chi is just for wussies. Your son’s not a wussie, is he?”
“Well, he’s only five,” the mother responds, starting to squirm with the invasion of her personal space.
“That’s okay, don’t worry about it. You’ve come to the right place. I’m an expert at Taekwondo. We can give your kid confidence, weight loss, discipline, and all those good things.”
“That’s great,” says the mom. “I heard it can also help him concentrate and do better in school.”
Master Malo shrugs his shoulders. “Sure, whatever you want. The important thing is that we respect all our students.” As he’s speaking, something catches Master Malo out of the corner of his eye. He turns to yell at one of the students. “Hey, yellow belt, you call that a crane stance? Maybe some ugly, lopsided crane with a broken leg that keeps falling over all the time. You’re never going to learn chun-ji.”
The woman takes another look around the training area. The parents look bored or disinterested. She notes that the only smile in the place is the creepy one on Master Malo’s face that’s really starting to weird her out.
“I was wondering something,” Master Malo starts. “Was your father a mechanic? ‘Cause I was wondering how you got such a finely tuned body.”
“Um…. I’m not sure this is the right school for us,” she manages to get out.
Master Malo shrugs again. “Eh, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, can I get your number? We should head out for drinks sometime.”
Despite his Master-like reflexes, the woman is out the door before he can even blink.
Back to the class, Master Malo runs them through a few more drills, but his heart isn’t in it. He puts a handwritten sign on the door to cancel the rest of the classes for the day, and heads back home to sleep for a few hours before he goes out again.

Wisdom

Wisdom is an incredible important trait, and it refers to knowing what to do to live a good life.  There are many people who are intelligent but not wise.  Intelligence refers to knowing many facts or even how to solve many different problems.  Wisdom refers to knowing how to do things, but also which things should be done and which should not be done.

Wise people will usually listen much more than they speak.  they are observant to everything going on around them.  It’s possible to have wisdom (knowing what to do) without discipline (the ability to do it), but they are usually paired.  For one thing, people don’t become wise without discipline.  For another, wise people can understand the value of training themselves to have the discipline that they know is necessary for accomplishing their goals.

Wisdom comes with time.  That is why it is so important to respect your elders.  When was the last time you sat down with your parents or grandparents and really listened?  People who have been through times much worse than today can tell us how they survived and this advice will help us as well.

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it, and Virtue is doing it.” David Starr Jordan

TO DO:

Name 3 people in your life who you really consider to be wise:

1._____________________

2._____________________

3._____________________

Sit down with your parents or grandparents and really listen to them.  Ask them questions.  What did you learn?

Signature____________________  Date____________

We had our annual mountain training at KAT yesterday. I had a lot of time to reflect, and observe, and this is what I saw.

I saw a man with no legs climbing – very, very slowly – up the mountain. Why would he do something like that? There was no thousand dollar prize or gold medal awaiting him at the top. If he lost his legs serving his country, than surely, he didn’t need to earn anyone’s respect. Struggling when you don’t have to, for no other reason than the struggle itself, that is true martial arts.

I saw a patch of flowers at 14,000 feet. It’s an environment so inhospitable that ordinarily, nothing grows. The sign at the base said it takes 1000 years to develop just one inch of topsoil. Driving wind, biting cold, powerful UV light limit life to small lichens clinging to rocks. Yet even here, a flower dared to bloom. A samauri could look up at a cherry blossom and smile as he bled to death. Appreciating an island of beauty in a sea of pain, that is true martial arts.

I saw a family bound not by blood, but by bonds nearly as strong. I saw people helping each other, encouraging each other, sharing food, carrying others’ backpacks, lifting others’ spirits. Why? It was all so that when chests heaving, legs burning, hair matted to a forehead dripping with sweat, some cried “I can’t go on anymore” they were able to prove themselves wrong. Such a community- that is true martial arts.

Without witnessing one kick, punch, or throw, yesterday I saw true martial arts.

We just wanted to thank everyone who voted to make us runner up in Parenthood Magazine’s 2010 Family Favorite Contest. We won out of numerous martial arts schools in Colorado. You can find the full list of winners at:

http://www.flashedition.com/publication/?m=6387&l=1

Helping with Chun Ji in the hospital soon after my daughter was born.

Catalyst

In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance that participates in a chemical reaction without being one of the chemicals either used up or produced. For instance, chemical A might mix with chemical B to form chemical C. However, if you inserted the catalyst, the same reaction would occur, just at a much faster rate. Catalysts act by making the conditions more favorable (better environment, bringing molecules closer, etc) for the reaction. In biology, most enzymes are catalysts.

How does this relate to our training? A certain technique could act as a catalyst by causing everything else to fall into place. For instance, adding a back kick to your sparring game could stop your partner from rushing in to you. That would enable you to set the tempo of the match, conserve your energy, and keep your partner off guard.

Certain players often act as catalysts in team sports. For instance, one player might join the team and get one gold medal. But if he causes everyone around him to work harder, then his value to the team will be much more than the one medal he wins. One person can often fire a team up and inspire them. These people act as catalysts for their team.

To Do:

Name a player who has had a catalytic effect on a team you are on:

What was it about this person that caused the rest of the team to change into something better?