Do you judge by their rank? Are you sure that you know the “order” of their school’s ranks? Do you judge by the look of their uniform? Is it fancy? Is it clean…even pressed? Personally, I look at how they train. Things like completing the assignment, then continuing to work on the material until further […]

Looking at some of the websites for martial arts schools, I came across a commonly used marketing comment…”We individualize the training to meet your needs and goals.” This made me begin to wonder if I needed to be able to “defeat any man in 10 seconds” or “destroy any opponent” as part of my self […]

Now that you’ve looked at the question again, where are you in your training? The changes in the curriculum that I’ve had make it “significantly different” to achieve goals. I used that phrase intentionally. I can’t say that the changes have made it harder or easier to achieve ranks. Those just coming into the system […]

Recently changes have occurred in a curriculum that I teach. Now these changes were not something I initiated but they’ve got students agitated. It has made me think about why people train. Personally, my training started because I saw the old Kung Fu TV show. After seeing the portrayal of discipline and control…along with cool […]

The caption in the left corner reads… Individual medals won… 5 Gold 9 Silver 8 Bronze (but there are still 6 medals unverified and not included on the list) Best Dojang Award for best team performance 2 Mudo Spirit Awards (the swords) of demonstrating the spirit of Haidong Gumdo. These are not typically awarded.

Haidong Gumdo…From a Safe Distance: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

During the last Afterschool Taekwondo class I did a technique based relay. The group was eleven 6-8 year olds. It became a great teaching point…after the fact. The first students in each team did pretty well but it didn’t take long for the desire to “win” to show up. By the end, only about 15% […]

It has been quite a while since I’ve written anything. This is mostly from running out of time. The days seem to keep getting shorter and they pass by quickly. Hard to believe that its already March. The upside is that I have plenty going on to keep me out of trouble. The Spring Test […]

Yeah, that’s me. I know you’re saying that pretty obvious but the story goes beyond the martial arts. So, back about 30 years and almost a high school graduate, I visited an Air Force recruiter with the intent of enlisting to become one of their law enforcement officers. Well, I was told that I couldn’t […]

The idea for this rambling came from seeing one of my college Taekwondo students wearing a pair of Sock Monkey slippers… in Minnesota… in December. When he saw me notice them, all he said…with a grin… was that the chicks love them. My comment was that wearing them is great…even in the Winter…as long as he’s […]

Aikido has the concept of “Beginner’s Mind”. Basically, it is the idea that everytime you go to train you do so with a completely open mind. This is meant to help the student “see” repeated material as if for the first time in order to learn something new (or additional) from it. A couple weeks […]

I got the chance to watch Kung Fu Panda, again, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice last night. Its a nice little piece of brain candy to relax and just enjoy. However, it did get me thinking. (Kung Fu Panda) At the end, it was discovered that the secret Dragon scroll had no writing and there was no […]

So, yesterday when I had a new officer start her first day of work, she asked me who she would notify if she had an emergency. Now, my first thought went to the procedure listed in our post orders. I didn’t think that was what she was asking though. She expanded upon her question with “you know…if […]

This past Spring, I was trying to organize locations and events at which Haidong Gumdo – Minnesota could do demonstrations. I didn’t find any new events but was able to get return engagements at previous events. Now, I’ll agree that this isn’t very noteworthy but something I was told by a Parks & Recreation Director […]

This past weekend Haidong Gumdo – Minnesota did some demonstrations out at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We did three demos on each Saturday and Sunday. They were in the middle of an open field with temperatures above 85 degrees. It could have easily been a lot more work than fun. I have always been impressed […]

Recently, I had the chance to connect as a student the U.S. Haidong Gumdo Association Senior Chief Master. During the introduction and “getting to know you” conversations leading up to the seminar, he commented that he prefer the title “Sabumnim” instead of “Master”. His position is based upon the idea that “Master” has a more (my […]

A story forwarded from a friend…—A lecturer teaching medicine was tutoring a class on observation. As part of of his lesson he took out a jar of yellow-colored liquid. “This”, he explained, “is urine. To be a doctor, you have to be observant to color, smell, sight, and taste.” Right after saying this, he dipped […]