Culmination of Efforts or Hapkido Black Belt
I am now a black belt in Hapkido, the culmination of 13 years of off and on training in the martial art. I started in 1998 when Rob, Evan, and I decided to check out the local club, Tae Ryong Park Academy, all being huge martial arts movie fans and having read about the TRP demo team's success on the world stage. We were instantly impressed with what we saw of the class and both Rob and I signed up. For a year, we trained as much as we could, carpooling to the 1hr45min classes where we leaned the basics. When the year was up, we both hesitated a little before renewing, university was coming and time was short. After a few months off, we both rejoined, picking up where we left off. We performed in folklorama and at schools, took beatings and lumps before Rob stopped coming and I was left alone. I had made some friends there, but without Rob, it wasn't the same. I kept at it for another year and a few months, but was always convinced that I wasn't good enough for the rank that I had, that others were so much better, and that I was somehow coasting along on luck. When work schedules started conflicting, my second guessing got the better of me and I stopped going to class for almost 4 years. In my mind, I would never be good enough to get to the top, I was too small, too weak, too sloppy...
The longer I was away, the more I started having dreams of being in class and started to regret stopping at the level I had (red-stripe). One day, I just sucked it up and went back, and was welcomed with open arms. From there on, I've been dedicated, going on average 3 times a week, suffering through numerous injuries and pains, practiced and trained as hard as I could.
Today it all came to a head with the black belt test, a truly grueling event of about 3 hours where we had to perform breakfalls, kicking techniques, rolls, a staff routine, basic,
intermediate, and advanced movements, 2 on 1's, knife defenses, and sparring. I kept my energy level high with a constant stream of water and energy foods and was never in a really bad place. My left hand was badly injured 6 weeks ago, so it was taped up and my right wrist took a beating in the months leading up to the test and too was taped. I drew some I-Ching symbols on the tape for inspiration (Constancy and Great Power) and had a couple of acronyms written as well. (YCDI: You Can Do I) and (PIT: Pain is Temporary). I took a beating in the sparring, landing on my injured hand causing the lower arm to go numb, but fought through it all and kept up my intensity and focus.
There was a celebratory dinner afterwards where I was presented with my belt and it felt like all the years of hard work had finally paid off. It's a new chapter now and I'll have to see how it goes, but I feel great about finally finishing something that I started a long time ago, even though a black belt is supposed to be more of a beginning (there are 10 Dan's after all!).
That's me with Grandmaster Park, a legend in Hapkido and one of the few Grandmasters in the world. He's a tremendous teacher and martial artist and helped me along, always encouraging with his broken english and comical sayings. I've met some great people along the way and have overcome some personal struggles (such as self-doubt) to finally be comfortable where I am. I'm pondering trying out Jiu-Jitsu as well, but am not sure how time will permit. For now though, I'm just going to enjoy the success and reconsider myself as deadly weapon!