Friday, May 18, 2012

Combat Hapkido







I have been involved with this program for a couple of years now and just recieved my promotion for Brown Belt last weekend. I really enjoy this self defense system as it is bare bones, close quarter combat compared to Aikido. I currently am training for shodan in Aikido and will hopefully recieve my first dan promotion late 2012 or early 2013 depending on how things go. I have a bad shoulder that I have to set up an MRI for next week and if I have to have surgery it will set me back a few months in my training. I hope I can put off any surgery until after both my black belt tests. Some ask WHY do you do martial arts, especially at your age? Well, I love it for one and I believe in self defense.

Let me ask you, how many stories have you read lately where someone was attacked and beaten? Think about Travon Martin and George Zimmerman. If Mr. Zimmerman had known some self defense there is a good chance he could have fought of Martin and won! No shooting would have been necassary. We train to fight multiple attackers, so in the case where three or four guys attack one, I am prepared. I see it on the news all the time for example, these days it seems as if every time I open up a news site I read where blacks are attacking whites all over the country. In most cases it doesn't get reported as a national news story but it is happening more and more. If I am able to take out the first two or three attackers (black, white or any color) in a way that discourages the others from coming at me then I might be able to walk away from a life threatening situation like that with minimal damage. It is a dangerous world and we live in unprecedented times of racial and political strife. I love my black brothers and sisters just like anyone else but many of them have gone astray and have been influenced by the race baiters (Obama, Al Sharpton, Jesse jackson, etc.) who constantly stir up hatred for whites and those with money. The unemployment rate in the black community is as high as it has been in decades so there is alot of pent up frustration on thier part and it is constanly fueled by the democrats and the media who beat that class warefare drum with zeal day in and day out. This leads to violence! The new black panther party is another story. They have come out and openly called for violence against all whites. We as citizens have a right to protect ourselves. Well, I have gotten off track here so I digress.

I was blogging about martial arts not race problems. So as my journey into the world of Aikido and Combat Hapkido continues I have hit a few snags as the two systems are alike in many ways yet have some fundamental differences that can cause problems for me in both areas. I will get more into that at a later date. let me close by saying we have been doing Randori the past few classes. It is an excercise or drill for experienced Aikidoka and takes patience to learn. Sensei Tony says I have shown great progress in the short time we have been working on it and is very pleased with what he has seen. This has caused him to state that I am ready now to start working on the kata for shodan. I am glad to hear this! I like the Randori drills as it allows me to learn the art of slowing down my technique and being more fluid and able to blend better with uke/nage. In combat Hapkido it is time for going back to the beginning. Now that we have recieved Brown Belt status which is the first belt in the advanced stage of the system, my friend Jeff Handy and I intend to go back and review all belts over the next couple of months before we procede to Red Belt. This should be fun and will help us with our fundamentals.






Peace be with you!