"Wood-Chopper"

This one is hard to write, so I'll do my best to make sense as I do. 


This morning, my mother's dad, my grandfather passed away. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was young. My mom, brother and I lived with them for a while when I was a kid. Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop we called them.


There is a lot that can be said about Pop-Pop. I wouldn't attempt to say it all here. But I can say that his time on this earth was full of life. You always new where you stood with him, and you always knew his opinion about things. He was one of the funniest people I ever met, and was always ready with a good joke. He laughed with his entire body.


When I was young, I would help him with his projects. He'd refinish old wardrobe trunks, build things, and fix stuff around the house. He was always tinkering with something. And I was his helper. Many times I would help him out when he was cutting wood. Most of the time he was doing the cutting, but he took to calling me Wood-Chopper. The nickname stuck.


Years later, when I graduated college and was teaching martial arts in my own program, he came by to watch me in a demonstration. I was performing a HapKiDo self-defense demo with Shelby, and he got to see us in action. 


After the demo, he pulled me aside and told me he didn't sleep well that night. The demonstration had bothered him a little, and he wanted to talk with me about it. I'll never forget what he said:


"Chop, I didn't know you could do all that. You're name has a whole new meaning now (I also did a little board-breaking in the demo). You can chop people down! I knew you studied this stuff for a long time, but I didn't really understand it. Now I see that you're a nice guy who can do some damage. But you don't go around acting like a tough guy. Good boy."


For a man who served in WWII, member of the Greatest Generation, it was one of the biggest complements I could have received from my grandfather.  We didn't always have the same interests, or see eye-to-eye on philosophy, but we both knew there was always a deep respect and love there. No matter how far away we were, or how long it had been since we talked.


I'll miss you and always love you Pop-Pop.


Your grandson,
Wood-Chopper

A book and a movie

My martial arts career was heavily influenced by two things: a book and a movie.

Zen in the Martial Arts is a great collection of personal stories and anecdotes written by Joe Hyams. It's an easy read and a great asset to your library if you haven't already picked one up. I refer back to this book often. It's a great reminder of why I became interested in the martial arts in the first place. I've bought several copies over the years. I always give my current copy to a friend or student, and then I pick up another copy for myself. Books like this are best when shared.

The movie that heavily influenced me was the original "Karate Kid" - one of my all-time favorites. To some it's a cheesy 80's movie, and it definitely has some of those qualities too. But it is also a great depiction of the relationship between an instructor and his student.

It was famous for Mr. Miyagi's training method. Paint the fence, sand the floor, wax-on/wax-off. These made for great cinema, but they were a little more important than they let on.

For martial arts training, it is important to relate techniques and your everyday actions. Why not equate techniques to something students already know. Have a baseball player in your class? Then they already know how to shift their weight and follow through. Any dancers in the room? Ask them about footwork and see if they can show you how it relates to martial movement.

There is also something a little more subtle in that film. Daniel didn't train in a nice matted school with mirrors. He trained in the back yard. He trained at the beach. He even trained in a boat. What's funny about this is that the Karate Kid did a lot to fill martial arts schools across the nation, and that was a good thing. But great martial arts instruction can happen anywhere.

When I was younger, I used to hear martial artists make fun of people that learned in someones garage or back yard. I admit that I even bought into that for a while. But I've come to realize that it's not the place you train in that makes the training great. 

I'm proud to say I have a few students who come to my house and train in our own private dojang...my garage. Nothing fancy, but learning definitely takes place. And that's what's important. One of my good friends has taught at his home for years, and he has helped to produce some quality martial artists.

I guess what I'm trying to say is let's put a little more Zen in our martial art; put a little more Mr. Miyagi in our training. Making our teaching and training personal can only only make it better.