What do you get when you are attacked by a Black Belt and a Blue Belt? Beaten Black and Blue. There was a 10 year old boy, who's left arm was damaged and subsequently amputated. He decided to learn judo. His Sensei (teacher) was an old Chinese judo expert. The boy learned quickly. After three months, he had learned only one move. He asked his teacher to teach him more moves. The Sensai told him that this was all he would need. Soon after, the boy entered a tournament, where he quickly advanced to the finals, where his opponent was bigger and more experienced. The boy seemed very out matched. After a long match, the opponent seemed to loose concentration. Quickly the boy took advantage and pinned what seemed to be his superior opponent. On the ride home, the boy asked his Sensai. "How could I win with only one move?" The Sensai replied, "You have nearly mastered one of the most difficult moves in all of judo. And, the only defence against that move, is for your opponent to grab your left arm." A few years ago I had a friend and student named Bill. When I say student, I mean that he was in one of my Tae Kwon Do classes. He was blind. He had one of the best senses of humor that I have ever encountered, and he also was one of the most determined people I have ever dealt with. He refused to let his blindness become a handicap. He would come to class and work out harder than the seeing students, and he constantly served as inspiration to all of us. We traveled to Minneapolis for a tournament when Bill was a green belt. It was his first tourney out of the local area, and none of the fighters knew him. Being a rather large and agressive guy (240lbs), he easily defeated a number of competitors. He ran into a solid competitor in the third or fourth match, and was taking some punishment. He went wild... Bill pretty much fought by sound...as the heat was turned up he started striking out at anything that he heard...the referee took some of the best hits I've ever seen a man take in a match...he actually even countered a few until I could get in the ring and convince Bill that he was hitting the wrong man. Bill was disqualified, but everyone was astonished that a blind man had been able to fight his way up to third place. Murphy's Laws of Martial Arts The wimp who made it through the eliminations on luck alone will suddenly turn into Bruce Lee when you're up against him. The referee will always be looking the other way when you score. You will have trouble with the ties on your dobok pants when members of the opposite sex are in class. The day you leave work early to make it to class on time, the instructor will be sick. The instructor will only use you during demonstrations for joint-locking techniques. If you have to use your training in self-defense, your attacker's father will be a lawyer. After a flawless demonstration, you will trip on your way back to your seat. After years of training without a single injury, you will pull a groin muscle the night before your black belt exam. In an otherwise vacant locker room, the only other person will have the locker right next to yours. No matter how many times you take care of it before your promotion exam, you will invariably have to go to the bathroom when it's your turn. |
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