Here’s a question for all you fine folks out there: How exactly does one go from being averse to martial arts for years to being fully immersed within a community of martial artists from around the world?
Turns out it’s actually much simpler than you’d think.
Humble Beginnings
First and foremost, you find yourself surrounded by God knows how many peers from elementary to middle school who not only train in Karate who, fittingly enough for their ages, can be a bit obnoxious, a bit prone to being show-offs, and, unfortunately, bullies. It’s only natural that you want to stay as far away from these kinds of kids as possible. Especially when you’re a 5-foot-nothing clumsy bookworm with a neon sign flashing “PERFECT BULLYING VICTIM” directly overhead. Your mom asks you from time to time if you’d be interested in trying out martial arts, simply to try it out as a hobby, but time and time again your answer always remains a firm “No”.
Suddenly, something changes once you reach the age of 13: You make a friend who happens to be a black belt in the discipline of Karate. You’ve found an escape away from all the bullies that made your life hell and now, here before you lies a kind, loyal, and all-around awesome guy who practices forms during class, actually enjoys hanging out with you from time to time, and walks with a kind of effortless swagger. Not obnoxious, not flashy, just a quiet, head held high, steadfast confidence.
This kid was cool with a capital C-O-O-L.
A Sudden Spark
I don’t know about how the rest of you guys reflect on being 13 but I for one remember that age as a particular time of powerlessness and aimlessness. Struggling to find something, anything, to be uniquely yours, something outside the confines of school that makes you even the least bit enthusiastic. To see someone else of my age devote themselves wholeheartedly to something flipped a switch deep within the recesses of my mind. Maybe there was something to this whole martial arts thing after all, maybe the 5-foot-nothing bookworm turned 5’7″ slightly more sociable bookworm could learn a few things or two from this.
Naturally I did what any 13-year-old would do at a time like this: I turned to YouTube. I fell headfirst into the martial arts abyss and I did it with a smile on my face all the way from the top going down. In hindsight everything’s become so blended together I genuinely can’t differentiate between what was the first video I watched or who was the first internet martial artist whose tips I followed religiously. There’s Ginger Ninja Trickster and his incredible flips, The Karate Nerd’s impassioned lessons on various techniques passed down from the Okinawan masters, Sensei Seth’s tenacity in seeking out various disciplines to train in (not to mention the notorious water bottle kick that started it off).
The (Non)Karate Kid
13 turned to 15 to 18 to my freshman year of college and with the passing years my disdain grew to curiosity to fascination to a holy grail. The more martial artists I found online (usually through collaborations with Master Ken) the more I wanted to fully engrain myself further within that world. There was no stopping it. This was rapidly evolving into a growing passion that refused to fully submerge itself into my internal treasure trunk of discarded pastimes. Now at this point I imagine those of you who have made it this far into my rambling have probably concluded that by this moment in time, I had walked straight into a local dojo, donned my first Gi, and had been cultivating my skills for quite some time. To that I say thank you for your heartfelt, sincere, and unfortunately misplaced optimism in my ability to take initiative.
This story is not The Karate Kid, in fact, it is almost quite the opposite of that particular story. Where Daniel-San showed fierce determination in pursuing his training and found the inner confidence, I found myself ruled by my insecurities. At the age of 16, I dared to believe that I was “too old” to begin my training in comparison to those around me, all of whom had seemingly been training since they were in diapers. I write this last sentence fully preparing for the barrage of “you thought you were too old at sixteen???” comments that I already see coming from a mile away.
The First Tentative Steps
Fast forward a few years add in a high school graduation, the first semester and a half of college, and a global pandemic and suddenly the tides of fate finally began to turn in my favor.
Yet another day of quarantine passes and I am once again lying on my bed scrolling mindlessly through Instagram. I find myself in talks with a fellow by the name of Noah Evans-Wicks, a martial artist whom I had connected with through one of his tutorials on Tiktok, and in my mind’s eye I’m picturing this guy in the position as my friend from years ago: Cool with capital C-O-O-L. So many of the same qualities I saw in Noah that I had previously seen in my former friend and was currently observing in Sensei Seth and Andy Le and all the other martial artists I had discovered in the wake of Lockdown. Passion, humility, charisma, and boundless purpose-all the qualities I was still desperately searching for.
And just like that, an idea formed within me.
If I created an Instagram page dedicated to highlighting the martial artists I’ve come across, it’d be the best of both worlds: I get to connect with various martial artists I’ve looked up to for some time now, meet new martial artists who would link up with one another and learn from each other, and I would get to learn from all of them. Triple win! So I did it-I posted one of Noah’s videos (with his permission of course), slapped on the username of @martialartistsappreciation, and called it a day.
A Journey Begins
In the ensuing two years of running this page, I’ve had the honor of accomplishing everything I set out to do: I’ve met some incredible martial artists who have all given me fantastic advice on how to improve my techniques, have guided me along my training with nothing but immense support, affirmation, and a helping hand whenever life became too overwhelming. I have gained so much confidence, so much more awareness of what martial arts truly means, and an incredible group of people whom I am so blessed to call my second family. It is through this page that at the age of 23, I finally did what 13-year-old David would never have thought possible only a decade prior….
I took the first steps through the doors of a local dojo near my new house and finally began my formal training.
This is the first step of the journey.
- The Ups and Downs of Being a (Wannabe) Martial Artist - December 11, 2023
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