I first started martial Arts when I was 12. I watched the original Karate Kid, after it was released on VHS. I was really impressed with the story. The following week I started Tai Kwon Do with one of the local kids. As I wasn’t much of a team sport player, being able to improve as an individual really appealed to me. I stuck at it until mid-way through high school then let it slip, as I started to focus on other teenage interests. I still notice a few of the habits I learned, all those years ago, pop up in my present martial arts training.
During my teens and early 20’s I dabbled in a few ‘start-up’ martial arts clubs, but nothing really stuck It wasn’t until the early 2000’s that I got involved in a mixed martial arts club that really appealed to me.
It was a relatively successful club with two full white belt classes running concurrently each week. Of the 60 initial white belts only three made it to black belt. I’m proud to say I was one of them. I could have quit many times, with all sorts of excuses that made perfect sense at the time. However, I told myself to“just turn up’ no matter how I felt before training. I knew that at the end of the class I would feel great.
And I was right.
I still use the just turn up’ philosophy today. Life always throws challenges at you. I still get the sametape recordings playing in my mind such as “it’s too hot today”, “its too rainy today”, “I ate too much forlunch”, “I had a stressful day at work”, or “I’m too tired”. If you can just get to class, 99% of the time, those excuses fade away and you end up wondering why you would have ever listened to them.
I believe Martial Arts provides an inner confidence that people pick up on. You might not realize it, but people who train in martial arts present themselves differently. I think people subtly pick up on little signals just like a bully would gravitate towards someone lacking confidence, successful confident people gravitate towards other confident people. I’ve enjoyed this success over the years. My general shy quiet nature has been enhanced by the inner confidence that comes with martial arts training.
One of my favourite things about training is that once you walk onto the mats it becomes a level playing field. We all have different families, cultures, educations, and professions and yet we are all the same onthe mats. All the social pressure and judgement cease to exist. We’re all here to train and improve, and ifwe can help each other then we end up helping ourselves.
I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned in martial arts, and to be honest, can’t see a time when I’ll ever give it up.
PAUL COLLINS
