A lot is happening this year in terms of karate training for me. First of all, the hobby class for the combat karate in RTC will be commencing soon! Wow! I am really excited about that because it is something which will see me passing on my knowledge of karate and sharing knowledge with enthuiasts on my own for the first time! Then in a few months.. April to be exact will be SKA's effort at organising the international tournament headed by Mr Wong. Boy! I bet that will be a busy period of me. And of course there will be the 13th (unlucky maybe?) APSKF Championship at the end of this year! Oh that will be when I will be taking my 4th Dan grading, if there is a grading to be held.
Being 40 don't seem to be affecting me much although I like to play out the fact I am an old man.. but something about my steps seem lighter... maybe its the fact that a new year beckons and there is still so much to do.. to plan.. there is really no time to think about being old, wakakaka...
Just the other day I was commenting to Pam that I was still aiming to outdo, outlast and outfight my student who are in their 20s... lol.. then I paused to think... has it been almost 24 years already since I started my path of training karate? May 3 1988 was the day I started. Then I remembered.. no.
Cary Chan was an old schoolmate of mine who reminded me that while we were still in school.. I would draw a circle of chalk in the middle of the school courtyard and ask all my NPCC squadmates to come at me with sticks, chairs, and everything they can think of and attack me in the circle. I would just stand there and fend them off all at once. LOL. Back then, 1984-1987.. I was quite poor then, I often would have little money for extras.. so I offered anyone who wanted to take a shot at hitting my stomach for free drinks, hee.. there were always takers and I got a lot of free drink mind you!
Anyway, I guess you can say I began my martial arts training even earlier then SKA. I remembered when I was in primary school, I was often bullied by kids much bigger sized than me. I was really round back then. By round I meant fat..but never jolly because of the constant taunting and jeering from people around me... even teachers. They were horrible back then. Even the nicest teachers were capable of moments of cruelty towards kids... and most of us would not say a single word to our parents for fear of getting double punishment. I know what my father would have said.. must be you right? Otherwise why would you be punished? Blaaaa Blaa..
There was this show back when I was in primary 5... some show about Judo. It created quite a following for Judo then and alot of my friends would be challenging each other to throw each other on their backs. I was of course on the wrong end of the challenges, often having people picking on me to practise. Heh heh heh, I was stubborn as hell, I simply refuse to fall.. because I don't like to lose, I don't want to lose. But.. eventually, I will always be the one to fall because they are simply BIG kids! There was once, during recess I vividly remember, this boy called Lyndon Chow. He challenged me to a judo match in the music room one day when the teacher was late to class, and of course gamely I took him on. And gamely I was knocked to the ground but this time, he had other things on his mind... he wanted me to say uncle. (Saying uncle is like crawling between someone's legs..like a dog. LIKE A DOG?! NEVER) And so I refused and was continually pinned to the ground. I tell you.. I can still remember the sounds of the cheering class.. his weight on my body as I struggled to get to my feet.. I was struggling for what seem like an eternity on the floor.. wriggling painfully against the mosiac tiled flooring of the music room. Of course eventually the teacher came in and order was restored... but not before I was sitting quietly at the back of the class, hot and flustered with my uniform all torn and blacken.
Guess my training goes back much further than I cared to remember :) So Lyndon Chow, where are you now? Care for a rematch? :)
The determined one
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