I was just surfing the web this morning when I stumbled across and old article I did for Men's Health Singapore.
I was surprised it is still there.. lol.
Speaking of karate...
One of my clubs which I belong to..used to be the ONLY club.. Shitoryu Karate Association, is falling apart.. in my opinion. Not by any fault of its own, but by the powers that be.
I guess I was not surprised that the "mighty" SKA eventually will fall because of politics. We used to field the best karate-kas locally and in the region, however, as with all things... pride comes before a fall.
I still remember the first time I heard of karate. It was at a bookstore in Bras Basah where I chanced upon this book...
I remembered I was so intrigued by what I read inside I bought it even though I had to spend my week's allowance on it (I was in secondary 2 at that time and I didn't really have much money).
I was fat.. oh dear.. real fat. I guess I have always been big due to my family. I looked at the book and there were step by step illustration of this sequence of karate moves called kata. WOW. I thought.. after learning this, I now know karate. Somehow, unknown to me, this was to become a lifelong love for the art of karate. I guess if I had picked up a book on Muay Thai or Judo, I would have chosen those arts?.. Nah
When I was in primary 6 in 1983, heh, I remembered there was a TV serial about judo. And there was a craze amongst my primary schoolmates (St. Anthony Boys' School) about judo. Everyone would be challenging each other with judo moves. There was these 2 kids in particular I want to single out in my blog now who gave me a hard time and bullied me into submission overtime we would "horseplay" around during, before and in-betweeen class times. Lyndon Chow, he was a tall lanky fellow whose mother was one of the teachers in the same school, we called her Mrs Angela Chow. This guy would wrestle me to the ground and pin me down and make me say I give up. I would ALWAYS refuse and tried my best to get up... well, you guessed it, I would always be "mopping" the dirty classroom floor.. and once I even tore my school uniform so badly, I had to hide it by leaning back into my chair the whole time during school until dismissal, lucky it was the last period.. I think.. :)The other boy.. I forgot his name, but lets call him X. But he was slightly bigger than me, (well back in primary school, EVERYBODY was bigger than me). He would always brag he was the better judo player than I ever will be and can never beat him, and to prove that, he would constantly challenge me to impromptu judo matches... at the assembly yard, during recess.. and once during PE lesson... but it was always in front of a crowd.. maybe that was what he craved (shrug). I would lose.. and lose horribly because I want to win, but I have no idea how to "judo" and hence get toss around like a rag doll by my bigger "friends". Sigh.
My dad was a judoka 3rd dan, I remembered, and when I asked him for advice on how to improve my game, he laughed and ignored me. I remember telling myself back then (it was to become one my life mottos), never to depend on anyone else to improve yourself, no one will be in your corner if you don't have a chance of winning, who wants to be on a losing team?
Anyway, back then I couldn't go out by myself, so library was out of the question. I was in a primary school, so the school library did not have any material on judo. The internet was not invented back then. By some coincidence, I happen to catch a very interesting episode of that judo TV serial I was mentioning about earlier. I remembered watching it intently for the entire episode. Little did I know back then, this was one of my life talents.. the gift of photographic memory for martial arts. Weird right? Of all the things in the world to possess.. well at least its one of the quirky gifts god gave me.. I will take it!
Back to the judo TV serial.. I practiced on my sister... I practiced on my smelly bolster... I practiced by pillars... I practiced by myself... and practiced and practiced... hard. I told myself I never want to be humiliated by others again just because I cannot protect myself. Anyway, before you know it.. I had to study hard for my PSLE and judo was at the back of my mind.. but in the meantime, I continued getting bullied in school.. sigh
After I got posted to St Josephs Institution, I remembered it was day 3 or 4.. in my new secondary school.. I thought.. wow new school, new start! One morning, right in the middle of the school yard where the whole school was gathered before assembly, I saw X. I remember him coming over and started calling me names almost immediately. Grrrrr. I can still remember that arrogant face.. smiling and grinning, making fun of my size and gloating over the fact he would trash me overtime he saw me. He started to poke me in the chest and challenged me to... you guessed it.. judo. Sigh. This time I was ready.. and to make it interesting, he got his new friends to gather around and told them I was the one he used as target practice for his new love judo.
-Long story Cut Short-
I trashed him. Ooooh how I trashed him. I threw him into the drain, I threw him amongst the trash bins nearby, I pinned him to the asphalt ground and made him call uncle...all these in front of his new friends. SATISFACTION. I still remembered his eyes. *smile
The bonus came immediate after.. I remember I was leaving the scene of "carnage" where the kids were all gathered to gawk at that bleeding X with his white uniform all roughed up and brown and dirty... 2 bigger boys came running after me. I was thinking.. uh-oh, X's new seniors are coming to take revenge.. SIGH. One of the said, "Oei!" I felt like disappearing into thin air, seriously, that is how I feel always right before someone bullies me. HOWEVER....
The other boy said they have seen what I did in the school yard, and was wondering if I would like to join SJI's Judo Club? OMG!!! I should have said yes back then.. but I guess I was just glad they were not there to beat me up.. I just talked them hastily I would think about it and ran off. Ahhh.. sweet!!
-Cut to present day-
Shitoryu Karate Association. The present day karate politics is killing the martial art. It is killing my desire to attend any classes... not that I need to attend classes.. I conduct classes.. heh heh. But still, I would have loved to see more karatekas in Singapore. MMA is taking this tiny island by storm. Not that its not good, its just that I have a passion for karate. SKA being booted out from the NSA is already bad enough to stifle young talents not to mention any chance of representing Singapore in any international competitions, but now we have 2 major organisations. I am not going to discuss politics here but all I have to say is what happened to the principles of being a karateka...
SINCERE
RESOLUTE
HONOURABLE
HUMBLE
I was taught to bow towards these principles for 28 years. Surely it must mean something.
~CJ
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