I had never planned to be a martial artist, let alone a teacher! I am only an average athlete, so a physical endeavor was not part of my future. That said, my enjoyment of the Green Hornet and Kung Fu television shows caused to join a class. This was January 1981.
A couple years later, the martial arts training proved its value as I began to struggle with academics. The point where I realized that learning a form in a single class directly related to getting all the homework done for ALL of my academic classes allowed me to graduate.
Along the way I started to teach in order to keep my own training going. It was a purely selfish thing. I was not able to get to classes due to the three hour drive to the nearest class. After getting permission, I started a little class as a 4th gup. I only planned to develop a couple training partners because I knew the responsibility would develop the discipline to train.
That was a long time ago. I’m just now seeing everything. It was also a long time of searching for information about the lineage that I came from. That happened to start when I asked my first teacher, Master Tom Sullivan, about the first and characters in our Karate North logo.
That search lead me to find that I came from a Song Moo Kwan Taekwondo line of awesome martial artists. Did I say that out loud? Sorry. That discovery lead me on a long journey to find the history of where my Taekwondo came from. I do feel fortunate that I’ve come to know Supreme Grand Master Joon Pyo Choi and a source to the history.
I have never been one searching for the accolades of tournament success. I participated out of respect to my teacher and mentor, Master Sullivan, but after learning the meaning of the fist and Song Moo characters, I was on another journey. Yes, one that I had never planned to be on. It took me the better part of 10 years to figure out the basics of Song Moo Kwan history. Where will this take me? I have no idea. I’m just starting to get history lessons from Supreme Grand Master Choi.
