History Lesson

What do you know about me?  If you saw me, would you guess that I hold a black belt in Tae Kwon Do?  Would you guess that I also have experience in other martial arts?  Well I do.  I have a slightly vast martial arts history and I hold various belts in the arts.  I started the martial arts pretty late in life in my sophomore year of college at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater.  I thoroughly enjoyed the arts, but as I didn't do so well with my weight control, my proficiency in the martial arts decreased. 

My practice stopped in December 2003.  I have always wanted to return, but everything else got more and more busy that I didn't make time to re-insert the arts back into my life.  Now, during my post transplant recovery I decided to return to the world of Martial Arts.  I am starting with Tai Chi Chuan.  I practiced this art before in Illinois for a year and that ended when we moved to Texas, but now I will return.  I am debating on if I will return to other arts, but my weight and neuropathy will dictate that.

Here is the list of my martial arts history:

WARHAWK KARATE CLUB (June 1994 - March 1995)
WHITEWATER, WI
    This is the first martial arts school I started to practice at.  They practice the style of Ji Do Kwon of the Tae Kwon Do art and Go Ju Ryu of Karate.  It was ran by Jeff, Barbara, and Dave Barnett.  It was considered a pretty rough school with an extensive belt test.  I received my green belt there on December, 1994.  Now the school is now operated under Master Trent Norrell.

UFMA KARATE (September 1996 - March 1997)
WHITEWATER, WI
    This school was born when Warhawk Karate kind of died and was ran by Mike DuClos and Tony McDonald.  It's a branch of Lieker's Karate & Self-Defense, which is based in Hays, Kansas.  UFMA stands for United Fellowship of Martial Artists.  They practice the same art as Warhawk Karate, with Self-Defense and weapons.  While the old school was focused more on defense and discipline, UFMA is geared more towards sport karate, which as an emphasis on tournament play/point sparring.  To my knowledge the school is still running strong and I wish them well.

WARHAWK MARTIAL ARTS  (September 1998 - October 1998)
WHITEWATER, WI
    I joined this school hoping that things would get better in my martial arts career, but it just got worse.  This school practice the following arts: Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Kickboxing, and Self-Defense.  This school was pretty nice to work out with, but things just didn't work out.  They emphasized on Self-Defense and Philosophy along with basic and advances techniques.

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN YMCA TAE KWON DO CLUB (1999 - 2002)
GREENFIELD, WI
    I joined this school through the wishes of my friend, Aaron Ploetz, who started working out with the school months before.  The head instructor was Charles Eggert and this man was like a father to me (don't worry, I love my actual father).  The school practiced the style of Ji Do Kwon in the Tae Kwon Do art along with self-defense and weapons. This school shows the highest level of respect and honor that I have ever seen in a martial arts school.  This is I achieved my black belt.  Just first degree.  I was qualified to test for 2nd degree, but time and distance wouldn't allow.  I do appreciate that my master (Peter Chan by this time) tried to flex as much as he can to make the test possible.  It just couldn't happen.  This is also the place that I proposed to the most wonder woman in my life, Jennifer Leigh Crouch Clark.

IWU TAI CHI CLUB (2000 - 2002)
BLOOMINGTON, IL
    I learned of this club while searching for a TKD school in Bloomington.  Tai Chi is the root of Kung Fu, which I wish to learn so I decided to join the club and I must say it is very, very interesting.  There are much older members of this club and everyone is very friendly.  There are no ranks in this club, everyone is equal, except for the instructors,  of course.

IWU TAE KWON DO CLUB (2000 - 2002)
BLOOMINGTON, IL
    I entered this club just to work out and stay in tune with my practice in Tae Kwon Do.  I am now an unofficial assistant instructor in the club.  This club was ran by Justin Hand, 2nd Dan in Tae Kwon Do and student at Illinois Wesleyan University, a well mannered and inspirational young man, who taught a great class.  The club is very much different to what I'm was use to, but I do enjoy it.  This helps me to prepare to run my own club or school.

I actually ended up running my own school, but it only lasted for a year because we decided to move to Texas.  I do miss it, but I am good now.  So like I said, I have returned to martial arts starting with Tai Chi down here in Texas and we shall see where it leads.  Wish me luck.

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Until next time................