Tae Kwon Do

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I studied Tae Kwon Do when I was in high school. It was really the only form of exercise that I didn't mind doing. I was able to obtain a green belt ranking.

Later when I was living in San Diego and was 30 years old, I decided to go back to take more lessons. I was one of the few "older" students in the school but I didn't mind. I found it to be just as much fun as when I was in high school. I was allowed to keep my green belt ranking because the instructor felt I still had the skills to maintain that belt rank.

Unlike many other students who were more interested in moving up their belt ranking, I wasn't as interested. I had been asked many times from both of my instructors to test for the higher belts, but I just never bothered. But it was always interesting that they would pair me up against Red Belts or Black Belts whenever we sparred. I suppose they felt it was a more even match that way. :)

Before moving back to the Chicago area from San Diego, I decided to enter a tournament. I knew that this would be my one and only chance to compete and that I would most likely not be taking any more formal lessons going forward. I was placed in the 30+ age grouping. In this catagory, anyone over 30 was to compete against each other, regardless of their belt ranking (however Black Belts needed to compete against other Black Belts.)

I was lucky to take 2nd place in the forms competition and I took 3rd place in free sparring. Not the greatest, but not bad... I still have the trophies today!

It wasn't until years later that I found out I had a torn meniscus in my left knee and I had to undergo knee surgery to repair it. Today, my knee works just fine, but I still "baby" it by avoiding doing kicks with my left leg. I'll never know for sure if I had injured my knee because of the Tae Kwon Do activities or if it was something else, but chances are, it was because of my martial arts training.

Still, I encourage everyone to take up some form of Martial Arts training. It's great exercise and it has the benefit of being a form of self defense as well.

Can I still fight if necessary? You bet... it's something you never forget. Can I kick as high as the guy in the picture above... sure can!