Kung Fu TV Beginnings
I have had an interest in the martial arts discipline and have begun studying throughout my childhood. My first exposure was a 1974 cartoon Hong Kong Phooey. I didn’t care much for the cartoon, but I was very interested in the type of martial art stuff he did. I was always disappointed when he stopped.
My exposure continued with the Kung Fu series starring David Carradine. I was still a small elementary-age child, small enough to still jump up and down on the bed with my sister during commercials reenacting the slow-motion fight scenes.
Then I found out about the Kung Fu movies shown on TV. Shaw Brothers, Ocean Shores, and Golden Harvest our name the companies that made the movies. To me these movies were talking about something of the past, that no longer existed, kind of like a fairy tale of Kings and Knights. I felt at a loss that this no longer existed.
Magazine of KNOWLEDGE
One day in the supermarket when I was finally tall enough to reach the second shelf of the magazine stand, I saw my first martial arts magazine. I couldn’t believe it, this Kung Fu stuff still existed and there were people teaching and learning it. I thought to myself one day I will learn.
I went to the phone book to look up schools but they were either too far or too expensive. Also, nowhere did I see Kung Fu. Judo was the first martial art I studied when I was still in elementary school and I learned the basic falls, rolls, and throws.
The class was taught at the YMCA and the instructor was a short little guy, but still taller than me and bigger since I was still a kid. It seemed to me I was the lucky one that always got thrown by him.
The class was at night and I had to ride a 10-speed bike there by myself, which was scary. Also, I barely reached the pedals of the bike. I couldn’t even sit on the seat, if I sat on a seat then my feet wouldn’t reach the pedals. Once I got on the bike my feet were not able to touch the ground, which was scary for me riding to the class and riding back home at night.
I enjoyed the class and was learning and probably would have stayed, except for the one day the instructor asked us all a question. He lined us all up sitting on the floor and asked, “For what reason are you guys here for?” When he said that, I knew the reason why I was there. I was there to learn Kung Fu. In the advertisement for the class, it said Kung Fu. But this did not look like what I saw in the movies. So, unfortunately, I stopped going to the class.
Summer Trainings
Once again in my search for Kung Fu. During summer vacation, still an elementary-age kid visiting my grandmother in LA for the summer, I joined the karate program at the local playground. This was a good experience, I learned the basic kata and kicking and punching the karate way. I even attended a martial art retreat during this class.
I was the youngest one there, the class was filled with adults. The class took place outside in the hot sun and we were all barefooted. We ran a trail filled with rocks hurting my feet as we ran. When we then came to an opening in the dry dirt, that’s where we stopped underneath the baking sun. I almost fainted from dehydration, practicing the kata with the group as I had no water.
In Junior High, I joined the wrestling team. I wrestled for both years. In my second year, I went undefeated. In the summer during the transition from Junior High to High School, I began boxing. Now, boxing is something I should have started when I was in elementary school. On a trip to the playground, while walking with a recreation leader and some other kids, I only came up to his hip. I saw something but I didn’t know what it was.
Discovering The other door
There was a door open and inside that door, there was a ring. I did not even know what a ring was at that time, but I know I saw something of interest. I said to myself: “Wow!” I looked up at the recreation leader and asked him what that was, he looked down at me and he said that’s not for you. I look down at the ground and continued walking. I always remember there was something there, I just didn’t know what.
It was during the summer between junior high and high school, I asked my mother to drive me to that playground. There’s something there that I wanted to see. When we arrived, I heard a loud sound. I didn’t know what this sound was. Ba ba ba baaa! Ba ba ba baa! It turned out it was the speed bag.
I joined that gym and I was eventually the first one there and the last one out and I never missed a day. When the coaches came to open the gym I was there waiting for them. When it was time for the gym to close, they were there waiting for me.
There were two rooms. One room with a ring and bags and another room with two large mirrors. The room with the mirrors was where Shadow Boxing and jump rope took place. That’s the room I was stuck in. All I did was throw one punch and take one step forward several times and one punch and one step back several times, in front of the mirror.
Other guys will come in, do their 3 rounds of jump rope, and 3 rounds of Shadow Boxing boxing, and go to the next room to continue. But with me, I was stuck there doing the same thing over and over.
Finally, I got to know one of the guys more and of course, I was the youngest one there while others were older guys in their 20s. Well, when one of the guys came in that I kind of got to know, him since no one really talked to anybody, especially if you’re a new guy and just a kid at that. I complained to him saying, I come here every day, I’m stuck in this room, and no one ever works with me. Look at those other guys, they don’t come every day and the coaches work with them.
The guy put down his jump rope, left the room, and the next thing I know one of the coaches came in. I thought I was in big trouble and was going to get kicked out of the gym. But from that day, the coach started working with me.
To Be Continued…..