Taekwondo
Front kick-punch-punch, roundhouse-punch-punch, punch-punch-hook, back leg high roundhouse, punch-punch-hook-uppercut, back leg roundhouse. Raspy breath … sweat in my eye blurs vision…. “Four!”, Rick yells. Oh man I have so many more of these… focus… focus…. Try to control breathing…. “Retract those kicks!”, yells Grand Master Robles from the other side of the room. I grunt what I hope sounds like an acknowledgement. The voice in my head says, “Remember the order of the combination… chamber the kicks… rotate your body with the punches…. don’t let your movements fall apart because your lungs burn, you feel dizzy and are losing focus. “Five- keep it up”! Rick yells.
Living near the ocean, its hard not to notice the interconnectedness of the environment. Rain and calm conditions cause algae blooms, which in turn can reduce oxygen levels in the water and causes fish kill. Volunteers come out for Clean Galveston and clean the beaches and beach goers notice the difference. Wind leads to current and waves which in turn cause long shore and rip currents. A story about blue water doubles our weekend visitor count. A story about bacteria caused by rain runoff has the opposite effect. Light wind and hot weather increase umbrella rental revenue. Excessive heat leads to not only potential medical emergencies, but to crowd problems. Economic and other types of community support plus lots of proactive work by lifeguards can reduce drowning rates. Or the reverse.
For people who spend years on the beach observing connections between the environment, economy, and social trends, noticing connections becomes almost second nature. If people are observant, age can do the same. Glad it’s good for something!
A few years ago, I followed my daughter’s lead and joined a Taekwondo class. Then I started kickbox training in addition to that with Grand Master Ismael Robles and his best friend, and Galveston Ex Police Chief, Rick Boyle. My intent was to do something to hang out more with my daughter, get some cross training in for lifeguard sport, and to get better at self defense for my job. What I gained in addition to all of that was surprising.
Last weekend I tested for black belt. The test involved all the forms and combinations from all the belts, count kicks, specialty kicks, and sparring. The sparring involved 8 rounds against different experienced black belts, a two on one round, and a 5 on one round. I made some mistakes, but I was surprised by how much of the complicated curriculum I was able to get through because I’d repeated it so many times that it was committed to muscle memory. And there was a moment in the sparring when I was completely anaerobic, had tunnel vision, and my legs were not working well. But I was somehow able to do what I’d trained for. And the connection to public safety hit me at that moment.
First responders train and repeat over and over so that when they’re scared, exhausted, or overwhelmed they still do what they’re trained to do.
