There is an old Beatles song (ask your parents) that talks about “Getting Better All the Time.” Martial Arts is a lot like that. The average red belt is better at it than the average orange belt, that in turn is better at it than the average white belt. The big jumps you see once people become black belts are surprising to students who thought that was where the journey ended, but not to those of us who know that’s where the journey actually begins. I can tell all of you a secret, though. My sparring isn’t getting better. In fact, when I tested for 3rd degree back in 2001 that was probably my best sparring ever! Another secret… my forms aren’t as good as when I did them as a 3rd degree. I don’t kick as high and my knees don’t bend as much. And since these stories come in threes, let me say that I’ll bet 1989 Mr. Strickland could beat 2020 Mr. Strickland at point sparring!

So, my 5th degree skills as a taekwondo practitioner aren’t as good as my 3rd degree skills. Mr. Strickland is less likely to turn someone’s helmet around with a hook kick than he was as a 4th degree. But - we - just like a 7 year old green belt – are still getting ”better.” At a certain point, getting better doesn’t mean practicing more hook kicks or doing more jumping and spinning. At a certain point, getting better means working harder to reach out and find new things of value. Whether it is new hand drills, a new combination, which doesn’t require great athletic prowess, or simply a better way to develop a rhythm in forms.

When Mr. Woodard came back from knee surgery, and we worked on how to make class more productive rather than destructive to his rehab. In 2001, we didn’t know how to do that. Do you wonder how we got “better”? We borrowed stuff from CrossFit and Pilates and Yoga. We now do Muay Thai, Kali, jujitsu and Bruce Lee’s Jun fan system as well as western boxing. We go to camps and seminars to learn more martial skills and techniques from others smarter than us. Mr. Strickland invites people in to teach classes, and we go to martial arts events to continue to learn. We as instructors want to get better and make the school and its students better. Good things happen when it is all about the students! All that said, Mr. Strickland’s hook kick still isn’t as fast as it once was, and my sidekick isn’t as high, but we have made up for that with newer skill sets.

We came from an organization (the one I was in in 2001) that told us, explicitly, these things… (1) you don’t need to study any other art other than taekwondo, (2) you don’t need to do anything else exercise‐wise, other than taekwondo (3) You should always demand that students wear uniforms, so they are in the proper respectful frame of mind in class. This same organization separate black belt camp such that high ranks wore different colored t‐shirts at black belt camps, to set them apart. Lower ranks were not allowed to say anything, not even anything positive, about an upper rank (I’m not making this up, it is in their manual).

I love learning and teaching Kali, Silat and Weeping style jujitsu techniques along with the myriad of other systems. Last week, however, I had a first-degree probationary black belt help teach me my basics again. She helped me get “better.” It isn’t about the color of the shirt or the color of the belt, it is about each of us getting “better.” As martial artists we are on a continuous path of learning and growth and in turn regardless of rank continue helping each other get better!

Mr. Vickroy