From: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: the_dojang-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #25 Reply-To: the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: The_Dojang-Digest Fri, 15 Jan 1999 Vol 06 : Num 025 In this issue: the_dojang: Standing up and taking charge the_dojang: No Blame (fwd) the_dojang: Re: wow the_dojang: sigs the_dojang: Medical Records of Athletes the_dojang: Future of TKD: Tae Do? Re: the_dojang: Future of TKD: Tae Do? the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #24 the_dojang: Legal Holiday the_dojang: CPR/Medic First-Aid certification the_dojang: . ......................................................................... The_Dojang, serving the Internet since June 1994. ~800 members strong! Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, California Taekwondo, Martial Arts Resource To send e-mail to this list use the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe the_dojang-digest" (no quotes) in the body of an e-mail (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and online search the last two years worth of digest issues at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! Ray Terry, PO Box 110841, Campbell, CA 95011 KMA@MartialArtsResource.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jamaica Power" Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 13:40:09 PST Subject: the_dojang: Standing up and taking charge This raises a question: I always thought that a major part of getting your blackbelt had to do with initiative and developing a sesne of responsibility, for reasons just like I faced last night. I would think having your blackbelts capable of running things when a crisis occurs would be almost crucial to the day to day life of a dojang. Greg Giddins ========================================= I would agree with you Greg but perhaps the issue is not with the blackbelts but with the instructor. You mentioned you were a newer member of the class so perhaps all of the unwritten rules have not been made apparent to you. I always learned that in any business we live more by the unwritten rules, the unspoken words than we do by the written rules. The instructor may be giving off strong messages to his/her students that it his their class. It may also be gender oriented. Perhaps it's okay for the male blackbelts to assume control but not the females or vice versa. And if training to be an instructor is not part of the curriculum than I would say they are giving a definite message. I belonged to a school once where only "one" particular instructor could assist and stand in front of the class with the head instructor. The assistant had to stand off to the left of the head guy and sort of on a diagonal in between the class and the instructor. When other black belts assisted with the class they began the warmups from the traditional lineup and or mingled amongst the colored belts but were never permitted to be up front. Jamaica ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 15:52:20 -0800 (PST) Subject: the_dojang: No Blame (fwd) Forwarding. Sent to the wrong address. Please correct. Ray - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forwarded message: To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: No Blame From: dragon102@juno.com (Aaron J Woodburn) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 18:21:03 EST John Hancock wrote: {about the tournament Death} THERE WAS NO CRIME HERE! Stop trying to look for one. _________________________________________ I agree, I'm new but I am still a blackbelt, terrible things happen, assigning blame just sometimes isnt possible, and that's just too bad, all Adults should know that, I could just as easily kill someone accidentally in a sparring match, those Grand Champion matches always get ugly (because I'm a small guy going up against a heavy weuight a foot and a half taller than me), and the last thing I would want would to have someone BLAMING me for it, even the very thought is ridiculous. Also, it is not anyones place to assign blame in an accident, the moral? Acceptance is the hardest thing to face in tragedy Aaron James Woodburn Dragon102@juno.com ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ From: Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 20:21:30 EST Subject: the_dojang: Re: wow i've been so busy lately that i just got around to reading the past _several_ issues of the digest. quite frankly i'm blown away. it's amazing what happens to people when someone dies or a new life emerges. i responded to a fellow martial artists concern over the tragedy that occurred last weekend with michael. he wanted some facts and i gave him the information that i had learned from a trusted internet source. it seems only natural that folks would want to know what caused michael's death. i'm scared. who the hell isnt? someone dies and we want to know how to prevent the deaths of ourselves, our friends, our students, and our taekwondo families. we all have our own belief systems and values and hopefully they can mesh or we can at least agree to disagree. there is no reason, however, to jump on people when they are simply afraid or searching for truths in an incredibly frightening and saddening situation. what is even more saddening to me is that in light of this tragedy people are blaming others for how they choose to cope with it. if anyone is angry...and many of us are...work it out. talk with us, with friends and family, but dont strike out at those who are only trying to find their own answers. i was blessed this past week. i am a white christian, who was invited to a jewish temple to watch a korean buddhist couple folk dance and listen to a black baptist presentation celebrating martin luther king, jr's birth. his first born daughter, yolanda king was the keynote speaker and it was unbelievable. she kept talking about cooperation, and working together. she told a native american story. a man awoke IN his dream to see his spirit guide. his spirit guide wanted to show him two kingdoms in the universe. in the first kingdom, the man was shown a feast table with collard greens and chicken, sushi and tempura, pizza and breadsticks, lobster and steak and everything else you could imagine in that spread. then the man noticed all of the people around the table. they were emaciated. they were sad and starving despite the food that lay before them. he asked his spirit guide why that was so. the spirit guide said that there is only one law in the universe...but first we must visit the second kingdom. in the second kingdom, the same spread was upon the tables. the people around the table were joyous and healthy. the man was shocked. he asked the spirit guide why this was so. the spirit guide responded that there was only one law in this universe: in order to eat, you must use the utensils which the management provides. problem/opportunity: the utensils are twenty feet long. the people in the first kingdom chose to live in misery or to die rather than work together. the people in the second kingdom worked together to achieve their goal. they fed each other. the lived from what they provided one another. without the support of their fellow men, they could not survive. it was all about cooperation to achieve common goals. i will not be berated for trying to feed a fellow martial artist and i will not berate anyone else for trying to do so. we'll all mourn the loss of michael in our own individual ways. melinda chunjido@aol.com we're all in different lanes on the same highway. just use your signals and we'll all be fine -me ------------------------------ From: Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 19:04:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: the_dojang: sigs Folks, please remember to add your e-mail address to your sigs (signature) in case someone wishes to e-mail you directly. We will hopefully have the e-mail header bug fixed sometime in the future, but until then please follow my lead... Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: "Jamaica Power" Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 07:16:02 PST Subject: the_dojang: Medical Records of Athletes I've read with great interest the posts on improving medical care at tournaments and would now like to post the following. First, I would like to see us (no matter what organization) mandate, yes mandate, that all athletes bring with them to every tournament their medical records for the past year. This is not hard to do. A simple medical release form to their clinician and they have a photocopy. This would facilitate their care should they have to go to a hospital or if there is an MD at the tournament that needs to treat them. If an athlete has sustained head injuries in the past, is allergic to certain medications, has epileptic seizures, etc etc then these are things that are not only important but imperative to know whether or not the athlete is over or under the age of 18. This would also help the coach or other person that is responsible for their care while at the tournament. I personally can't believe this is not in place already. I agree that it is great that people should be trained in the areas of CPR certification and First Aid certification but there are also words of caution here. My understanding is that if you are in any way a medical professional but not thee designated medical professional for a tournament you are putting yourself in major legal consequences for attempting to treat any competitor for a number of reasons. Herein lies the problem. Most of us morally and ethically would jump in and try and help. I would. The point is that if you hold any kind of medical certification your good intentions may work against you. ie... it is more dangerous (legally) for a medical clinician to dispense even an aspirin at a tournament than it would be for a parent to give another parent or friend an aspirin. The medical clinician is expected to know better and to review case histories, allergies, past medical concerns before dispensing or treating anyone. And in each state there are laws governing how you should treat victims and who can dispense meds. With that said I would prefer a proactive approach and make sure that before we go to tournaments we request (in writing) that this tournament have on hand designated MD's, paramedics and ambulance services and that the critical care/crisis unit at the nearest hospital is notified that injuries might occur that day. Often the nearest hospital will not be the hospital that the injured party is sent to because they might not be the trauma center for the area. This also needs to be checked out. If we don't expect and demand proper medical on site treatment then I believe we are enablers of a very dysfunctional family because the tournament directors will continue their lax practices of depending on "is there a doctor in the house?" This information should be disseminated to all tournament participants prior to their coming to the tournament on something like the registration form. Thanks for listening. My thoughts have not come about from the recent incident but from my observations over the years at many tournaments. Jamaica ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: Mark Herrick Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 07:19:17 -0800 Subject: the_dojang: Future of TKD: Tae Do? All, To anyone who was personally offended by my remarks regarding the lack of ethics in 'some' sports TKD practitioners, I remind them that I was generalizing. Their personal experience may be different than mine. I know, and train with many very good people who only look to TKD as a sport. However, I also know and have fought competitively against some who exemplify the other side: winning at all costs is the only goal. I have witnessed many examples of poor sportsmanship in the ring that go unpunished by refs. I was pushed out of the ring and kicked while down in my last competition, the 1998 UC Berkeley Open. (this is supposed to be one of the "better" tournaments). The ref did not even warn my opponent. (I subsequently won that fight)... (I do understand WTF Sparring quite well) Certainly striving to attain the level of skill and conditioning to compete is a great endeavor. I know how hard it is and how much self discipline it takes. I admire and respect their efforts. However, being an elite athlete says nothing about ones' personal ethics. One does not equal the other. Becoming a great athlete does not make you a better human being. The primary purpose of practicing a sport is to improve one's physical self and compete. The primary purpose of practicing a Martial Art is to improve ones' entire being (body, mind and spirit) - attaining enlightenment. The emphasis is quite different. Part of the quest for self improvement is willing to be utterly candid and frank with yourself; your motivations and intentions. I have the awesome benefit of occasionally training with an Olympic Gold Medalist. Something he said has really stuck with me. He talked about ones' intention. He said he never wanted to hear someone say, "Sorry I didn't mean it." He said that if you throw a kick you meant it. Therefore you better be darn sure you are aware of what you are doing and can control it. And, don't do it if you can't control it. "Oops, sorry I didn't know the gun was loaded." I do not believe in accidents. I believe in cause and effect. I believe in Karma. There are no freak accidents when two people step into the ring to fight. There are only un-enlightened actions. People do stuff all the time without being aware of their surroundings. That is when bad stuff happens. We practice Martial Arts: to learn to be totally aware of ourselves and environment at all times. We practice sparring because there is no better place to practice self awareness than the ring, where the threat of personal danger hieghtens our perceptions. We challenging ourselves, our perceptions and our fears in the ring. But the exercise becomes meaningless if all we are thinking about is "winning." The lessons we learn and the skills we develop from sparring can carry into our everyday life making us happier, healthier and safer people. The current state of competitive TKD sparring is leading to more and more injuries and potential tragedies: 1) Many competitors fight with their hands down, and no longer practice effective blocking. How many times have we read on this list about this? 2) Judges rarely (never) score punches. It used to be TaeKwonDo. Now its just TaeDo. And, now look at the latest trend signified on the PRO TKD TV special, where each competitor had to kick every six seconds. I bet you 10 to 1 that trickles into Olympic Sparring. 3) Judges rarely score body kicks. The whole argument over "Trembling Shock" The difficulty of defining this has led many judges to simply ignore it. Unless you actually knock someone back - no point. Many effective kicks, that hurt, won't be scored. Imagine for a moment, Fencing, what if they required you to actually run someone through to score a point? 4) The only way to surely score a point is kick to the head. So now most competitors only go for the head to score, the most fragile part of the human body. And, many competitors are not good blockers because they are entirely focused on kicking. See what happens? The rules are encouraging dangerous behavior. First, we need to lobby the WTF and USTU to evaluate and correct the rules and judging. Its ridiculous not to score solid punches or body kicks. Second, we need to lobby them to mandate better safety equipment. The current helmet is completely insufficient to protect the head from full contact sparring. 1" of foam will not cut it. The helmet should have a hard shell with inner absorbent liner, and utilize gel filled pads for proper fit. Much the same as a modern Air Force pilot wears. They require a strong protective helmet that is extremely light because of the gee forces they experience. The helmet should also have a full steel face gage to protect the nose and jaw. In regard to full wrap around hogus. I wear the Century Elite. It is a great jacket, and I would encourage everyone to at least check it out. Yes, it is heavier and hotter, but worth the extra protection. And, it has never reduced my movement, speed and flexibility. Protecting the back does not legitimize illegal kicks to the back. That is poor logic, does wearing a helmet legitimize kicks to the back of the head? Of course not; it protects from poorly thrown and uncontrolled kicks, again I have personally experienced those. Don't throw a kick unless you mean it. Throwing a full force spinning heel kick to the head is going to kill someone if it connects to the temple, back of the head or throat. You better know that before you throw it. If you don't feel 100% certain you can control the blow then don't throw it. Saying I didn't mean to hurt you doesn't count. Because its not true. You meant it when you threw it. We have to understand the implications of our actions. That is the primary purpose of practicing a Martial Art. That is our responsibility as BB, teachers, masters to teach our students these facts. Mark Herrick 1st Dan, WTF whtlotus@nichiren.org ------------------------------ From: Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 07:33:23 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: the_dojang: Future of TKD: Tae Do? > 3) Judges rarely score body kicks. Actually, the majority of points scored are kicks to the body. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: "Stephen Sanner" Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 07:43:03 PST Subject: the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #24 > >From: "Jamaica Power" >Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 07:38:40 PST >Subject: the_dojang: hapkido in mittens > >Although I don't do direct martial arts activites in the winter in the >snow and slush and ice and cold and wind; I do a number of other >activities which help my strength, coordination, and ability to >maneuver in this environment which would definitely give me the edge >over somone else less prepared. By working outdoors I also become more >acclimated to the weather so my overall tolerance and resistance is >higher. > >Some of these activities are orienteering with snowboots on, road >marching with snowboots and heavy backpacks, snow shoeing, and >rappelling. I refrain from the polar bear activities of jumping in the >icy waters and I keep my snowmobile and four wheelner handy for fast get >aways and fun. > > >Jamaica > > It sounds like the game I have on my PSX, how is it called again? Oh yeah Tomb Raider...you know the beuatiful, lovely Lara Croft. :) Stephan ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: "Jamaica Power" Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 08:09:42 PST Subject: the_dojang: Legal Holiday FYI - For some Monday is a legal holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr's day. So I post this reminder in respect to those that recognize this day. Jamaica ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 08:18:29 -0800 (PST) Subject: the_dojang: CPR/Medic First-Aid certification wrt keeping one's certification active, what exactly is required? I usually go through the Medic First-Aid two-day class every few years which probably means the years that I don't I am not certified. Is that correct? Are you supposed to attend the two-day class every year or is there a shorter refresher class to attend once you've attended the two-day class? Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 08:19:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: the_dojang: . ------------------------------ End of The_Dojang-Digest V6 #25 ******************************* Support the USTU by joining today! US Taekwondo Union, 1 Olympic Plaza, Ste 405, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909 719-578-4632 FAX 719-578-4642 ustutkd1@aol.com http://www.ustu.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this digest, the_dojang-digest, send the command: unsubscribe the_dojang-digest -or- unsubscribe the_dojang-digest your.old@address in the BODY of email (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com, in pub/the_dojang/digests. All digest files have the suffix '.txt' Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, Martial Arts Resource, California Taekwondo Standard disclaimers apply.