01209dom’s Weblog

The opening day of our new Dojang couldn’t really have gone any better in my opinion. We all met up at around eleven in the morning to hastily complete the last few jobs. Me and Jim put the edging on the floor between the reception and the mats, which was a lot harder than we thought it would be. Aj put up a couple of shelves which just about held the weight of Rob’s trophy collection, and everyone else gave the place a really good tidy up. It was now ready for the first lesson!

We got there at about half past five and waited outside while a changing room curtain was quickly fitted (there was always going to be something we would miss!).

We were expecting a pretty large class, around fifteen to twenty student’s tops, but people just kept coming and coming, we even had a new student. The overall figure must have been closer to thirty by the time the lesson actually started, which meant that it was a bit of a squeeze getting people in. Fortunately it was absolutely fine, and at least we now know that we can accommodate a huge class like we had tonight without any problems.

The first line up was a real buzz. It was a great feeling standing in front of Master James and the flags knowing that this was our place now and we had finally made it. It suddenly felt that all our hard work had paid off and we could now sit back and reap the rewards.

The classes were split into two sections with the first hour being Tang Soo Do and the second Kickboxing. The warm up was taken by Master James and was a tough one (which I had a feeling it would be) to christen our nice new floor with its first drops of sweat. It was then onto some basics which involved lots of fine tuning on various kicks, followed by one step sparring and self defence. I had a chance to work with someone tonight who used to train at the club before I started. I think his name was Martin. I have a feeling he might have attended one of the kickboxing classes in recent months, but it was really nice to work with him in Tang Soo Do.

Why?

Because for the first time since my first few lessons, I actually got to train with someone who was the same grade as myself.

Apart from my first few classes, I have been in my own little category which meant that I have been the only White belt, the only Yellow belt, the only Orange belt and up until now, the only Green belt lining up at the start of every lesson. He seems like a really nice guy and I really hope he starts training regularly, so I have someone to work through my syllabus stuff with.

Anyway enough of the man love and onto the kickboxing! Another hard one it was to be. Skipping, press ups, sit ups, squat thrusts, twice round. The class was mainly based around sparring and I was partnered with James for the lesson. We worked on a lot of blitz drills (which surprisingly I didn’t suck at too much) and also some defence techniques. I really enjoyed the sparring tonight and although it drained me of every single ounce of energy I had left, I had loads of fun and came away feeling really positive.

We took a couple of group photos at the end, which I am really looking forward to seeing and everyone seemed to be on cloud nine when we left. I honestly can’t wait to get back in there and train again on Wednesday, we have our own Dojang!!! Totally stoked after today as you can probably tell, and am feeling really good in myself. Got lots of cool things going for me at the moment which is a welcome relief, so am going to leave you with a song which sums up my mood. This used to be one of the songs I always skipped on the album, until I realised it was probably one of the best songs Mrs Chapman has done.

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After months and months of hard work we have finally walked through the doors of our new Dojang and started work on the conversion of an industrial unit to a brand new Martial Arts Academy. It has been a very long and difficult process, mainly due to the amount of hassle we have had with the council. Until about a week ago it had seemed that the dream was over. The unit on Pool Industrial Estate we had put a substantial deposit on, and had submitted a change of use application for was snatched from us by a new group. Fortunately we managed to regain most of the funds we had invested but still made a loss and more upsetting was the fact we had no Dojang and we were back where we started. This was a massive blow for us and we all felt really upset, but… not defeated. Our aim has always been to have our own academy and despite this setback we agreed to continue the search for a new location, but not for a few months so we could concentrate on building up the classes. We had booked a viewing for another unit, but it didn’t seem suitable as there were issues with the layout, but (after a last minute change of mind) we thought we would check it out anyway. It’s a good job we did!

The unit was previously a fire place showroom and was situated just around the corner from our first location. The problem we had was that there was a hung ceiling which was an absolute no-go for our bo-staffs and that right in the centre of the floor was an office which pretty much cut the unit in half. We met up with the owner and had a quick chat about what we were about and our intentions, also mentioning that the ceiling and office issues would be a big problem. We were promptly told that if we were seriously interested the hung ceiling would be removed and the office knocked down.

Suddenly we started to see the unit a little differently…

In fact without the height restrictions and a completely clear floor space it was absolutely perfect for us and also half the price of our previous site. It didn’t take long before we had all completely sold ourselves on it, and after the fastest AC meeting in history (five minutes outside the unit) we decided to go for it. We even phoned the owner later that evening to say that Rob had decided to take the unit! From then on it was absolute chaos as we needed to get a new application sorted asap, cancel all ties will the previous tenants, retrieve all previous funds that we could and start organising the renovation work.

It really couldn’t have worked out better for us as Mr White (the owner) said that for an extremely low amount of money he would give us the keys and let us get the place looking like a Martial Arts facility and start training whenever we like. Cue the mayhem!

First step was to get the application sorted. We had a few issues obviously, but James managed to get the application submitted a few days before we started work on the site which meant the start of our eight week wait. We still won’t know if the site is officially ours until our change of use application is approved. I personally don’t see it being rejected (he says tightly clutching his wooden computer desk) due to our strong links with key members of the council and the amount of communication we have had, plus the almighty fuss we have caused. If they reject our application then they can try and kick us out if they want, but they will have to physically remove us from the premises and I personally don’t fancy their chances.

The second step was today’s all day epic which started with a trip over to Homebase at around 10am to pick up all of our supplies. I was the pilot of the large flat surface trolley which I successfully navigated around the isles while the guys loaded up the stuff, lots of laminate flooring, paint, rollers, insulation, etc. We then headed over to the unit to start our days work. First up was the very difficult task of ripping up the carpet which required almost as much physical effort as a grading, but eventually we had a completely clear floor. We then split into different sections. James started the painfully long task of installing the laminate flooring for the office and reception area, Aj started to raise up the hung lighting which involved lots of angle grinding surprisingly? while the rest of us got out the rollers and paint brushes and started painting the walls. Some walls had a previous coat of white paint so just needed a good going over, but a couple of walls were completely bare and needed a lot of attention and several coats. Luckily we had some unexpected helpers when Mr Warren and a couple of his elite warrior daughters showed up to lend a hand which was much appreciated.

As we are a pretty good humoured and mischievous group the paint was never going to be restricted to just the walls, and very soon the brushes were turned on each other. I was given a couple of good hand delivered ‘stripes’ to the head and neck area which went nicely with my already paint soaked body. We stopped very briefly for a well deserved cup of tea outside in the sun but apart from that worked solidly until half five when we nipped off for an hour of training, then back to work again for a couple more hours.

After training we were all starving, and Rob generously offered to treat us all to what must have been a pretty expensive takeaway! It did provide us with the fuel to get the last few licks of paint and layers of flooring done before we headed home. It was so cool watching Rob and James lock up for the first time (22/06/08 – for historical reference) and I couldn’t help having a last look at the unit as we left, thinking that we might just have found a new home!

Through out the day we also took a series of photos so we can look back at the transformation of our Dojang. It will be so cool to look back at these in years to come and also for future members to see how their academy was formed. This leaves me with overwhelming pleasure, knowing that I played a part in the foundation of the first official In Sung Kwan Tang Soo Do Academy location.

I had to make a choice this weekend and I definitely made the right one!

Looking forward to tomorrow night, when we can hopefully get the office/reception floor section done and start putting the furniture in. Very exciting times!

Now that’s what I call a good day. I awoke this morning to the sound of a text message, which simply read “beach?” which ended any chance I had of a lie in. I pulled the curtains back and was greeted with a clear blue sky with the sun beating down. It was the perfect day to spend at the beach, so I threw a couple of boards into the car and headed off to Perranporth to meet up with a few friends. When we got there the whole place was swarming which didn’t surprise me. It felt so nice to lie back in the sand and feel the rays warm my body.

I am and always have been a total sun worshipper and spent every spare second of my youth either on the sand or in the sea, and it felt so good to feel the sand between my toes again, it’s been a while. Me and Jim bought a football and had a good kick around. I used to get really knackered playing football, but was surprisingly fine. Must be my training paying off!

The closet I have been to surfing recently was a couple of weeks ago when I sat in my car at Porthtowan car park and watched really crap waves for about three quarters of an hour before realising it definitely wasn’t worth going in. Today wasn’t exactly ‘epic’ by any means, but after dipping a couple of toes in to probe the temperature, myself and a few brave comrades decided to take the plunge and get in the sea. The water was surprisingly fine and I was pretty warm in just my boardies and a rash vest. Didn’t really have any decent waves as it was painfully small, but it just felt nice to be back on my board again.

We had training in the evening which was really enjoyable too. I was feeling pretty fit as my aching legs had miraculously disappeared after my quick surf and was in very high spirits. Unfortunately as we started the warm up it became apparent that I was actually not that fit at all and was soon making noises similar to a goat being put down. The lesson itself was awesome as we did loads of kicking stuff! Yeah! and finished with some really enjoyable fights in squad training. I got my ass well and truly handed to me by all the kids (the shame) and Master James somehow walked onto my glove while I was trying to touch gloves with him. Don’t know how that could have happened?!

(I’m soooo dead!).

All in all it was the best day I have had for absolutely ages and despite the fact my factor 4 sun cream did absolutely bugger all and has left me with 3^rd degree burns to the arm and face area, it was fantastic.

Cheers guys, that was just what I needed!

What a day.

Today was supposed to have been the Inter club tournament, but due to the fact that we couldn’t get our normal gymnasium for the day we had to postpone it for a week or so and have a sparring seminar at Falmouth University instead. Unfortunately the day didn’t quite start off as planned.

First me and Jim were held up in traffic due to the road being closed due to an accident and had to find an alternative route. There only seems to be one main way to get to Falmouth, so we had to cut through Stithians instead. It took ages and we also missed a tuning on a roundabout and went straight into Falmouth town centre, which added another fifteen minutes to our journey. Needless to say we were about half an hour late which made me feel real bad.

I was under no illusion that it was going to be an easy one, but what followed was a bit of a beasting. Lots of physical stuff involving press up variations and partner assisted exercises to start off with, and then onto some sparring drills. I have to admit, I do love smacking the crap out of focus mits, kick shields etc, and this was much appreciated after a tough warm up.

We finished off with a bit of sparring, which for me was the highlight of the day. Both clubs teams fought each other (a sort of warm up for the real thing) and I really enjoyed myself. I’m not the best fighter in the world by any means but I did appreciate that some of the Falmouth guys wouldn’t have had the same level of coaching as myself and the rest of the VS, so I thought that I would just try and enjoy myself and have fun. It was great and every fight I had was really enjoyable.

After the seminar we had a lesson as normal in the evening, followed by a VS session. I was pretty tired after the seminar, but when we got going I didn’t feel too bad. The warm up was tough, but it always is so no different there .We focused on the Pyung Ahn forms for most of the class and in particular Pyung Ahn Ee Dan, which was brilliant as its the form I need for my next grading! Master James has given me loads of tips and advice with this form, but it proved that there was still a hell of a lot of fine tuning required.

By the time squad training came around I was pretty much running on empty, and didn’t think I would be able to cope with it. It was a points accumulator session and there was only four of us! I think I went into it with a defeatist attitude from the start as I didn’t score any points in the first round which is very poor. I kicked myself a bit and managed to bring myself up slightly for the second half which led to me scoring a few points, which is better than nothing I suppose.

All in all it was a pretty intense day. I have had three showers today! Next up is my fifth gup grading which I don’t even want to think about at the moment. At least until I have had a good sleep.

zzzzzzz