Brotherhood

by Kathleen Speaker, 2nd Gup

Each of us come to the decision to begin training in martial arts for different reasons. For many of the children it is as a result of seeing a martial arts action movie, or perhaps because their parents encourage them in an effort to promote self discipline and the ability to stave of bullies. For adult students those reasons vary even more. One joins to lose weight and get in better physical condition, another for the self defense in today's uncertain world. For me it was all those reasons and more. What keeps us all coming month after month, year after year is often not the same reason as why we begin. If you ask a student to list the reasons why he continues coming to class and participating at his karate club events, you will hear, every time, that it is due to the friends and family made through his training. I guarantee it.

We come to the ranking tests every month not because we are testing, but to support the fellow students, our brothers and sisters, who are testing. We are there to offer support, to wish them well and help ease their nervousness. But there is something more important going on, just under the surface, in each students mind that is a spectator at a ranking test. We watch our comrades testing and think to ourselves "...switch feet Johnny, switch...", or, "...breathe, deep, in and out, c'mon Jane breathe..". We are testing with them, feeling the stress, exhausted when it's over and we never stood up. If they get stumped on a question at the end we are all telepathically trying to give them the answer. The collective support that is felt in that dojang is something to witness.

We compete in tournaments and we hope we get the good scores...we all do, we are human and everyone has a competitive spirit. But when we don't get the highest score, and even when we do, we want those students wearing our ATKI logo to come out on top. We gups in the bleachers, so loyal to our black belts, cheer out despite our discipline when watching them compete. Our collective energy that is channeled in support into the ring is intense. We take it personally. While all martial artists regardless of style share a common bond, it pales in comparison to the ATKI family bond, we are one.

I have made life long friends through my training at the ATKI. We share blood sweat and tears in and out of the dojang. I wouldn't want it any other way. This is the way of life for me... for all of us. So if you ask me to list the reasons why I come to class, I can give you many. If you ask me to list only one, I will answer "Brotherhood".