How many years of martial arts training do you have?
How many years of martial arts training do you have?
This question always makes me laugh. It is a question that I have heard discussed many times. When asked this question by others, I realize that they will not get the full value of the answer I give them. This is because many of us tend to think in one dimension. Most of us either attend school or work full time. This means that most martial arts students train an average of one to three times a week. My case is somewhat different. My life has been anything but the norm. While I did attend school and some college between 1967 and 1975. From 1967 to 1973, I trained a few times a week like most people. However, I spent all my free time training too. Then in 1973, while attending college, I opened my first dojo. From that point I trained and taught five or six days a week. During those years I continued to study under different master instructors.
In 1983, I moved to Charleston, S.C. to receive more training. For the next few years I trained privately with one of several high ranked masters almost daily.
In early 1985, I got married and moved near Washington, D.C. Quickly I began teaching full time. At the same time I maintained my contact with my two main instructors. From 1985 until late 1992, I trained and taught almost daily. An auto wreck put me out of training for many months. Eventually, I began to train daily again. This continued until late 1997. In mid 1997, I started back to college to earn a B.S. in the IT field. In the fall of 1997, I closed my commercial dojo. Since then I have continued to train and teach a small group in Virginia privately.
So how many years of training do I have? It is hard to measure based only by counting years. If I were to count the hours I’ve trained, it would be several times what the average person trains during the same number of years. Now when someone ask how long I have been training, I know that they don’t realize that I have much more experience than it appears. Even so, I will celebrate forty years of martial arts training in mid June of 2007.
This question always makes me laugh. It is a question that I have heard discussed many times. When asked this question by others, I realize that they will not get the full value of the answer I give them. This is because many of us tend to think in one dimension. Most of us either attend school or work full time. This means that most martial arts students train an average of one to three times a week. My case is somewhat different. My life has been anything but the norm. While I did attend school and some college between 1967 and 1975. From 1967 to 1973, I trained a few times a week like most people. However, I spent all my free time training too. Then in 1973, while attending college, I opened my first dojo. From that point I trained and taught five or six days a week. During those years I continued to study under different master instructors.
In 1983, I moved to Charleston, S.C. to receive more training. For the next few years I trained privately with one of several high ranked masters almost daily.
In early 1985, I got married and moved near Washington, D.C. Quickly I began teaching full time. At the same time I maintained my contact with my two main instructors. From 1985 until late 1992, I trained and taught almost daily. An auto wreck put me out of training for many months. Eventually, I began to train daily again. This continued until late 1997. In mid 1997, I started back to college to earn a B.S. in the IT field. In the fall of 1997, I closed my commercial dojo. Since then I have continued to train and teach a small group in Virginia privately.
So how many years of training do I have? It is hard to measure based only by counting years. If I were to count the hours I’ve trained, it would be several times what the average person trains during the same number of years. Now when someone ask how long I have been training, I know that they don’t realize that I have much more experience than it appears. Even so, I will celebrate forty years of martial arts training in mid June of 2007.
posted by Charles B. Stanley at 10:42 AM
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