My kids were into Tae Kwon Do, so I sat down & watched 2 classes at Budokai. They truly are a "jack-of-all trades" enterprise, offering Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu jutsu, Hapkido, plain old Judo, Cardio Kickboxing, Olympic Sparring & women's self defense. I've had some 20+ years training myself, in Shito Ryu Karate-do, Ueshiba Aikido, and Ninpo Taijutsu, so while I am familiar with the battlefield, I was in for quite a few shockers @ Budokai!! Of note: Taekwondo, as we know it in modern times, is basically a carbon copy of Japanese Karate, wherein they took most/all of Karate's "kata", changed a few punches to notoriously high kicks, watered down the details & renamed them to a Korean version. "TKD" was nowhere to be found before 1955, BEFORE American GIs who'd had some Karate training in Japan from WW2, took it to Korea, during the Korean war.
I got in just after the start of the Judo class, there were about 12 students from teens-60s + 2 teachers all paired off & rolling around the mats, trying to pin one another. Every now & then, a "guest teacher" would bellow out, (louder than any D.I. I'd EVER served under in USMC), directives for a new technique, at the top of his lungs . . The floor fans were NOT loud, so I just didn't get the rock-concert volume?!? I dug in my pockets for ear-plugs, but came up dry. In & around the guy SCREAMING/ about to have a stroke, there was this HIDEOUS whooping cough, bellowing thru the school, ALSO! Someone was SERIOUSLY sick & after a few minutes I realized it was the owner/ "master" instructor, who was rolling around the floor, infecting his students . .
HOW do I know that??
Because a teenaged student was ALSO having his own fit of WHOOPING coughs, though not as loud nor as often as the "master". Talk about passing on "knowledge". While the 6-7 pairs of wrestlers were rolling around, sweating on each other, 3 teens came out of the office in street clothes/shoes (the owners kids) & strolled thru the dis-organized mess on the mats. 1 had a drink in her hands & they walked amongst the rolling wrestlers, chatting here & there, offering whatever advice / wisdom a 14 y/old may have. Once or twice, the wrestlers rolled INTO 1 of the teens & they FELL ONTO the students as they wrestled. THAT'S safe!? About every 30 seconds, the oldest teen would admire his image in the mirror & toss his hair back w/a flick of his wrist. You could set your watch to it.
And while this was all going on, the "master" came over to chat me up, about 6 X. I told him I was checking out schools for my kids. He returned with some pamphlets & went back to sweating, drooling & coughing onto his clients. His 3rd or 4th attempt to "close the deal", he proffered the "family discount", to which I pointed @ my 70+ lbs. over-weight body AND the cane I walked in on & told him I'm a disabled Vet.
The judo class FINALLY ended & a new group was forming for the Hapkido class. "Master Bob", sauntered over once more, winked at me & said: "If you sign a waiver now, I can get you on the mats before the class starts . ." ;) This, AFTER I'd just told him I was disabled & not interested in wrestling. The BIGGER meaning of what he said, was that it was actually a CHALLENGE to FIGHT!! Basically, he wanted to figure out what I knew & who could "take" who. I looked out the window, said something like "no waiver needed, outside . ." got up & limped to the door, half hoping he'd follow me into the parking lot.
Between surround-sound whooping coughs, a guest speaker SCREAMING intelligible instructions, the hazardous conditions of his 3 kids bull-shitting on the mats DURING class & the direct CHALLENGE to a duel by / from the master, I left w/ ZERO intentions of even thinking about this jungle gym, for MY kids. But maybe ISIS will fit in, just fine!
Gotta remember, folks: WHEN YOU SIGN that waiver, for either you or your kids, it is a LEGAL DOCUMENT that releases the owner & other students from ANY LIABILTY, when you GET HURT, or catch whooping cough. And that's about ALL I saw going on in Budokai. read more
