from the July, 2014 issue of Kiai!

TW Leads Martial Arts Demo at Greeley School

 

 

Thousand Waves students Natalie (Advanced Brown Belt in the Adult Program) and David (Advanced Blue Belt in the Youth Program) recently brought the martial arts to Greeley Elementary School in Chicago. Natalie, a teacher at the school, worked with David and five other Greeley students (Myron, Angela, Danylo, Sergio and Melissa) to create a martial arts demonstration that included both Seido Karate and Tae Kwon Do. The students, who train at four different dojos, used music to highlight meditation, kata, self-defense, and combinations. The standing-room-only crowd of approximately 250 people cheered with excitement. Just when the audience thought it was over they were wowed by a series of exciting board breaks.


David participates in a karate demonstration
at Greeley school.
Following the demonstration, about 50 people reconvened to the school library for more information. The young martial artists showed more skills and answered questions. Natalie snuck academics into the event when she used a map of Asia to show how Asian martial arts spread among China, Japan, Okinawa and Korea long ago. The martial arts got handed down from generation to generation and spread from place to place when people traveled and shared their skills with others. For this reason, we are able to practice some of the same things today that martial artists practiced hundreds or even thousands of years ago. She ended by explaining that this process of cultural transmission explains where culture comes from, including language, food, art, dance, religion and, of course, the martial arts!

The culminating event of the evening was when everyone in the room, including the parents and grandparents, joined in the fun. There were smiles all around as everyone punched, kicked, and counted, in both Japanese and Korean. The young martial artists were excellent leaders and dove right in when it was their turn to demonstrate and count. As the evening came to an end, a father asked why so many martial arts words end with the letters “do.” One of the students was quick to explain that “do” means "way of life." Natalie said that one example of “do” in the life of a martial artist is the fact that no one in our group would ever start a fight. The students agreed.