Taekwondo Life
Taekwondo is all about martial arts but for me it's all about my freedom, discipline,friendship and respect. Taekwondo gave me the life that anyone couldn't. I came to taekwondo rather late in life. I never thought of myself as a fighter rather more of a
peacemaker and facilitator. I had played many American sports growing up, mostly basketball my
favorite. When I was 46 or so, my wife began practicing aikido. She would come home and say, “Let me
show you this!” I finally began taking aikido in order to defend myself against her! While aikido has a
defensive philosophy, one practices dynamically with a partner. One night I was thrown awkwardly and
was injured and on crutches for several weeks. About that time some of my colleagues at the university
invited me to come to taekwondo. At the time I could barely touch my knees bending over, and
although I’d run two ten mile races, was not in good shape.
My training began slowly. I teach at university and consult so I have a busy schedule with lots of travel.
Gradually I began coming more often. I enjoyed the discipline, the exercise, the people, and the
increased confidence I felt after training. I remember very well the red belt who taught my wife and me
our first taekwondo class. Over the years, I came as often as I could, not nearly as much as many, but I
continued to come. Red belt seemed SO far away, black almost impossible. I saw some of my new
friends advance. I remember our chief instructor’s first dan test when he gave his age in hexidecimal
and my friend Gilbert’s first class teaching adults. Gilbert’s wife, Theresa, is tiny but she would kill us in
class.
After nine years, in August, 2006, I received a letter from the kyosanims inviting me to test for first dan.
It came as a shock and a surprise, but I was elated. It was one of my major goals in life and finally it was
coming up soon. Kyosanim John also invited me to train with Master Kwon in Portland, Oregon, and I
agreed to go. But first I had several professional activities involving my responsibilities in our MBA
program and with my consulting clients.
On September 2, 2006, I was in Istanbul, Turkey. I had completed two days of consulting for a client and
had spent an additional day sightseeing. The Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque were amazing. That
evening out walking I was descending a flight of stairs and suddenly, my legs simply gave way. I heard a
loud “pop, pop, pop” and my right knee collapsed. As I tried to catch myself with my left leg, it too
collapsed. I was lying flat out, in a lot of pain, unable to move, and no one spoke English.
Eventually some bystanders sent me to a hospital. The next day the orthopedic surgeon did an MRI and
confirmed that I had ruptured both quadriceps tendons. We agreed I would return home for the
surgery. He fitted me with locking leg braces so I could with the help of a walker and pain pills “walk”
stiff legged for a few steps. After two and a half days, I got home and saw my orthopedist. He had a
busy schedule, so I had to wait a week for surgery; that was the longest week of my life waiting and
realizing that every passing minute things were getting worse.
I’d never heard of this kind of injury before, so I searched on the web. I couldn’t find much, so I began
to post a diary/blog of my experiences hoping it would help others. About ten others worldwide
contacted me with similar stories. One man ruptured his walking down a slope on a golf course.
Another ruptured his playing tennis. Another did his simply by stepping off a curb.
