As the car wound through the mountain passes on the way to Lake Tahoe from San Francisco, I listened to the chatter of my two daughters in the backseat and wondered what this clinic weekend would be like. Although my family of four, who all train together, had been to the Region 1 tournament in May, we had not been to a clinic yet and I could only hope that the Masters in charge would notice my fresh, new, bright orange belt and not completely flatten me during the six hours we would be together. I was looking forward to the camaraderie of hanging out with people who had all left their usual lives back in San Francisco for a similar purpose; immersing ourselves in Tang Soo Do for a day.

We received the call to line up, I hurried the girls into place and then focused my thoughts on making the most of my day: I wanted to work out hard and learn everything I could from the instructors, no holding back!

Our first challenge came as Mr. Travis Weaver, a 5th gup and a Cross Fit trainer, was introduced to “warm us up and work us out.” The workout involved timed circuits of squats, push-ups, and sit-ups, and I was heartened to note that Mr. Weaver seemed effective in motivating all of us: the black belts seemed to be sweating just as much as I was.

After making sure my 6-year-old (9th Gup) and my 10-year-old (6th Gup) had survived intact (they did the same workout we adults did!), we grouped up for our first workshop rotation. The gup students studied flow techniques with Master Schroeder. I focused intently on the task at hand, since with flow techniques you’ll get hit in the face if you’re not paying attention.

The cane workshop, led by Mr. Mike Gasser, Sam Dan from Fitness Fanatics in Santa Rosa, kept us busy as we moved quickly from demonstration to practice. What looked so fluid and easy in the hands of Mr. Gasser felt awkward and choppy in mine, but my partner and I hung in there.

When we were called for the lunch break, I was grateful for the workshop handouts,
knowing I would need those reminders later.

After lunch, Masters Patrick Marsh and Claire Marsh introduced us to
Filipino fighting sticks. We quickly learned to “hide behind the stick” and not wrap your hands lest you take a nasty whack to the knuckles. Just when we started to feel more confident, we would watch another demonstration by the two Master instructors, and be humbled and awed by their sticks flashing in the sun and clicking against each other. Like Mr. Gasser with the cane, they made it look so easy.

Our final rotation sent us into the shade with Mr. Scott Frykberg, a 2-time World Champion Thai Fighter. We threw ourselves into Thai fighting kicks that jarred the pads held by our partners. This constantly reminded us that the object was not to kick and retreat, but to demolish our opponent. As we practiced one of the last drills, that of deflecting an oncoming punch by a small, wave-type motion, I was reminded of the flow workshop where we had started that morning, struck by the similarity in effectiveness of small, close movements to deflect larger, aggressive incoming attacks.

After the clinic, we had a chance to sit on the shore of the beautiful lake, enjoy good food prepared by Mr. Patrick Cerceau and other Tahoe City Tang Soo Do members, and chat with old and new friends. As I watched the sun sink over the mountains and helped the girls make their second and third s’mores, I felt satisfied and invigorated by my day. I had fulfilled my morning goal: no holding back. The sore muscles and bruised forearms of tomorrow were all worth it. Tang Soo!

Submitted by Julie Galles