My Martial Arts Experience by George Hernandez

My martial arts experience is roughly as follows:

Actual practice:
- Boxing. My dad was a boxing enthusiast (see "Pop steps down"), so my siblings and I were boxing practically from birth. Several sessions in the ring itself with the Chicago Park District [ChicagoParkDistrict.com]. I remember fighting Mexican kids and asking myself, How did they get to be so mean and rippling with muscles, while I was just a regular kid?
- Shotokan Karate. Very hard training & teaching, usually 6 days a week, often several times a day, from 1986 to 1999. I took 1st place in black belt kumite = sparring on the national collegiate level but could never place on the national open level. I did fairly well in tournaments but I'm more proud about going through training than tournaments. When I retired in 1999, I was a seasoned 3rd dan. I've dealt primarily with these organizations:
- Western Martial Arts (WMA) with the Chicago Swordplay Guild [chicagoswordplayguild.com] since 2003-11. I am a CSG Scholar and currently the CSG Webmaster. The CSG emphasizes historical Medieval and Renaissance WMA, esp.:
  - Close Quarters Combat (dagger, wrestling, and grappling, while keeping armor in mind)
  - Italian Rapier (single handed thrusting, esp. Cappo Ferro and Salvator Fabris)
  - Italian Long Sword (hand and a half cut and thrust, esp. Fiore dei Liberi and Fillipo Vadi)
  - Italian Arming Sword (single handed cut and thrust, esp. the Bolognese school and Angelo Viggiani)
  - Italian Pole Weapons
- Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) with Nate Defensor [defensormethod.com]. As a Filipino, this area has some interest for me. Alas my attendance there is sporadic.
- Shidokan Karate at the U.S. Shidokan [shidokan.com/cfc.htm] at the Chicago Fitness Center (CFC) [chicagofitnesscenter.com]. I started because my kids started taking it 2006-09. Stopped when I needed knee surgery in 2007-07.
  - These are Mixed Martial Art (MMA) classes.
  - Shidokan practice consists of a mix of kyokushin-like karate (kihon=basics, kata, and kumite consisting of full contact sparring with no punches to the head and no chest protectors) and jujutsu-like grappling but with no strikes. It could use more judo-like wrestling and throws.
  - Shidokan tournament rules consist of 2-3 rounds of Kyokushin-like karate, 2-3 rounds of Muay Thai-like kickboxing (without elbows) with 10 oz = 280 g gloves, and 2-3 rounds of grappling (with no strikes once on the ground) with 5 oz = 140 g gloves.
- Aikido at the Shinjinkai [shinjinkai.org]. A traditional but warm dojo with a remarkable feel. I started because my kids started taking it 2008-09.
- Some of the following over the years:
  - Judo
  - Guns. Rifle, shotgun, handguns.
  - Tai Chi
  - Shaolin White Crane
  - Chinese swords
  - Wrestling
By association:
- I tried to join the military when I was younger but I was disqualified. I had three brothers plus cousins and friends in the military. My brother Alan died while in service.
- I have a fair number of relatives, friends, students, and associates that are police officers, but, really, so do many of us.
- Extensive and ongoing practicing, thinking, researching, and discussions about martial and military arts.

For some reason the question of "my injuries in martial arts" comes up frequently, so I'll address it here. Whether or not you do martial arts, you will almost inevitably get injured, especially if you do a lot of physical activity. Regardless of the skill levels or the safety precautions taken by you and people around you, the probability of an injury never goes to zero, hence if you flip the coin enough times, eventually it will come up heads. Hence, if you do a lot of martial arts, then most likely you are also doing a lot of physical activity, and therefore will eventually get injured. Hence in spite of increasing skill, taking safety precautions, increasing the mindfulness of safety in myself and people around me, etc., I have been injured and I have injured others. Here is a brief list of my injuries.

Left ring finger broken near the tip. It occurred while clinch fighting in karate in a gi. It just got caught and twisted in an unexpected way. It was a freak incident. It never set quite right and has an odd bend to it but it works just fine.
Minor fracture in my right knee. My instructor told me to jump so I jumped and then he swept me in the air and I went tumbling across the room. It was on a hard wood floor and I was not expecting it. It might have been mitigated if I was forewarned or if it were done on a mat. My knee has been "clicky" since then and I cannot fold my right knee as deeply as my left. My right knee also has more pain when I do a deep bend with it. However my right knee is still as strong as ever. 2008-12-20 Update: I had knee surgery on my right knee (torn meniscal tear) after the pain got so bad that I was limping around with a cane. I still cannot bend my right knee as deeply but it seems to be pain free.
Right lower molar cracked in half vertically. It occurred during friendly free sparring in karate. My opponent did a BLIND spinning hook kick. It nearly knocked me out. When I went to the dentist, he took off the remnant of the molar and found my nerve sticking out like a little worm or sprout. He was surprised that I was not flying through the ceiling in pain. He had to file the whole tooth down and put a crown on it.
The nail has come off of both of my great toes several times each. The first time was a foot sweep that caught my nail and bent it back. After the first time the nail was never as strong and susceptible to more injuries. Subsequent nail losses were due to various sweeps and foot stomps. One stomp I took from an innocent lead-footed novice while I was standing still in order to receive a technique during a basic drill. Both nails eventually caught a very hardy fungus and both nails are quite thick and sensitive to pressure.

There have been various bone breaks, sprains, pulled muscles, bloody noses, blows to the groin, scars, scrapes, bruises, strained joints, etc., etc., etc., but only the preceding injuries were significant.

Page Modified: (Hand noted: 2007-10-14 17:16:06Z) (Auto noted: 2010-12-24 22:53:33Z)