Turning the Corner by Christine Keenan, 5th Dan

Turning The Corner

“You don’t stop martial arts because you get old, you get old because you stopped martial arts.” Variations of this phrase come and go; the text adjusted to the subject being discussed. The phrase did not make sense before but as I have grown older, I am beginning to understand the meaning. I am at one of these points right now physically. I need to adjust or stop my martial arts training. A vertigo issue showed up about two and a half years ago; the larger attacks have slowed or stopped me for days even weeks before everything resolves. But there seems to be a lingering piece that is showing up when I am doing forms. After doing a 360 degree or larger turn(s) I am feeling wobbly and unsteady. I am not concerned about falling at this point. But I was growing concerned that I would not be able to pass my next test because of the single and compounding issue(s) of doing those turns. Having to wait for it to pass before I can continue does not go well with testing. I asked Master Frankovich what I should do when it happens during my next test. His response was to not let it get that far. Change the forms now to remove the turns and do that version at testing. He said the changes I would make to the forms would also help other classmates who could benefit from those changes as well. His words upset me, I was hurt and felt let down. My other classmates thought it was a good idea to change the forms to remove the 360 degree, and 540 degree turns. This still did not settle how I was feeling. I asked myself why I was so upset about this change. A memory came back to me.

Eighteen forms and eleven years ago. I caught up to some black belts that seemed to be stuck for months on the third Yedo form. No matter what we tried, one of them kept refusing to do the form. Those of us at that rank kept some pressure on them to learn the form. It took a while but eventually they admitted the issue was the turns at the end of the form. They were getting dizzy when doing the three 180 degree turns. When I heard about the problem my initial response was “Well, we have alternate versions of the forms for those who can’t do the rolls or the left one-handed cartwheel. We could change the form to remove the turns. I am sure if we told Master Frankovich that we needed to change the form he would have no problem with it.” The classmate who would have benefited from the change did not want to change the forms and did not want us to talk to Master F about it either. After a few more times mentioning changing the forms and still getting a refusal to make the change, we stopped bringing it up. Some more time went by, and the classmate stopped coming.

When this memory came back to me, I was shocked. How could I have forgotten? I had once said we should do the exact thing Master Frankovich said I should be doing now. This has caused me to be more upset, but for different reasons. Why did it not occur to me to make the change since I had thought we could at one point? Why does it now feel wrong for me to change the forms? When did I change? Why did I change? I will be working on those issues as well. But one thing I know is that I don’t plan to quit because of this issue. I will be adding a new version of all the forms to remove the 360 degree, and 540 degree turns. These changes will allow me to train longer during class and for many more years. It is hard to accomplish anything during training when I have to stop and rest after one or more turns. I need to learn more about my limits to help myself train longer. For all the future forms I will be learning, I will learn the forms with the turns and even practice the turns, so I can teach others. It does not mean that I need to do the turns in the forms all the time when I train.

One example of the changes is in Ssangsu five, there is a roll in the form, I can’t do the roll. I know where the roll is and can teach it or the alternate version of a 360 degree turn instead. Now we need to add another alternative that removes the turn. A double step to travel a similar distance and to give us time to get the sword into the correct position for the thrust. Some forms will now have a third alternate version, and others will get their first one.

In the ninth Ssangsu form there are three 360 turns in a row with very little traveling. The first turn is a leap up while turning. Depending on the person, this turn does have an unwritten, unspoken alternate where you just turn and don’t jump. Altering this part of the form took a bit more, to figure out how to move the sword when there is little to no traveling in the turns. The last move in the new alternate version makes the user want to step forward with the right foot to get to the final stance. But in the form, on the last turn you pivot on the right foot and the left foot ends up behind. The changes are not without their own problems and trying to figure out how to get to the same place in the form by only changing the transitions. We are only changing the journey, not the destination.

I love my martial art. I plan to keep training as long as I can. With the alternate version of removing the 360 degree or greater turns, I can continue for longer. These versions can also be used by anyone that needs them for any reason. It allows us to have a wider range of students and even more older students. Since the forms will be more accessible to everyone. That being said, our school does have a higher population of older students. At 51 I am in the middle of our age range. The students older than me are in their 60’s and 70’s. We all bring different contributions to the table, and this is my current contribution. As a way for us to turn the corner and keep going, to keep training as we get older.